Revisiting Mad Men...

[Warped9]

Yesterday I picked up Season 1 of Mad Men, a show I've lost track of because of moving to a community where the cable provider doesn't carry AMC.

I had started watching Season 3 when I moved and that's where I lost track. I planned on getting Season 3 to catch up when I got the idea to introduce my parents to the series, which I did last night when we watched the first three episodes.

I enjoyed starting again from scratch and saw that my parents were also interested which made it seem a little like seeing it new again for myself. So I'll rewatch everything I've already seen and then we can proceed throughout Season 3 from there.

Of course, I'll have to wait for Season 4 on DVD.

Uh, there is a fourth season, right?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Yep, they'll be a fourth season, starting in Aug, I think. There's no end in sight - AMC isn't going to cancel their prize pig.

I'm on the fence whether I'll jump back into the show - I'm finding it increasingly boring.

 

[Evil Twin]

I watched the first 3 season via Netflix recently. The season 3 finale really shakes things up big time so I'm eager to see what happens next. I bought a season pass for season 4 on iTunes. Decided that's a cheaper way to go rather than paying for cable on a monthly basis when there's only a few cable shows I plan on watching (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Dexter, and Game of Thrones in the spring) The basic channels I just get for free via an HD antenna on my 'puter and use Windows Media Center for recording.

Season 4 starts July 25th BTW.

 

[McCoy]

After hearing so much about Mad Men I watched the first few episodes. I'm afraid it didn't really capture me. The plots weren't much and the only character that came close to being interesting was the new girl who was uncomfortable with all the sexual comments from one of the partners. Then she slept with the guy and I lost interest in her too.

Same thing with Dexter. I'd heard it was so good so I recently watched the first season, but I just didn't find the characters engaging. I finished the season because the arc was pretty good and the premise is really interesting, but my main reason for continuing to subsequent seasons is to see John Lithgow later. Love him and heard he was awesome scary.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I'd tried the first episode back when BBC Four first aired it and it never grabbed me. Then a couple of months ago a friend recommended I watch it and give it more of a chance, so I did and blew through all three seasons in a week and I'm really looking forward to season 4.

 

[Warped9]

It's not always easy to see what others see sometimes. On the face of it Mad Men could seem like just a slicker prime time melodrama, but I admit I was intrigued since seeing the first promos for it and then I was hooked from the first episode. There was just something about it.

You can watch it as just soap opera, but somehow I see so much of what the characters are saying and experiencing as conveying something more substantial.

 

[Lord Garth]

It's been torturous waiting for the fourth season to begin.

I enjoy watching the earlier episodes, knowing what I know now. You get so much more out of the episodes that way.

Take the pilot episode. It's so interesting watching where Peggy starts, knowing where she ends up later on.

You get the sense of how much of a cheat Don is, which you don't get before you find out he's married at the end of the episode. And watching him pull out his purple heart, when you watch the episode the first time you think he actually earned it, afterward it reinforces how much of a fake he is.

Finally, I love how thick Sal lays it on in an attempt to hide that he's gay and the non-answer he gives when asked if he has a girlfriend: "I'm Italian!"

What's most amazing is that not once do I get the sense of "These are 21st Century people pretending it's the 1960s." I cannot picture these actors or actresses as 2010 people. I totally, completely believe I'm looking at 1960-1963 when I'm watching. Sometimes, for the Hell of it, I set the color on my TV to zero.

 

[Warped9]

What's most amazing is that not once do I get the sense of "These are 21st Century people pretending it's the 1960s." I cannot picture these actors or actresses as 2010 people. I totally, completely believe I'm looking at 1960-1963 when I'm watching. Sometimes, for the Hell of it, I set the color on my TV to zero.

Now I gotta try that! Cool!

I agree with you. When I see these actors with contemporary hairstyles and clothes I'm knocked off balance because they just don't look right that way.

 

[A beaker full of death]

After hearing so much about Mad Men I watched the first few episodes. I'm afraid it didn't really capture me. The plots weren't much and the only character that came close to being interesting was the new girl who was uncomfortable with all the sexual comments from one of the partners. Then she slept with the guy and I lost interest in her too.

Ditto. I don't understand the appeal of these glossy, ultra hip, astonishingly shallow shows.
Ya know what had substance? Homicide-Life on the Street. That had substance.

 

[Lord Garth]

The appeal, to me anyway, are the characters, their flaws, and their secrets. The setbacks, the curve-balls, and plot twists. I can root for them one way and side against them in another. The period aesthetic (let's be honest, it was a classier-looking time) and the political incorrectness are other parts of the appeal. Don and Betty actually seem like real parents to their kids.

It's not a series about biting, social commentary and I appreciate that all the events going on in the world around them stay in the background. These aren't politicians or social radicals and -- for the most part -- they wouldn't be caught up in the turbulence of the times. The assassination of John F. Kennedy being the obvious exception.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

but somehow I see so much of what the characters are saying and experiencing as conveying something more substantial.

