Mad Men

I've been watching the first season on DVD over the last couple of weeks and enjoying it a lot. My own tenure in the ad business was well after the events in the series, but a lot of the details hadn't changed, and mirrored my own experience. I worked in advertising from the late eighties to the late nineties, simultaneously with the last part of my career in politics. Booze and aspirin in the office, fresh shirts in a desk drawer, compliant secretaries, and knife fights in the elevator going up to the office didn't end in 1967. At least not in that business.

I'm watching series 4 and strangely enough I'm already hooked. The joke is I haven't seen series 1-3 so I'm going to be purchasing that at amazon to catch up. Mad Men is slick, stylish, accurate and funny. Instead of being angry at these men you want to know more about them and how each character is intricately connected to the other. Although Don Draper is a completely asshole you really can't help but like him. Every woman has succumbed to his charms and you wonder when the lady that does eventually come along will say "No". From the ambitious Peggy Olson to Betty Draper and the volumptuous Joan Harris, you really do root for these women characters in this show even though considering the time period they were limited to how far they could go not really fulfilling their potential. At the same time these characters are so well written you almost forget these flaws. Definitely a show I'm getting hooked on and want to see more.

The terrible downward trend of television scripted drama continues with Mad Men. Not only is its presence on what was once a movie network a shining example of Network Decay, the show continues to frustrating trend of unappealing "protagonists." Perhaps I am a purist, but I prefer my protagonists to be, you know, heroes. Sadly, the days of Hogan's Heroes (main actor who played the villain stipulated he would never win) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (creator stipulated no conflict--except manipulated by external forces like mind control--between the leads) are long past. Everyone has to have "layers," "grey areas," and the like. Don Draper is NOT an appealing character, in fact, all of the male leads in this show are jail-worthy. Just not appealing at all, I'd have to be a mad man to like Mad Men.

This is the best tv series that has been produced because its fun and it shows you how america was in the sixties: women were not allowed by society to be anymore than a secretary and men started drinking booze at 10 am.

I've only just recently watched the first season on DVD, and I enjoyed it a lot. I can see how an ADHD audience would easily be bored with Mad Men, but anybody who likes a character study should appreciate this series. The writing and acting is really well done, and I find Mad Men captivating.

I thouroughly enjoyed this show. I am glad Don is back with Betty.

Quality drama. Excellent acting. Great attention to the 60s time period both in the set dressing and in culture. I love this show!