Mad Men on AMC

After a recommendation by longtime friend Cori, I started watching the first season of Mad Men on DVD. Mad Men is a series on American Movie Classics. I first heard of the series because it won Emmy and Golden Globe awards, which is uncommon for a series on a lower-profile cable network. What I like most about the series is its ability to effectively recreate an earlier era.

Mad Men, set in the early 1960s, is about the professional and personal lives of Madison Avenue advertising executives. There is a glamour presented.... from the Danish Modern furnishings in the executive's offices and residences, to the secretaries decorated in dresses (or twin sets and skirts) with fashionable heels. No under-dressed people seem to exist in this world. It makes me long for a visit.

This was not a politically correct time and Mad Men does not treat it as such. The ad men drink to near inebriation, smoke constantly and sate their carnal desires on their lunch hours, occasionally with one of the secretaries. The secretaries give willingly of themselves and cover for their bosses if they are not around when their wives unexpectedly show up. Lead secretary Joan Holloway in particular gleefully accepts her role as sex object but knows how to manipulate men to her advantage.

The cast does a fine job of making their characters authentic, especially Christina Hendricks as Joan, John Hamm as Don Draper and Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell. I have included a scene from an episode.


I also must mention the opening theme(see below). There are few instances I can recall of a theme capturing the essence of a show so well.