AMC's Mad Men Debuts Tonight
Submitted by jimhanas on Thu, 07/19/2007 - 17:15.
Mad Men, a new drama about the ad world circa 1960, debuts tonight on AMC. My review is up at Radar Online. Meanwhile, over at Slate, industry vet Adam Hanft wonders what might have been.
Anyone planning on watching? I'll be interested to hear the adgrunt reaction.
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I'm dying to see it actually... can't wait!
It was pretty good, I'll keep following the show.
The shots were great - very beautifully directed, etc. The script...could have been better. But, could have been worse. First episodes can sometimes be somewhat awkward as they try to set up everything, so I'll give it a break on that. Acting was decent too.
Honestly though, if it wasn't about advertising or if I wasn't in advertising, I'm not sure if I'd be as inclined to want to see it again. Would be interested to hear some non-adgrunt opinions on it from that perspective.
It wasn't half bad.... I wasn't expecting much, and I'll hold my full judgement until the next episode. The writing could have been better, considering it's all set in Adland.
It might be a sopranos, not everyone who watches that is in the mob.
Watching it now, holy cow that intro, yum! Yum. Started out good, intro's are half the show. ;)
There's a free a 23min vid of the making of Mad Men on iTunes here
Dang, first it seemed to work, despite me not being in the US, but then the film kept stopping and when I tried to download it again to make it work, it just told me to use my .mac login - which I don't have naturally. Gaaah.
It's very sexist. I mean the characters in the show, and their attitudes and style... isn't it? I caught myself wondering if it was placed in the sixties specifically so that they could be like that, and pretend that it's different these days (though in some cases, it's really not changed that much at all...)
Maybe. It also gives it some instant controversy and meat to some plot lines.
True, maybe it was the "instant controversy" they were going for. They could have as much sexist 'fun' with a major city newspaper office in the same era, but then there's no cigarette accounts. ;P
Right, last night I watched episode two and three.
I might be the only one who finds the whole thing kinda sad, like in a depressing way. Not because of the rampant sexism in the early sixties and the constant smoking and the cynical shilling of crud and the sad sad envy of the "lemon" ad, but because - wow - all of that could be happening right now except with updated outfits at any given agency. Or is that just my experience? The lunchdate=you are dessert line really hit home.
Anyway, there are a few things I really like about the show, it seems the writer tries to work in something that is just an instantly recognisable advertising-in-thing in each episode, for a moment I thought the lemon ad might have been one of those things but then it returned later to be a topic_ of discussion. I also really love the styling, the camera-work and the actors are doing a great job being buffons, sluts, wives, token gay AD's, crying secretaries and whatnot. Plus, some things are hilarious, like when the pregnant mother chainsmokes with another mom, we don't see her pregnant belly until after a few puffs, making sure that we all react with a slight shock since that's simply not done these days, then to top it off one of the kids comes walking into the kitchen with a plastic bag on her head and the mother scolds her for leaving the drycleaning on the floor. With todays "OMG think of the children" attitudes that just struck me as hilarious. Also, the writing is shaping up, many good lines and quick retorts that I'd like to see more of - like Caff says, it's an advertising agency after all. ;)
It feels like these one-dimensional cardboard people might not be so one-dimensional after all and I'll keep watching to figure them out - but yeah, I find it a little sad. Not because ad-mad life once was like that but because it still is in so many ways - and the suburban life too, with all the wives being extra suspicious of the walking divorcee. Heh, I recognize that whole walking = weird bit, and how a divorcee is guarded as if she might nab someones husband while she's busy fending off unwanted attention. Damn, it was genious to place it back in the sixties if you think about it.
Sorry about the posting hiccups, I was using a text-based browser and didn't see the post go through - but it did!
www.usatoday.com
That comment about the dry-cleaning had me laughing too.
I like the show. I was prepared to be dissappointed by it, but I'm finding that each week gets better.
I love that they're still going to run a little vignette with Lois in a few weeks -- for that authentic feel -- even though he hates the show.
Ho-kay, I'm officially addicted now and here I start with the Adland Mad Men Recap(s). I'll do more.
(I need episode five!)