Mad Men Forum

@Rorie said:

I'm only a few episodes in, myself, so I don't want to get spoiled, but it definitely seems like the show's finding its stride after the pilot.

@JokerSmilez said:

You're in for a treat. Mad Men gets progressively better with each season, with season 4 being the best so far. I'm excited to hopefully have some Mad Men discussion on the podcast some time in the future.

In for a treat? Amen to that. Mad Men is a wonder.

Not to get into the whole Mad Men vs. The Sopranos vs. The Wire vs. Breaking Bad debate that was happening on Grantland a few weeks back, but having just finished The Wire, I can affirmatively say that Mad Men is the best of the four, so long as something doesn't go colossally wrong with the upcoming seasons. And even if that were to happen, Mad Men S1 to S4 is probably the best TV I've ever seen.

Actually, I feel a little betrayed by people when it comes to The Wire. After hearing so much hype from all corners and from all types of folks I was expecting it to be a revelation, and it really wasn't, at least not for me. It's a very good show, but I wouldn't say it's as special as it's made out to be. The first and second seasons are great and then it gets progressively worse. But that's just me.

Only thing I hate about Mad Men is January Jones. Her acting is awful and in a cast with so many actors that are decent to amazing it stands out every time she is on screen. It doesn't help that her character is a bitch. I'm not saying she's wrong for certain things, but it seems like at some point they changed their minds and wanted her to be the ideal 60s feminist instead of the ideal 60s wife. Later episodes she is more arching towards the evolution of how women would be in later generations I guess. I much prefer Peggy for that, though. I don't personally feel shes a good character, either because January Jones cant act well enough to pull it off or it's just a character that has traits that I don't like. I really can't say. In contrast, though, Don Draper does some really despicable things and yet remains fascinating

Anyway, that's just my opinion. Thankfully the show is good despite that one thing and I'm glad they put it on Netflix so I could watch it.

I'm sure that I won't be able to articulate this to anyone's satisfaction but I think a more interesting topic is the degree to which the show has deviated from its original tone and vision in the first season as compared to subsequent seasons and especially to season 4.

I'd argue that the first season of Mad Men is a good deal more subversive, intelligent, and critical of its setting and characters than subsequent seasons. Much of season one is concerned with a kind of dispassionate and cool assessment, exploration, and critique of advertising, persuasion, corporate cultural, family values and sexual mores in the 60s. The perspective is neutral and historical as we see in these episodes the origins of much of what defines the ground of our contemporary society, The character of Draper for much of the show's history seems like a man outside and beyond his cultural and social milieu.

However as the seasons have progressed and especially so with season 4, the storylines, the ideas, and the characters are brought into much more conventional and safe territory where glorification of the corporate and the social self are accompanied by the cyclical self-destructive/self-delusional behavior that characterize much of what passes for edgy drama in our times. Draper himself is captured by notions of financial and social success as well as largely conventional family oriented behaviors.

The show suffers from what I have identified in many contemporary television dramas on cable that have achieved some critical success as a tendency to place characters in situations wherein they are breaking the boundaries of conventional culture and ideas and enjoying the pleasure of that freedom who are later punished, lashed, and broken by what is cast as their anti-social and amoral excesses rather than their ecstatic transcendent freedom. It's depressing fare to see these crazy transgressing characters brought under the yoke of conventional mores, values, and psychologies.

To put it simply, Mad Men is now a pretty conventional drama, whereas it used to be a good deal edgier and braver in my estimation.

I only find myself disliking most pilots. Then end up liking the actual shows once the mood and the rhythm kicks in.

Case in point: Warehouse 13 or Alphas. I hated both show's debut.

I will be interested in Matt Rories take on Don's daughter. I have found her to be one of the best child actors that I have seen. Maybe not in the early seasons but season four she has been amazing.

Watched a good few episodes of Mad Men, stunning show at times but need to get around to watching them all.

Mad men is the only show that has ever made me consider making it number 2 behind the wire instead of just making the wire both number 1 and 2 best because it's that far ahead of everything.

@JCHenderson: Check out the young Maisie Williams in Game of Thrones. Fantastic.

@Spencer said:

That pilot is probably the only episode where Betty Draper is anywhere near being a sympathetic character.

Agreed, she has become unbearable.

@matthew_floratis said:

@Rorie said:

I'm only a few episodes in, myself, so I don't want to get spoiled, but it definitely seems like the show's finding its stride after the pilot.

@JokerSmilez said:

You're in for a treat. Mad Men gets progressively better with each season, with season 4 being the best so far. I'm excited to hopefully have some Mad Men discussion on the podcast some time in the future.

In for a treat? Amen to that. Mad Men is a wonder.

Not to get into the whole Mad Men vs. The Sopranos vs. The Wire vs. Breaking Bad debate that was happening on Grantland a few weeks back, but having just finished The Wire, I can affirmatively say that Mad Men is the best of the four, so long as something doesn't go colossally wrong with the upcoming seasons. And even if that were to happen, Mad Men S1 to S4 is probably the best TV I've ever seen.

Actually, I feel a little betrayed by people when it comes to The Wire. After hearing so much hype from all corners and from all types of folks I was expecting it to be a revelation, and it really wasn't, at least not for me. It's a very good show, but I wouldn't say it's as special as it's made out to be. The first and second seasons are great and then it gets progressively worse. But that's just me.

I would say that, most of the impact of the Wire isn't necessarily felt if you are going through the entire series on DVD/Blu-ray. If you were watching the series week to week, season to season, I think it had a bigger impact on the audience. I know for me, I watched seasons 1-3 back to back to back, and they didn't have nearly as much impact on me when I watched season 4 as the episodes premiered. Not sure if that is the greatest defense of The Wire but it might shed some light as to why you might not have enjoyed it as much.

Season 1 was par-excellence. It went downhill for me after that.

I am so excited to watch this, Breaking Bad, and Sons of Anarchy on Netflix. If only I could have an entire week of free time...

It took me awhile to watch this show, I am so behind but I am almost through the first season and one of the things I would hate to see go would be the frank look at society during that period in history. The attitudes are shocking at times, but its compelling in the way its dealt with, there is no sugar coating it, it just is. I dearly hope that does not change as I go on!