Mad Men -- Season 7 Discussion

[Lord Garth]

I don't see a thread for this yet and we're only 11 days away, so I'll be the one to start it this year.

The first reviews for the premiere are in. Here's one of them. Read at your own risk.

link

I'm looking forward to the new season. I wish it wasn't split into two halves but I probably won't be thinking that in 2015 when I have more to look forward to.

 

[Toxteth O´Grady]

Can't wait! Mad Men is one of my favorite shows. Don Draper is one of the most interesting characters to come along in a TV show. I love characters that make me both root for him and despise him.

I don't like reading reviews of movies or TV shows before I watch them, so I'm not clicking on that link.

Yeah, it sucks that the last season is going to be split up, but that appears to be the new AMC way of doing things.

 

[Lord Garth]

They're hoping for a ratings surge in the second half of the final season just like with what happened with Breaking Bad but I think the situations couldn't be more different.

Breaking Bad's audience gradually grew through word of mouth. People were still discovering the show right up until the end and even afterward. After hearing so many people rave about it, I started watching last December, and burned through all five seasons in a week! I've never done that with a series before. Ever.

I wish the series was on 20 years ago. It would've made me a lot more interested in Chemistry when I was in high school.

Mad Men made a huge splash from Day One. Anyone who's interested in giving the series a chance has probably discovered it by now. It was a critical favorite from the beginning. Mad Men didn't creep into consciousness, it was always all over the media, especially during the first few years. So I don't see how splitting the seasons will increase the ratings for Mad Men like it would for Breaking Bad.

 

[Toxteth O´Grady]

I agree with that. Breaking Bad became the thing to watch in the past year or so. Mad Men won four Dramatic Emmys in a row, so I think anybody who was in the least bit interested in it has watched it by now. Shows that win lots of awards tend to have their audiences already built in. I think great word-of-mouth helps those shows win awards in the first place.

Plus Mad Men doesn't have that element that compelled people to binge-watch Breaking Bad. People were drawn in by the idea of a mild-mannered high school teacher cooking meth. And the storyline just kept picking up speed as the episodes went on. The seasons of Mad Men are pretty self-contained. Yes, there are character arcs that move forward season to season, but the episodes don't have that "I can't wait to see what happens next" vibe that Breaking Bad had.

 

[gblews]

Yes, Mad Men is a much moe subtle dramtic experience than BB was. There isn't that life or death struggle element. So much of MM is about human dignity, pride, love. etc. But it is accomplished with such understated beauty and poetry. So much on the show is conveyed by a look from a character or an offhand remark. Add to that the "period porn" -- the shows absolute dead on characteriation of not just the 60's as a decade, but each individual year. It is a remarkable achievement.

So looking forward to how it all ends, or I should say, where thye choose to leave these characters. If ever a show could comfortably go out like (ironically), the Sopranos, this is the one.

 

[Toxteth O´Grady]

Despite some of the bad things that Don has done over the course of the show, I sincerely do hope that the show ends with him happy. He's been hurting for a while now, as evidenced by the end of last season when he was put on mandatory leave of absence from the agency. The last scene of the season was Don showing his children where he grew up. I feel that may be the start of Don finally opening himself up and hopefully finding some peace. Betty does know about his past as Dick Whitman, but at this point, his relationship with his kids is more important than the one with his ex-wife.

 

[gblews]

Are we okay for spoilers in this thread, op? Some are new to the show and may be bingeing right now.

 

[Toxteth O´Grady]

I would guess that we can give out spoilers since this thread is about Season 7 specifically. Once the season starts we'll be in here talking about the episodes so I'm just going to go ahead and assume anybody coming in here is up to speed.

 

[Lord Garth]

Are we okay for spoilers in this thread, op? Some are new to the show and may be bingeing right now.

Spoilers are okay for anything up to and including Season 6. I say this because I figure if anyone's clicking on a thread about the seventh season, they've either seen the first six or don't care about spoilers.

Season 7 spoilers should have the spoiler warning.