'Mad Men' iTunes Glitch? 'My Old Kentucky Home' Arrives Early

As a fan of the AMC show Mad Men, I couldn't be happier about getting to watch two new episodes of the brand new third season in one week.

The trouble is, I'm not sure why or how I received what appears to the be the season's third episode, "My Old Kentucky Home," a full 13 days before it was scheduled to air.

That's right. Somehow, I've already seen the first and the third episodes.

An e-mail from iTunes just before midnight on Tuesday notified me with "warm regards" that the show's "latest episode" was ready and waiting.

According to the AMC schedule, that episode isn't supposed to air on cable until August 30.

For all the supposed secrecy surrounding the twists and turns involved in each Mad Men episode, this seemed very odd.

So I did what I had to — I watched. (And, thank goodness, "My Old Kentucky Home" was better than the slightly dull premiere.)

Perhaps this premature release is some kind of mean trick or hoax on fans. Perhaps — oh, the joy of possibly having a spoiler to spill — Peggy never was meant to insist on getting high with her co-workers while sporting a proto-beehive.

But I'm guessing this early "gift" is more likely an iTunes glitch, some kind of error in which future episodes were accidentally delivered to queues of season pass holders.

Clearly I'm not the only one to have discovered this new episode. (See iTunes Error? Unaired Mad Men Episode Now Playing.)

As someone happily living life without a television, there are only a few shows like Mad Men that I love enough to follow and watch online.

Doing so requires low expectations and an always-hopeful attitude that my kind of viewership won't be given second-class status by the show's distributor. I am accustomed to long waits and finicky availability schedules, patching together episodes from iTunes, hulu and network sites.

I bit the bullet and bought a season pass to the third season of "Mad Men" on the premiere night, Sunday, August 16, still doubting that iTunes would make episodes available within, say, the 24 hours after the show's airtime.

This week, iTunes has clearly exceeded my expectations.

I'll gladly endure having watching the season out of order, if it means I can learn tidbits like these: Sally Draper is dabbling in petty larceny.

But I doubt these early episodes continue.

As Sally's grandfather put it while bidding her good night: "Just wait, all hell's going to break loose."

For now, I'm just waiting for Episode 2: "Love Among the Ruins."

It's now Sunday, August 30. No sense in not adding a few more tidbits about the third episode.

The most memorable moments

• The new Mrs. "I Keep Losing Weight" Sterling's syrupy-mean encounter with Joan.
• Sally Draper learning how to pronounce "licentiousness" during a little bedtime story reading with her grandfather.
• Joan's at-home conflict management strategy. "I don't want to have a fight right now." Joan: "Then stop talking."
• The social desperation of Harry's wife at the party, Jane's drunkenness, and Pete Campbell's dancing.
• Don's story of how he used to "relieve himself" in the car trunks of "fancy people." (And it's not a flashback.)