"Mad Men" on AMC (US) - (Spoilers Within)

[LadyStardust]

It Accomplished Its Goal.

The show about advertising got me hooked on their "product." I will be watching next season, I will buy the DVD set, and I will miss it while it's gone. Despite its flaws, I really liked it, and I thought the season finale was great. *tangent*OMG PEGGY! What a nightmare. */tangent* Really great show, despite rather unsavory characters.

 

[scotrace]

How does one go from not knowing one is pregnant to in labor in ten minutes?


"I'm back Mr. Draper. Sorry I'm a little late. Imagine my surprise when I had a baby at lunchtime."

 

[Doctor Strange]

I haven't seen the final episode yet, and I won't get a chance to for a few days, but I have been LOVING this series. Beyond its fascinating evocation of Madison Avenue in 1960, it keeps SURPRISING me, which isn't so easy to do after 45 years of TV viewing. The last few episodes have been consistently great...

And I am SO glad it's been renewed for next season!

Anyway, I will chime in with my comments on the season finale after I've had a chance to watch it..

 

[Fletch]

It's a fake look at the past... and where is the straight laced guy? does everyone have to have a mistress? even Jimmy Oslson? I know it's suposed to be a serious show, yet there are no clean cut men in the office and the women want to be womanized... even the one secretary that I thought might hold out.

I think the fashions are pretty good though the acting and the story... Some good lines and a forced smoking drinking and womanizing attitude are what I think the show is about. Not a real history, though a brash grabbing sensability with story inbetween. Draper sends his boss off stone drunk walking to the wrong car then forgetting to turn on his headlights? Even the people in the 60's would have let the guy sleep it off on the couch.

They try very hard to push the era and it doesn't seem at all fluid. From dropping the names of food item brands when they eat them to running into a buddy getting his racket re-stringed... things that aren't common now are over showcased in the show and being common then.

Anywho, that's my take. I'm off to eat a Pop-Tart and update my MySpace page.

:eusa_clap

This guy Gets It. Mad Men is a live action marionette play.
Never mind real life - even fictitious characters in 1960 were more believable than this stylized amorality play with its pretentious looong silences and swallowed dialogue.

IMO, the show is mostly about men (look at the title) and how they haven't changed in a lot of important ways. Secondarily, it is about how things have changed, especially for women.

It all is done totally without subtlety, by throwing a high contrast spotlight on archaic customs. You can't tell me, for instance, that married women didn't fool around - but of course that would muck up the exquisite simplicity. Just like having a single straight man in any power or money position.*

*Case you missed it, Sal, the AD, is a closet case. You can tell because he wears tan suits sometimes and holds his smokes funny.

BTW: I once worked with Bryan Batt on a cabaret show. He sings his head off, and is funny as hell in rehearsals.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

:eusa_clap

This guy Gets It. Mad Men is a live action marionette play.
Never mind real life - even fictitious characters in 1960 were more believable than this stylized amorality play with its pretentious looong silences and swallowed dialogue.

IMO, the show is mostly about men (look at the title) and how they haven't changed in a lot of important ways. Secondarily, it is about how things have changed, especially for women.

It all is done totally without subtlety, by throwing a high contrast spotlight on archaic customs. You can't tell me, for instance, that married women didn't fool around - but of course that would muck up the exquisite simplicity. Just like having a single straight man in any power or money position.*

Aww come on! Don't hold back. Tell us how you REALLY feel.

 

[scotrace]

*Case you missed it, Sal, the AD, is a closet case. You can tell because he wears tan suits sometimes and holds his smokes funny.

And they built an episode around his being gay. That was a big tip off for me.

 

[$ally]

How does one go from not knowing one is pregnant to in labor in ten minutes?
"I'm back Mr. Draper. Sorry I'm a little late. Imagine my surprise when I had a baby at lunchtime."

Ah well, I think we've all had one of those lunch breaks. That's what happens when you eat off the cart.

 

[ShortClara]

Spoilers from the last episode!

Ah well, I think we've all had one of those lunch breaks. That's what happens when you eat off the cart.

BWAAHAHAHAHHAAAA! I just got in trouble for loudly cackling in the middle of the OU game from reading this post.

Da*n lunch cart!

PS I knew she was preggers! my mom asked me two weeks ago why she was looking so bloated - I said she was pregnant!

 

[$ally]

BWAAHAHAHAHHAAAA! I just got in trouble for loudly cackling in the middle of the OU game from reading this post.
Da*n lunch cart!
PS I knew she was preggers! my mom asked me two weeks ago why she was looking so bloated - I said she was pregnant!

