*Mad Men* -- what's the BFD?

[Calboner]

What is the big fucking deal about Mad Men? I don't have access to HBO, but I've started watching the series on DVDs borrowed from Netflix. I've watched all of season one and have started on season two. Yes, it is interesting to look back into the world of the early 1960s. Yes, the photography and the sets and costumes are well executed. Yes, the writing is intelligent, and generally avoids clichés and anachronisms (though not always. Glaring example: Joan Holloway saying to the mirror, "Nineteen-sixty, I am so over you!" That way of using the word "so" is so not 1960!). But I can't see that it's the greatest thing on television ever, as some people seem to think. Or am I perhaps attributing to "people" in general an enthusiasm that is found only in female viewers who get wet panties from watching Jon Hamm?

 

[vince]

I watched it three times and thought it was boring. Kind of Ayn Rand light.

Who's Don Draper? Atlas shrugged again.

 

[blondguy]

Dunno what else there is to say. It is, as you point out, a very well shot period piece with intelligent script, depth of characters, great story and perfectly acted. I rank it up there with the Sopranos and the Wire as one of the greatest TV shows of all time. Also Jon Hamm is fucking hot.

 

[Industrialsize]

What is the big fucking deal about Mad Men? I don't have access to HBO, but I've started watching the series on DVDs borrowed from Netflix. I've watched all of season one and have started on season two. Yes, it is interesting to look back into the world of the early 1960s. Yes, the photography and the sets and costumes are well executed. Yes, the writing is intelligent, and generally avoids clichés and anachronisms (though not always. Glaring example: Joan Holloway saying to the mirror, "Nineteen-sixty, I am so over you!" That way of using the word "so" is so not 1960!). But I can't see that it's the greatest thing on television ever, as some people seem to think. Or am I perhaps attributing to "people" in general an enthusiasm that is found only in female viewers who get wet panties from watching Jon Hamm?

There are a fair amount of male viewers who get wet panties watching Jon Hamm......

 

[Calboner]

There are a fair amount of male viewers who get wet panties watching Jon Hamm......

I thought of that, but the only people I had heard raving about him had been women.

 

[ben_big_willy]

For me, it's amazing to see how much society has changed / evolved since the 60s, and conversely, the ways that certain things have not changed at all. I feel like I can relate to my parents' generation and their parents' generation much better because of the show, AND as a designer, I love the visual eye candy. I don't think it's everyone's cup of tea. Give me "Mad Men" any day over "Housewives," "American Idol," or 'the Karbitchians'... God knows that I cannot stand watching Grey's Anatomy, Lost, or any of those crime shows...

 

[D_Rosalind Mussell]

Dunno what else there is to say. It is, as you point out, a very well shot period piece with intelligent script, depth of characters, great story and perfectly acted. I rank it up there with the Sopranos and the Wire as one of the greatest TV shows of all time. Also Jon Hamm is fucking hot.

THIS.

I'd like to add to this that there are different components that draw people in. I was drawn in by the sexist elements. For example, the scene where Joan clearly told her husband "no" to sex in the office and he took her on the floor anyway got to me. While Jon Hamm is no doubt a tasty bag of groceries, he is not the whole series. It's ok if it's no BFD for you, though. Maybe if you like something a little edgier you should try Breaking Bad or Sons Of Anarchy, which are amazing shows.

 

[Calboner]

It's ok if it's no BFD for you, though. Maybe if you like something a little edgier you should try Breaking Bad or Sons Of Anarchy, which are amazing shows.

Actually, I mainly look to television shows for laughs and (where documentaries and news shows are concerned) for information. Attempts at serious drama on television never seem to me much worth taking seriously. Some replies in this thread mentioned The Sopranos and The Wire. I tried both of those shows and had the same reaction as I've had to Mad Men: "Yeah, yeah, but what's all the fuss about?"

 

[D_Rosalind Mussell]

Actually, I mainly look to television shows for laughs and (where documentaries and news shows are concerned) for information. Attempts at serious drama on television never seem to me much worth taking seriously. Some replies in this thread mentioned The Sopranos and The Wire. I tried both of those shows and had the same reaction as I've had to Mad Men: "Yeah, yeah, but what's all the fuss about?"

Understandable. What do you watch for comedies?

 

[cklover]

I read somewhere that lots of white men in their 50's and older like it because of the old timey white male dominance, privilege, etc. You know, leering and being 'wolves' with attractive, bullet bra wearing women...degrading and abusing various (all?) minorities...the golden age of white manhood! When men were men and women were glad......everybody knew his (only masculine pronouns used) place. Hamm is blandly handsome, but is that enough for him to be a chick/gay man magnet? But anyway, probably a bit of nostalgia for the dirty, rotten, brutal, corrupt, greedy, women and minority abusing White Man...ewwwwwwwwwww!

