MAD MEN

Mad Men is a show that is on AMC and it is on it's 3rd season. This show has been nominated for numerous awards and has won quite a few including a Golden Globe for best drama, and two Emmys for best Drama (It also had 16 nominations last year) It is quite literally the best show on television currently and is only rivaled in terms of quality by AMC's other show, Breaking Bad.

The show takes place during the 1960's in New York City. The show is about a man named Don Draper, who is the creative director for an ad agency called Sterling Cooper. This show has great writing, great historical accuracy, amazing acting, interesting characters, and a lot of subtle details and meanings.

Mad Men is definitely a show you should check out if you haven't already.

^wait, is this seriously the first thread on this show? huh, i guess i've always assumed that there's one buried somewhere in the back pages. but yeah, this show is amazing. it's like if gossip girl had mostly adult characters, was set in the 60s and was actually well-written. who am i kidding? not even in its wet dreams should gossip girl even be compared to this show.

i just don't know how the writers of this show can have all kinds of despicable characters, practically no central plot or conflict, and still be so brilliant. it's a very strong character-driven show.

haha finally someone that has good taste in shows. i'm not sure if this is the first thread, but i checked the main list of shows and didn't see it there so i decided to make one.
there's just so much depth in every episode, you really need to watch it a 2nd time to try and get everything.
but man don draper is such an awesome character.

Wow, it would really surprise me if nobody had ever made a topic for this show before! This is Soompi, though, so it wouldn't have surprised me for it to have been buried within Season 1 and never resurrected. I just watched last week's episode yesterday, actually. Too bad I probably won't watch tonight's new episode until sometime next week. It makes me sad that none of my friends seem to watch Mad Men! I guess it's not very popular with the early twenty-something crowd. +20 esteem points to Mr. Kanye (applicable to screen name only, offer not valid for any person actually of that name who probably does not watch Mad Men anyway).

I would have to agree that it's very character driven, more so than by plot or setting, though the historical aspect does make it more interesting to me. According to my grandmother, who was actually a secretary in Chicago around that time (but not in an advertising agency), the sexism and racism especially are dead accurate. I like the way the historical themes are handled very matter-of-factually and not too played up so we're hit over the head with them every episode. They don't constantly distract from or overpower the other aspects of the show, which is what I was kind of afraid would be the case when I first started watching, but they're definitely not ignored, either.

There's so much subtle shifting between the characters that I'm sure I couldn't skip an episode without missing too much, unlike in so many TV shows that aren't meant to have standalone episodes. It's nice to see a TV show with characters that aren't boringly transparent or the product of writers crossing the line from unusual to impossible to imagine being real people. Sure, the characters in Mad Men are eccentric and often not very likable as people, but the show never makes me think "That was so incredibly contrived, there's no way anyone would ever do or say that" almost no matter what happens. Ah Don, sometimes I think he's so awesome and other times I wish I could strangle him through the screen on behalf of his family. Then again, the character I want to shake most often is probably actually his wife, Betty. Almost everything she does would drive me nuts if she were a real person I knew.

It's also enjoyable how the episodes usually end so that the story feels incomplete and I want to keep watching, but without resorting to cheap cliffhangers at the end of every single episode a la Heroes or Lost. I end every episode wanting to watch the next one but savoring and thinking more about the significance of the episode I just watched than "Oh my god, will X do Y in the next episode?!?!"