That was my first thought when she split her skirt the first time and ordered a sandwich and pastrie. Then I changed my mind the next episode because they made her look puffy all over and started the fat jokes. I guess her birth control pills worked about as well as mine did.

 

[dandelion-vint]

I was hoping that she wasn't pregnant. When she ended up at the hospital I thought, well she must be pregnant then. But when the nurse came in with a baby! That's some heavy denial Peggy.
I can't wait until next season.

 

[Miss Dottie]

Does anyone know when the next season starts? Is it going to be as long as the Sopranos in between seasons.

There is just something about this show that is quite delicious. It's not about getting the early sixties right. It's about the plight and lives of these people. I seen quite a few TV shows set in today's time that don't seem to be much based in reality anyway. Good writing is good writing.

But it still does make me smile when the secretary brings in a pitcher of mai tais to a business meeting. I'm lucky if I get a bottle of water!

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

I believe it is next summer when it will be back. I am going to DIE until then! I love this show, hands down. I don't know what I am going to do on Thursday nights now!!!

 

[Fredo]

I am in Mad Men withdrawal. I found it a superb show and a welcome change from the onslaught on reality programming that seems to be multiplying exponentially. Sure they miss on some details and the some actors may be a little green, But so what? Don Draper is a coward, a hero, a liar, a decent husband, a drunk, a brilliant salesman, despicable and admirable - in other words he seems pretty human. I like the characters' dysfunctions, after all when you pull away the lens of nostalgia, the 50s and 60s weren't anymore rosy that other periods of time.

More importantly, this isn't another barbaric Bounty hunter show or Dancing with the B-list - no this is a drama. That's right period drama that needs to pack it all in in 11 episodes with the hope of getting an extension. Now they have it so they can begin to develop the characters and storyline more. I will be tuning in next season of Sterling Cooper & Co, with my gin martini, and steak dinner, and cigar - what a way to spend a Thursday night at home.

 

[KittyT]

I believe it is next summer when it will be back. I am going to DIE until then! I love this show, hands down. I don't know what I am going to do on Thursday nights now!!!

Download all the episodes on itunes and rewatch them? lol

 

[Doctor Strange]

I'll bet AMC is going to rerun the entire series at least once before the second season.

It would be a very smart move, given the show's devoted following, great reviews, and Emmy-worthiness.

I know I have a bunch of friends who I'll insist SIMPLY MUST try watching it from the beginning as soon as it runs again!

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

I am in Mad Men withdrawal. I found it a superb show and a welcome change from the onslaught on reality programming that seems to be multiplying exponentially. Sure they miss on some details and the some actors may be a little green, But so what? Don Draper is a coward, a hero, a liar, a decent husband, a drunk, a brilliant salesman, despicable and admirable - in other words he seems pretty human. I like the characters' dysfunctions, after all when you pull away the lens of nostalgia, the 50s and 60s weren't anymore rosy that other periods of time.

More importantly, this isn't another barbaric Bounty hunter show or Dancing with the B-list - no this is a drama. That's right period drama that needs to pack it all in in 11 episodes with the hope of getting an extension. Now they have it so they can begin to develop the characters and storyline more. I will be tuning in next season of Sterling Cooper & Co, with my gin martini, and steak dinner, and cigar - what a way to spend a Thursday night at home.

What, no Vodka Gimlet and Oysters?

 

[Fredo]

Ha! Not a Vodka man. But the Oysters..... well that's a guilty pleasure.

 

[Fletch]

That's what happens when you eat off the cart.

Never heard that euphemism before.

Another guy - er gal - who's got this show pegged is Sacha Zimmerman, who writes for The New Republic. Her dissection of MM is here.
(Note: Google cache. TNR has taken down their page, as cultural commentary obviously has the same shelf life as weekly news. Hmph. :eusa_doh: )

Ultimately, "Mad Men" seems to be attempting satire without a plan. The mood is serious, not campy, and there aren't laugh-out-loud moments, just a lot of groaners--at which point, the show simply becomes a reflection of its characters: depressing. It turns out that watching moody, cruel men and unsatisfied, put-upon women for an hour just isn't that much fun.

 

[Tomasso]

Ultimately, "Mad Men" seems to be attempting satire without a plan. The mood is serious, not campy, and there aren't laugh-out-loud moments, just a lot of groaners--at which point, the show simply becomes a reflection of its characters: depressing. It turns out that watching moody, cruel men and unsatisfied, put-upon women for an hour just isn't that much fun.

She mustn't have like the Sopranos either.

 

[KittyT]

I just watched the season finale last night. I'm pretty disappointed that a show I've been enjoying so much ended on a note requiring such a suspension of reality, and I wish they'd worked Peggy's pregnancy into the show with a bit more finesse.