What would that be? So far, all I've learned is that empty, vapid people lead empty, vapid lives. Not exactly a news flash.

The appeal, to me anyway, are the characters, their flaws, and their secrets.

That's where the show falls short for me. The characters are mindless conformists. They seem vaguely dissatisfied by their empty lives, but lack the self-awareness to know what is wrong, or what to do about it. It's like watching a roomful of blind people groping around for a light switch. You know that even if they find the switch, it'll do them no good.

Even Peggy, who I had hopes for breaking out of her zombie-like torpor, has gone nowhere. Okay, she's a successful career woman, which I'm sure was a big deal in the 60s, but it's paltry by today's standards and I find it hard to care.

The characters have no interesting secrets. Don stole someone else's identity. The boss already poo-pooed that big secret. Don is having affairs with anything in a skirt. Not exactly an original plotline there. Peggy has an illegitimate kid. Another antique plotline, and again - where's the upshot? The kid will be in AARP before there's any progress on that plotline.

I'm certain that even in the pre-hippie days, there were people more self-actualized that this bunch of automatons. I'd rather watch a show about those people.

Which is why I find it so annoying

Spoiler: casting spoiler for the upcoming season

to hear that they've dumped Sal from the show, just as he reached the point where hiding his homosexuality no longer helped him maintain his facade. This is exactly the kind of character I want to see, someone for whom the zombie routine is no longer an option.

 

[Kelso]

I love Mad Men and I'll be there for season four. Though, Temis' spoiler is very disappointing.

 

[Warped9]

The thing is that these characters are realistic in my view. In other shows I like of course part of the appeal is that while portrayed somewhat realistically our heroes are a bit larger-than-life and exceptional beyond the norm in some way or other that many people we know in the real world usually are not.

In Mad Men the people are believable as those who struggle and flounder, occasionally winning something yet unable to solve things that haunt them throughout their lives. I think the characters of Mad Men stand out as more credible than what we usually see in television. They often don't win and often at best just hang on to what little they have. None of them are pure and wholly good and none of them are thoroughly bad. They're believable as people I could really know in the real world.

And perhaps that is why Mad Men might turn some people off. Because in film and television we often want to escape the real world and identify with characters that are capable of making a difference and beating the odds, something that often seems very elusive in real life.

 

[Warped9]

Well, it's official. My parents tried watching the first couple of Season 1 episodes and now they're hooked. This evening we've just started watching Season 2.

 

[Dream]

"The more I hear about it, my opinion of Mad Men has gradually shifted from 'that sounds interesting' to 'apparently, Mad Men is humanity's finest endeavor since walking upright' to 'so help me God, when I put that DVD in it had better change my ***ing life. It had better make me smarter and get revenge on that girl who dumped me in high school.' Always with the goddamned Mad Men."

 

[Lord Garth]

Well, it's official. My parents tried watching the first couple of Season 1 episodes and now they're hooked. This evening we've just started watching Season 2.

Glad they like it. Anyone I've shown Mad Men to has gotten into it as well, except my father (since we have such different taste in TV and movies, I'm not surprised).

I can't wait to see what you have to say about the end of the third season. I won't say anything but I know you'll get a huge kick out of it.

 

[Warped9]

^^ Well, it's interesting to go through these episodes that I've already seen with my parents for whom it's all new. Often enough I see something I don't recall. But even so I'm anxious to get to the episodes I haven't seen yet. At our current pace that should be in about a week and a half.

 

[Lord Garth]

I love Mad Men and I'll be there for season four. Though, Temis' spoiler is very disappointing.

Spoiler: Mad Men Season 3 and 4

Except SCDP's most important client is Lucky Strike, which means there's no way they can hire Sal. Outside of that, I don't see how Sal's story can tie into the overall plot.

I don't see how Betty can either, but I guess we'll see. I've seen pics of Ken, and I kind of doubt he's been hired by SCDP since that would be more of the same (S3's Pete vs Ken), so either we get to see McCann or Ken's working for Gray with Duck, who I'm sure we haven't seen the last of.

 

[Warped9]

I've finally seen the Season 3 finale. I loved it although it seemed short. I just loved how they got themselves fired to start a new company and how they went about it. Everybody's relationships seemed to be reassessed and redefined.

My parents have also gotten into the series.

I've been debating about downloading season 4 because my cable provider doesn't carry AMC here. But then I'd also have to buy a dvd burner just to watch it because otherwise I've no present need for a burner. I'll likely just have to wait until the Season 4 sets are released.

Yes, the way Sal was dumped was sad. He got royally screwed for, er, not letting himself get screwed. Total injustice.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Guys, about that spoiler....

Spoiler: clarification

Sal will be back half way through the season. Weiner confirmed this. What happened to Sal's character was brutally realistic. He'll sure have a reason to be ticked off at Don. Then again, who doesn't have a reason to be ticked off at Don?