Mad Men

I have never watched it. The premise of ad men in NYC in the 60's never had any appeal. But since this is the last season and there will be room in my AMC show sched., I'll give it a try. Having spent the entire 60's in CA and knowing that Mad Men is supposed to faithfully represent the "mores" of the 60's, women's subjugation and other fantasies, we'll see how accurate or skewed they are.....

AMC had a marathon over the weekend so I spent some time on and off, watching 4-5 episodes from the past two seasons. I figured that since it won 4 Emmys for best drama it deserved a look before I critiqued it.  The first episode of the final season, 8, was on last night and it was better than the earlier eps that I watched, in some respects, so I'll watch the whole final season and see how they end it.  That's always interesting.

But in general it doesn't measure up to other popular AMC shows, in my opinion, such as Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Saul, Halt and Catch Fire, etc. Why ?  ....because it seems very bland and low key. There isn't a  sense of danger or tension and not much actually happens. I suppose that appeals to some viewers and if they "like" seeing alcoholism, infidelity, scheming, betrayal ,etc. then this fills the bill.

The male characters seem to be written to be colorless and 'flat', while still being involved in orgies, drinking constantly, philandering, etc. But the women, at least some of them, Peggy and Joan for example are written to be more powerful and moral characters.

Elizabeth Moss who plays Peggy doesn't look like the typical "hottie" that might be cast in that role but she does a good job. Christina Hendricks on the other hand is the type of actress that "stops traffic" every time she walks into a room. She plays Joan in an environment filled with sexism and innuendos and "keeps her cool" in the face of it. But there were a couple of 'cringe-worthy' moments even in the limited time that I watched. The writers used her real "assets" to write sexist dialog which didn't strike me as very appropriate even though the words were put into fictional characters to demonstrate the "mores" of that time and place......but still....she did a good job of handling it.

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There were several minor roles played by actresses recognized from other shows.  Alison Brie (Annie on Community) plays a wife of one of the ad men. She is 'glammed' up in 60's style as to be almost unrecognizable. Ditto Maggie Siff who played Jax' wife on Sons of Anarchy.  Elizabeth Reaser who played the wife of the vampire doctor, and Edward's mother in the Twilight series, played a waitress in a small diner who turns tricks in the alley on her break for $100.  Don Draper of course availed himself of her services on his first visit to the diner. On a later visit she told him that she wouldn't be repeating "that" and  if he came in again he must have date with him.

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I suppose this will go down in TV history as a significant show, but not for the best reasons.

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I'm still not getting why this was so popular. Basically a night-time soap opera with less restrictions and a lot of whiskey drinking......

I am still faithfully watching and still don't get why this is so "good". Admittedly, 'Joan' is the best character.

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Only one more episode to go. I don't know why the writers needed to give Betty terminal cancer. At least January Jones got a new gig on Last Man on Earth.