Desperate Housewives star Kathryn Joosten would like a word with the folks behind Mad Men.
No, she's not looking for a job on the hit AMC drama, but…
Joosten, who plays Karen McCluskey on Housewives, thinks there should be a warning at the beginning of Mad Men episodes because of all the smoking the characters do—even if all that cigarette-puffing is historically accurate for the 1960s.
"I think they should at least have a disclaimer at the front of the show saying smoking is relevant to the time and place with the subject matter we're dealing with and it is not recommended because it causes cancer," Joosten, a two-time lung cancer survivor, told me yesterday at the Creative Arts Emmys. "They should at least do that."
Joosten, 70, ended her 45-year smoking habit when she was first diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001. Eight years after beating the disease, she was once again told she had cancer. In January, doctors said she was cancer-free after undergoing surgery to remove the cancerous growth.
She also thinks Mad Men producers should provide annual chest x-rays "for any member of the cast and crew who wants one."
Are you listening, Don Draper?