Is Mad Men worth my time?

[startrekwatcher]

I've heard so much about this AMC series and have seen so many threads about it but haven't ventured into them for fear of being spoiled if I decide to watch it.

So is it any good? I generally like shows that balance character and plot, are heavily serialized, full of twists, and has an interesting premise. I can enjoy a show if the characters aren't that great as long as there are really good plotlines. On the otherhand, I don't really care for dramas that come across as pretentious and angsty i.e. the last two seasons of BSG. So many critical darlings I've sampled turned out being a little too full of themselves and I get that vibe from Mad Men.

Please no spoilers just talk in general about it. Is it arc-based? Does it have a complex mythology like LOST? Or does it employ a more traditional arc storytelling with each season having a self-contained storyline that is resolved by the end of each season?

 

[Kelso]

I like it.

 

[Lord Garth]

It's definitely isn't angst-y like BSG. What angst there is isn't open angst either. Mad Men is about appearances and how things are not what they seem. People want to do their best to maintain their image and agnst in pre-Nirvana times was bad form. These people have their issues bottled up, for better or worse.

The main character is Don Draper (Jon Hamm), who is head of creative at for the advertising agency Sterling Cooper in the 1960s. The show begins in the first few months of 1960, so it goes without saying that times will change as the seasons progress.

I'd say there is a fair amount of focus between the characters' personal, professional, and family lives. It's very much an ensemble piece.

The stories unfold over a season and tend to pick up steam in the final third of it.

One more thing, just so you know: this show is about the "squares" of the 1960s. None of them are very likely to attend Woodstock.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Not unless you like being bored.

The plotline develops too slowly. This is coming from someone who watched Lost all the way through.

The characters are atrocious dicks that you can't relate to and wish would get vaporized by a nuclear first strike or at the very least, crushed by a random asteroid. This is coming from someone who watched BSG all the way through.

On the otherhand, I don't really care for dramas that come across as pretentious and angsty i.e. the last two seasons of BSG.

Ay caramba. It's pretentious and angsty to the max without the fun parts like secret Cylons, severed limbs* and space mutinies.

*Okay there was a little of that, but I don't see it as an ongoing theme.

Is it arc-based?

Maybe someday a plot arc will emerge but we're what, four seasons in, and I'm not detecting much movement.

Does it have a complex mythology like LOST?

No. Everything is on the surface for the viewer, if not for the characters.

Or does it employ a more traditional arc storytelling with each season having a self-contained storyline that is resolved by the end of each season?

Four seasons in, nothing has been resolved. It's far from clear whether there's any plan to move the plot from point A to point B and/or ever resolve anything.

I've given up on this hogwash. The emperor has no clothes.

 

[startrekwatcher]

What season is the series currently in?
Edit: Nevermind Temis added it is four seasons in.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

S4, I think. More than enough time for something to have happened. Even my epic patience is at an end.

 

[startrekwatcher]

It's pretentious and angsty to the max without the fun parts like secret Cylons, severed limbs* and space mutinies.

Yeah that was pretty much what I gleaned from what little I've seen of it hence why I haven't rushed out to watch it in all this time.

Maybe someday a plot arc will emerge but we're what, four seasons in, and I'm not detecting much movement.

I don't mind when first wading into a series not really knowing what is about and having to wait a little while for things to start to take shape like LOST or S1 Heroes but it sounds like this isn't the case with Mad Men.

You've pretty much confirmed what I thought the series was like and I do find that we tend to have similar tastes so I think I'll just hold off until I'm really desperate for something to watch before I try to tackle it.

 

[Lord Garth]

Whatever works. Most people I've shown it to like it but if you and Temis have similar tastes, then I recommend you go with her recommendations.

I don't see it as angst-y to the max. IMO, if you want angst, watch Oz.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Ehh, I have a feeling you would like it.

"Now go to your room, Sally!"

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Yes, Mad Men is your cup of tea, StarTrekWatcher. You want plot, characters, and more character development that isn't spoonfed. Mad Men is most definitely your show.

I don't mind when first wading into a series not really knowing what is about and having to wait a little while for things to start to take shape like LOST or S1 Heroes but it sounds like this isn't the case with Mad Men.

You couldn't possibly be more mistaken. Yes, it is the case with Mad Men. I like Temis, but honestly I don't know what she's smoking when she doesn't get into this series. It's everything you claim to want in a show, StarTrekWatcher.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Y
You couldn't possibly be more mistaken. Yes, it is the case with Mad Men. I like Temis, but honestly I don't know what she's smoking when she doesn't get into this series. It's everything you claim to want in a show, StarTrekWatcher.

Okay I might sample the first season--Is the first season good and the show hits the ground running from the start or does it take a few seasons for the show, in your opinion, to pick up.