^yeah it is kind of lamentable that not very many people i know, at least people our age, watch shows like mad men (or even shows like 30 rock, for that matter). i feel like a lot of these people will someday in the future catch a re-run episode, and then go, "man why didn't i watch this earlier?" and then grab the DVDs. basically get into the show when it doesn't count as much anymore. this happened with arrested development and firefly, right?

but yeah, the racism and sexism (and recently, of course, homophobia) is just kind of there. it's not really central to the show, but you feel its presence all the time. it's quite brilliant how they weave it into the storyline. actually, it's quite brilliant how they even weave all the storylines together. i'm glad you pointed it out. with shows like gossip girl or even dollhouse (which i like a lot) you have these story arcs, and in the case of gossip girl they feel so disjointed that you could miss a whole arc (three episodes) and it's fine. but with mad men, everything just flows so smoothly.

anyway, let's talk about what's been happening recent episodes. can i just say how much i despise suzanne aka sally's ex-teacher aka don's latest fling. i loved rachel, i liked midge, and i didn't mind bobbie or joy, but suzanne, i absolutely can't stand. i think it's the fact that she acted so innocent yet she approached don first. but unlike bobbie or joy, suzanne seems to want more than just sex. when she got don involved with the brother business, ugh i was like "come on don, run away! run away like you always do!" also, i loved how much don hated what happened with sterling and jane siegel, and this affair with suzanne, more than the others, feels like it could lead in that direction.

i'm a few episodes behind. i actually just finished the episode where Don is taking barbiturates, drinking and driving. I honestly don't think Don has any interest in the teacher and that she's just some crazy pinkberry. I found the "You stare at the sun everyday?" comment to be hilarious.
Duck and Peggy was definitely the WTF moment for that episode. ughhh

Peggy makes the most OFF THE WALL choices....
The teacher is BAD NEWS - i just don't see things going well. Maybe it's just me but I am seeing stage 5 clinger!

wow, we have a Mad Men thread, grahhh, i've been follow this series since Season 1.
seriuosly, this show, i always need to watch the 2nd time to understand its complexity. Thank god, tehres' "encore presentation".

the recent episode is goooodd!
Don's wife found out.....,
Suzzane, another fling? or something more? i think the former.
and i think Suzzane's brother appearance was significant in that his life mirrors Don's life. They both had to live and hide in the dark because their inferiority.

btw- is someone going to start a thread for Breaking Bad as well, is also on AMC.

I was wondering just a couple weeks ago if Soompi had a thread for this show. XD

It's difficult for me to get into shows but ever since I found out how to use my OnDemand feature I got into this show. I sped watched the first and second seasons and got into season three right as it was just starting. I must agree this show is brilliant and I like that they don't seem to sugar coat things to make it less uncomfortable nor do they do "OMG" plot twists just for the shock value. Very well scripted show with amazing characters.

All the characters on the show have their value to me that I see some reason to like them even if just a little, but at the same time they all do things that frustrate me...a lot. Don especially has been making me angry these past few episodes. I don't know if it's because he's getting involved with someone one degree of seperation closer to his wife and kids or because he sneered "you people" at Sal. I know that it was the 1960's but Sal is probably my absolute favorite character and I felt terrible for him when it all came crashing down for him.

And yeah the thing with Peggy and Duck really threw me off. Peggy is hard to figure out.

Might I also mention, right when I thought Pete Campbell wan't such a bad guy he goes and commits date rape.

o i like mad men!! don is hot!! i haven't seen ALL of the eps. i never get around to watching of them so i have some questions. Joan is absolutely gorgeous so had Don ever tapped that? and what ever happened to the whole Pete finding out that Peggy had his baby and gave it away does he say anything about this season or do they just act like nothing happened?

^ It was actually Roger Sterling who "tapped that" before Joan married her husband, not Don. The whole thing with Peggy + Pete does come up a bit at least a couple of brief times this season, but there's no full-blown revisiting of the whole thing or revival of that fling if that's what you're asking.

Joan's husband sucks so hard. he's a mini cooperty doctor, a rapist (that was pretty much rape), and has a crappy personality.
roger was much better.

ok did anyone else *die* during that last scene? "alright we got a hobo and a gypsy... (looks at don) and who are you supposed to be?" cut to black. this is exactly why mad men gets all those emmys and golden globes.

also, the whole episode i was screaming, "turn around, don draper! and run away as fast as you can! that woman is toxic!" i hope that was the last we saw of her.

