'Mad Men' is the best of summer TV
Posted: Monday, July 28, 2008 5:49 AM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
Filed Under:
TV
"Mad Men" is back, and did I ever need it.
Even if you haven't watched the AMC drama about Madison Avenue ad men in the 1960s, you've probably heard about its 16 Emmy nominations. I'm here to tell you: It's worth all the hype.
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Don Draper and wife Betty feel as real as your own family.
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"Mad Men" feels like a show for adults. No, it's not full of violence or nudity -- although the men sleep around so much a friend joked it should be renamed "Bad Men." It's a show full of sharp dialogue and situations that feel real, with no explosions or serial killers.
That doesn't mean things don't happen -- lead character
Don Draper has a secret past, and secretary-turned-junior copywriter
Peggy Olson apparently didn't realize she was pregnant until she delivered her son. There's drama aplenty, but it unfolds in a quiet, dignified way (well, except for the office party where the employees filled the water cooler with creme de menthe -- that was pretty undignified). With so many television programs that just seem determined to out-scream the next, "Mad Men" is like a refreshing glass of lemonade on a hot summer day.
And I don't know about you, but when I'm stressed, I like to retreat back into the past, reading best-sellers from decades ago or watching old movies. "Mad Men" itself is new, but it's so convincingly set in the past that it's like sinking into an old photo album.
Pregnant women drink and smoke (as does everyone else). A completely soused Roger Sterling staggers out to his car and drives home. Don's daughter is allowed to play with a dry-cleaning bag. His wife and her friends are perplexed by a new neighbor, both because she's divorced and because she takes walks. (Walks? Who takes walks?) The details are so smartly slipped into the script that it doesn't feel like the writers are just reaching for easy '60s cliches, because they've really thought about how the time period would affect the characters.
And the furnishings and costumes are just perfect. I took a photo of the screen at one point so I could email a photo of the Drapers' kitchen chairs to my mother, who reports that yes, we had that same set, and she bought them in 1950. That's some serious accuracy, if you ask me.
The most amazing thing about "Mad Men" is how often I found myself thinking about the show when it wasn't on. The characters felt so real that I would puzzle about what led them to do certain things and what they would do next. Will Don ever realize how ruinous his affairs are to wife Betty? What will unmarried Peggy do with her baby? Will it destroy the marriage of the baby's father, Pete Campbell?
The second-season premiere Sunday night didn't rush to answer those questions, and that's fine. I can wait. These are fictional people, I know, but "Mad Men" is so good that it really makes me want to learn the answers. It's my weekly TV treat, and I'm glad it's back.