It just seems you and I have different tastes. I know you love CAPRICA--it bored me. I know you gave up on LOST--I thought it was the best series from the last decade. I know you didn't care for the idea of the Final Five on nBSG but I thought it was genius. I know you like Supernatural a lot more than I do. I know you enjoy True Blood but I can't stand it. So I thought the fact that you are such a big fan of Mad Men would possibly mean that I wouldn't but I guess I'll see.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I don't know if you could say it "hits the ground running," because the pace is so slow--but the characters are intriguing right from the start. The first season is top notch quality, absolutely. It's slow as hell, but everything has a pay off in story. Weiner has recreated the era so authentically--my mother is only two years older than the character of Peggy, who was born in 1940 on the show. She assures me that the attitudes are quite authentic to the era. The acting is so superb that you can't look away. I can't, anyway, but the Golden Globes seem to agree. You seem to demand quality and the writing is so darn good. God, I hate Don.

 

[Dream]

Mad Men definitely isn't for everybody. It's one of those love or hate kind of shows. Do you like period piece dramas? You might want to check out the first episode and make up your own mind.

I think Mad Men is boring. And the characters aren't likable at all. I couldn't make it past the first few episodes.

Shows like LOST, nBSG, and Supernatural are well written, but they also have tons action/fighting to make up for slow episodes. The sci fi and fantasy is what makes them interesting to me.

 

[DBR]

I enjoy it quite a bit, though I don't watch it on TV. I breeze through the episodes on a weekend or something when they come out on DVD.

I'll admit the show is slow--and think I would have probably given up on it if I had to wait for it week after week and sit through the seemingly never ending hour. But I have fallen in love with the characters, and that's what's hooked me.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Shows like LOST, nBSG, and Supernatural are well written, but they also have tons action/fighting to make up for slow episodes.

Action/fighting isn't necessary for me to enjoy a show. In fact, I find a lot of it is very formulaic and there to try to mask deficiencies in the writing. TNG is one of my favorite shows and it rarely included action.

What I do demand from my entertainment is to be entertained. I'm not solely a sf/f person. I've watched and enjoyed a whole variety of other genres. I enjoyed shows like DALLAS, St. Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues, Melrose Place, Friday the 13th The Series, Roseanne, The X-Files etc.

I don't like campy stuff and as a result I just can't stand--Dr. Who, Stargate SG-1, SGA, Buffy, Angel, Xena, Hercules, Eureka, Lexx. I tried giving Gates, V, FF, Haven, Persons Unknown, True Blood a chance this year and was totally bored by them. I prefer more serious dramas but ones that don't feel they have to repeatedly flash in Big Neon Lights that "This is Dramatic and Deep[TM]" the way a show like nBSG did pretentiously--that is one reason in addition to just having boring characters and storylines why I dropped CAPRICA. I also hate it when writers make what I'm watching feel less like entertainment and more like a drab academic study where the characters should be overanalyzed rather than enjoyed i.e. like nBSG or The Sopranos. I tried giving The Sopranos a shot but the material just wasn't my cup of tea even though it might have been well written.

I can't stand formulaic drivel like CSI, L&O, Rizzoli & Isles, Memphis Beat, Covert Affairs. I'm also considering bailing on Burn Notice since its formula is starting to get really tiresome.

Basically all I'm interested in these days are serialized dramas with interesting characters in interesting storylines that shake up the status quo and isn't willing to go the safe predictable familiar route. I've watched so many shows by this point in my life that I want to still be surprised that's why I enjoyed LOST or S1 of Heroes so much.

I also don't mind slow if you mean the pace at which the story unfolds. If there is continuous plot advancement but it slowly develops--that I don't mind but if it slow as in plodding and dull then that is a whole other thing.

 

[Goliath]

I tried watching Mad Men, and quit after two episodes. It didn't spark my interest at all.

I have since been assured that it starts to get interesting the very next episode. Unfortunately, I had already sold my DVDs by then.

So, if you're going to give it a try, I recommend watching at least three episodes.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Give it a shot. You'll never really know unless you experienced it yourself. The threads a bit divided which is fine and dandy. Discussion and debate is what these boards are all about, but personally I say yeah, check it out, why the heck not?

 

[Joe Washington]

Mad Men is a good show that has a slow-paced, artistic storytelling. There have been a few major changes made to the show and the characters' lives over the course of the past three seasons and in the beginning of Season 4. But I suggest you watch Breaking Bad instead because that is the show that's serialized, has a balance of character and plot, is full of explosive twists, and has characters that change WAY more than the characters of Mad Men. For example, the lead character Walter White has gone from being a spineless, bumbling high school teacher in the beginning of S1 to a ruthless drug dealer with blood on his hands by the end of S3.

 

[McCoy]

I tried watching Mad Men, and quit after two episodes. It didn't spark my interest at all.

I have since been assured that it starts to get interesting the very next episode. Unfortunately, I had already sold my DVDs by then.

So, if you're going to give it a try, I recommend watching at least three episodes.

I went three and then bailed. Your instinct was right.

I must say, I'm looking forward to checking out The Big C.

 

[vampgrrl]

I love Mad Men....only behind BSG for my fav shows of the last few years.