 

[accemb]

I watch relatively few dramas on TV, preferring comedy like Calboner.

However, "Mad Men" fascinates me on many levels. Primarily, I worked in the advertising department of a large newspaper for many years, and did a lot of business with ad agencies. I also began my career in the early 1970s, fresh out of high school, when the 'male dominated' business world was breathing its last, so I did get a small taste of that era.

The historical references (i.e. Bay of Pigs, Kennedy assasination, etc) remind me of my childhood, as does the set design - i.e. automobiles, furnishings, costumes, etc.

I also love to see the characters doing things that today we would NEVER do - i.e. drinking in the workplace, smoking constantly and everywhere (even the female characters during pregnancy!). But that was the way it was in the 1960s.

Oh, and then, there is Jon Hamm. I love every excuse the writers come up with so he can take his shirt off.

I'm looking forward to the new season.

 

[Calboner]

Understandable. What do you watch for comedies?

The only current show that I watch is South Park, though I only see the episodes long after their first broadcast (and the show has slipped well below its best in recent seasons, I think). I was an avid watcher of The Simpsons for its first ten years or so, even though I can now see that it started going downhill in season 5. Monty Python's Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers I consider to be, along with early Simpsons and South Park, among the best. Father Ted is a favorite of mine, though there were only about twenty episodes (each of which I have watched repeatedly). Getting down to American non-cable television, I relish a lot of things in Married . . . with Children, though the audience is annoying and I have to fast-forward through a lot of crap. Frasier had some bits of very good dialogue, despite the annoyingly trite plotting.

 

[Calboner]

By the way, I wonder how many admirers of Jon Hamm remember John Duttine of the BBC television series of To Serve Them All My Days?

 

[justmeincal]

Actually, I mainly look to television shows for laughs and (where documentaries and news shows are concerned) for information. Attempts at serious drama on television never seem to me much worth taking seriously. Some replies in this thread mentioned The Sopranos and The Wire. I tried both of those shows and had the same reaction as I've had to Mad Men: "Yeah, yeah, but what's all the fuss about?"

I totally agree. I've never understood the fascination with Mad Men and especially the Sopranos.

 

[flame boy]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I watched about 6 episodes and lost interest. I really wanted to like the show (almost forcing myself to) but ultimately it bored me. The writing was very realistic and the costumes/sets were admirable, but sadly that wasn't enough to keep me interested.

 

[Calboner]

I am somewhat annoyed by this new mode of cable series writing, where in every episode new plot threads are introduced, a few are tied up, but most are left untied at the end, and every episode after the first one presupposes that the viewer has seen every single previous episode of the show. I don't have access to HBO, so I can't watch the new season of Mad Men anyway, but even if I could, I would be disqualified, because one has to have seen all the previous episodes to understand what is going on.

Nonetheless, here I am making my way through the first two seasons of the series.

So, does no one agree with me that Jon Hamm looks just like John Duttine in that old BBC series (post #13 above)?

 

[B_ladysunshine]

Best series EVER: Supernatural.
Never get enough of it.
Jensen Ackles is nothing less that intoxicating.

 

[HiddenLacey]

I was curious after reading this thread. I do not have HBO. I had never heard of Mad Man, nor did I know who Jon Hamm was. I looked him up and I do not think he is very attractive, but that's just my opinion. I also viewed a few snips on YouTube, not my kind of show at all. I prefer Seinfield, The Simpsons or something similar when I watch a tv series.

 

[Calboner]

I was curious after reading this thread. I do not have HBO. I had never heard of Mad Man, nor did I know who Jon Hamm was. I looked him up and I do not think he is very attractive, but that's just my opinion. I also viewed a few snips on YouTube, not my kind of show at all. I prefer Seinfield, The Simpsons or something similar when I watch a tv series.

Oh, I forgot to mention Seinfeld in my list of television comedies that I have liked to watch.

Curb Your Enthusiasm, on the other hand -- Larry David's second television show -- gets a big "WTF?" from me. I watched a few episodes and found the show not just crappy (no writing at all, bad camera work) but positively annoying.

 

[HiddenLacey]

Oh, I forgot to mention Seinfeld in my list of television comedies that I have liked to watch.

Curb Your Enthusiasm, on the other hand -- Larry David's second television show -- gets a big "WTF?" from me. I watched a few episodes and found the show not just crappy (no writing at all, bad camera work) but positively annoying.

I've never watched that. Something about the show has to lure me in. Seinfield is just so a great series all around. The Simpsons will never grow old neither will South Park, Married with Children and dare I say that I love Tool Time because of my Dad

I dislike shows like Sex and the City, The Soprano's, etc. I've tried to watch them on dvd, the plot is just so boring and repetitious I find myself missing half the show because my mind goes elsewhere. *shruggs* We all have our quirks.