OH! I just started season 3. I need to catch up.

Don Draper is sooo suave.


Also, love Betty.

Seems like she out of the picture for now at least... Did you see this week's episode! I really have no idea what to expect re: Betty...were you surprised by the "i'll marry you" thing - I mean how well does she know him? He could be a liar and a cheater too

i love mad men!!

did everyone watch the season 3 finale??? it was SO good!! one of the best season finales i've ever seen!!

(spoiler!!)
i love that joan is back!!! that feisty redhead, i love her so!!! i'm so sad that she married that loser boy i wanted her to be with roger soooo bad!!

^^
as for the finally,
I was expecting worser circumstance for Don. like his family (well i know that he's getting a divorce, but compare to what he had done before, that's no dire consequence) and career tumbling down hill just like in the opening scene. But i guess not.....yet
Yah im happy Joan is back, i luv her character. Seem like she has more authority than previously seen. Before she was just a toy. lol.

and also betty!! before she was just the perfect housewife! and then through the seasons she was able to assert herself more and not take it from don! (no matter how much don draper cheats, i still love him though haha) but poor sally, that little girl is going to need some therapy when she's older!!

i am hoping that kinsey and cosgrove will come back!! i hope their characters aren't cut off!! and i wish they'd bring sal back too, i felt so bad the way he was fired...

it was a pretty awesome finale, but betty really ired me this whole episode. first of all, i think she's making a huge mistake. yes it's good that she's giving don his just desserts after the way he's treated their marriage all this year, but divorcing him only to then hang on to another man she barely knows? that's not independence, that's just convenience. i have a feeling we're gonna find out the truth about henry francis next season and it's not gonna be pretty. and on top of that, she icily told don to leave the house, only to fly off for six weeks to reno with henry and baby gene, leaving bobby and sally with essentially no parental care. it's a very sensitive period for these kids and she just abandons them--don's a bad husband but betty's a terrible mother.

apart from that, though, i LOVE what happened with the "mad men". the whole episode reminded me of the arc on entourage starting with 'exodus' with ari gold getting ousted and finally starting his own agency. i knew don would start his own agency but i did not foresee the circumstance under which it would happen, with bert, roger, AND lane all on board (sterling cooper draper pryce? SCDP? kinda like a faux BBDO?) and i'm SO glad they're bringing pete campbell (never liked cosgrove, there's just no conflict in his character... boring), harry crane (when they got that first phone call and it was him asking for the room number... he's so adorably clueless), peggy (kinsey was a paranoid douche sometimes) and of course, JOAN! i can't wait for the potential catfights between joan and that "trollop" (in bert cooper's words) jane siegel.

i'm already going through withdrawals.

Those poor kids - they really get the short end of the stick all the time. Seems like Sally is always getting yelled at. Now her dad is gone, just as she was getting over her grandfather's death....I expected more from Betty.

I didn't, really. We've seen many times that she's not exactly a model mother and still something of a selfish, spoiled brat at times who throws tantrums and doesn't always like to deal with problems if she can just shove them away.
On the one hand, I'm glad she's not letting Don get away with anything, say "sorry" and then come back acting like everything's just peachy again, because he really has been a horrible husband, but I'm disappointed that she would choose to do it by jumping straight from one man she never really knew to another one!

I gotta agree with the previous poster who was glad that certain characters were left behind in this big move, namely the most boring ones and a lot of the minor characters whose names we don't even know, while Jane is back. I got a kick out of watching Don all but go crawling to Peggy after telling her not too long ago to shut up and stop thinking her work was valuable. I'm rooting for this new venture to work out, but it seems like there's going to be a lot of potential for ego clashes and jockeying within the new hierarchy.

The Don/Peggy dynamic is always fascinating to me. Great way to end the season, but it's so sad that I won't be able to see any more new episodes for awhile...

I have not caught up with season 3 yet. Way too busy and because it has not been shown in Oz.

This is the best show on TV for a long time. Great quality!