I've viewed almost all of Season I and I'm hooked. I was hooked after the first Episode. It's the characters and how everything looks. The story is secondary, as far as I'm concerned, although it also is very good. Revolving around the characters in a New York 1960's ad agency there are the clothes, the hair, the smoking, the drinking everywhere including in the office, the dominating males, the sleazy males and females, the secretarial pool, the switchboard operators - just everything that is reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn and Rock Hudson. It's just too, too cool.
I heard the remnant of an interview on PBS with Matthew Weiner who wrote it. He had it down pat. I was only about 10 years old at this time, but I remember no seat belts in the car and having no fear of dry cleaning bags. I remember wearing big petticoats that made my gathered skirt stick out like a flower. Garter belts - I wore one, but remember that my Dad said I was so skinny I probably needed suspenders to hold it up. I remember I wore those cat eye glasses, too.
Anyway, it's really just a very glamorous soap opera with all sorts of tomcatting by both sexes. But that's not all. There are intrigues of the ad agency sort, some serious backstabbing and office gossiping. It all adds up to a very entertaining series. It does move slowly, but that's OK. I want to be able to savor the pink dress with the tiny white belt, the 1960's era home decorating or watch the slatternly, bohemian artist maneater wearing a belly baring Mexican top and stacks of funky bracelets on her arms. Her friends are inclined to beatnik rebelness. (That's like in rebel)
The language is not terrible. The dialog includes what typically chauvinistic males of that era might use and it's at times rather vulgar. The affairs are steamy, but not too much so. It's the atmosphere that draws you along with the assortment of characters that are not easily forgotten.
Just watch it if you have cable or rent it if you don't.
Rating for Mad Men
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