On my break at work last night I caught Mad Men… later I found out I saw episode one, season one. On Bravo, I think. I am hooked, and plan to buy the box sets and catch up on it. Unfortunately I cannot for the life of my find other threads. (mad men advetising 1960 drama firm sterling cooper none of these produce results for me.)
So can someone link me to earlier threads? O do people just want to advise me on what to watch for, what to look for.
Early thoughts…the sets are beautiful. The costumes, furniture, props. No anachronisms that I saw. I loved the bit about the psychologists report getting into the ratfaced boy (Campbell?) possession. “Its not like there is a magical machine that just would make a whole new copy”.
I don’t think my mother has watched this show, but I would love to get her to watch and offer her thoughts. She was a secretary most of her working life, starting in 1960. (First job working for the Nuns at a Catholic hospital, so Im sure the drinking/casual sex part was definitely not part of her working experience)
Feel free to comment or link me to earlier threads.
Maybe the issue is that the search engine won’t search for words shorter than 4 letters? Try searching for the key word “Draper” in Cafe Society? That brought up most of the Season 2 threads.
Thank you both. Although I realized shortly after dipping in to the threads, I dont want to read too much, too many spoilers.
Is this a show where I am best off to get the box set and gulp em down… or hope to catch enough re peats on tv and piece it together. (Im betting on the box set, in fact thinking I might get it next payday)
If you have On Demand, I believe they are showing past episodes, but not sure how many seasons.
I LOVE this show…it has so much going for it; great sets, great fashion, great scripts, great “feel” for the era. It is truly one of the best shows currently being aired and can hardly wait for the new season.
It is also one of the sexiest shows currently on the air…whodathunk that such politically incorrect behavior could be so oddly “hot”?
I don’t have the season one box set (season two is released this Tuesday), but there are probably a lot of extras that might make it worth having. AMC is showing season two in a marathon on August 10, but there’s nothing on the website abut season one.
Basket of Kisses is a fan site with some interesting information, but be careful of spoilers (you’ll understand the name of the site after a few more episodes).
I was going to keep quiet, until this came along. The show has absolutely no feel for the era. It has no more feel for the era than the Adventures of Robin Hood has a “feel” for the industrial revolution. It deals totally with stereotypes of the era, and mishmashes events in order to make cheap points. If you think it’s accurately portrays the era, then you don’t know much about the era.
I’m no sticker for historical accuracy, but they don’t even pretend to be accurate. Hell, any show set in the 60s that as a major plot point has the character “inventing” an advertising phrase used originally in 1919 is one that doesn’t give a damn about the time period it’s set in.
I try to watch from time to time, and the utter tone deaf portrayal of the 60s is a complete turn off (not to mention the general contempt by the writers for both the characters and the audience).
Those are your opinions. Many of us–who have managed to do more than “try to watch from time to time”–enjoy Mad Men quite a bit. It’s not a documentary but the art direction (including costumes & music) gives an interesting look at the era.
I’d LOVE to hear what she thinks of it if you can get her to watch (maybe use some photos of Don Draper as bait?), though I do wonder if people from that era would be less interested in the show than those of us gushing over the costumes, the sets, the novelty of blatant sexism and racism.
I think it “deals” with the stereotypes of the era by subtly undermining them. The great thing about this show is that all the characters are so nuanced, and are given such depth, that the viewer has the opportunity to see past the veneer they are all putting up. It’s a show that unfolds slowly, and sometimes it seems like nothing much is happening, but it is, it just doesn’t lay it out for you with heavy-handed exposition. It shows, it doesn’t tell. Like my other favorite show, The Wire, Mad Men rewards the careful and patient viewer. The characters are NOT stereotypes, unless you are not paying attention or aren’t watching regularly or closely.
Not much to add except that the wife and I started watching the Season 1 discs (I almost said DVDs but is it on DVD? Netflix only has it on Blu-Ray) and loved it. I don’t want to spoil it for any new viewers but there’s a scene where Campbell lifts some important information that doesn’t belong to him. It was a couple days before we finished that disc and I think subconsciously neither of us wanted to see what happened next out of a sense of dread.
Anyway, great show and the Season 2 discs are out on Netflix tomorrow though I need to send something back (and likely be on a wait list) before I can start them.
Well somehow, some way im going to watch this…even though it goes against the grain to get sucked into a tv show that I have to watch every week…
Thanks for the discussion. And when season three comes along, lets make sure the thread has some searchable words in the title.