PDA

View Full Version : Mad Men



Zoidburg
19-09-2018, 15:42
Afternoon all,

I'm currently about midway through a box set of Mad Men (getting towards the end of season 3 at present) and thought id jot a few lines in the hope that it spurs people on to give it a try. I really didn't think it would be my sort of thing but its absolutely brilliant, superb storytelling.

The series is a period drama set in 1960s New York, and revolves around alpha male Don Draper and his struggles to stay on top of the heap in the high-pressure world of Madison Avenue advertising firms. Aside from being one of the top ad men in the business, Don is also a family man, the father of young children. But he also has a very murky past and is generally just about morally bankrupt!

It also covers a large cast of other (mostly fabulous) characters within the agency of Sterling Cooper (later to be Sterling, Cooper Draper & Price) as well as the changing social situations through the 60s into the early 70s.

I actually originally started watching it from somewhere around season 3 a couple of years ago (my OH was watching it and I also got caught up in it) through to its final season which from memory has an absolutely stunning final episode. But then a month or so back I decided that I wanted to see it from the very beginning as a friend was talking about it and so here I am again totally immersed in it and watching a episode or 2 each evening.

Its easily findable on Netflix as well as other platforms I think.

Anyway give it a try, you might like it.

Frazeur1
13-11-2018, 10:34
I thought it was a very decent series to watch, enjoyed it all really, good stuff! Work/businesses have come a long way...or have they really?

Zoidburg
13-11-2018, 14:26
I thought it was a very decent series to watch, enjoyed it all really, good stuff! Work/businesses have come a long way...or have they really?

Id love to be able to knock back a few martini's before lunch whilst at work but sadly id never get anything done!

Frazeur1
13-11-2018, 19:08
Or knock a few other things...uh oh, shouldn't have said that! :)

rigger67
13-11-2018, 21:04
Personally, I think it's the greatest TV series ever created (aside from Match Of The Day, obviously).

The scale of it all, the scope of the themes and history covered during its story arcs, the attention to detail, the depth of the characterisation, the dialogue, the wit, the in-jokes .. all of it is completely staggering.

I've watched the entire run twice now and will do so again .. and again .. and again.

I worked in advertising for a while so that may mean I'm biased but it's not just about marketing, commerce or business .. in fact, the setting is not that important. It's about the people and the issues of their times. It's about feminism, racism, freedom of speech, art, culture, music, love, sex and everything else that comes with the "human condition".


Simply put, it's a masterpiece of television at the height of the golden age that currently seems set to run for a few more years yet ..

Macca
14-11-2018, 08:32
I watched the first couple of episodes but didn't get any further.

There was one thing that put me off it. There's a scene where he is driving home from a party with his wife and they are talking in the car, but the 'car' was so obviously a set with a rolling backdrop and I couldn't figure out if this was deliberate stylisation or just poor production values.

Anyway it confused me which broke the spell a bit and I stopped watching.

I should probably give it another chance.

rigger67
14-11-2018, 08:57
deliberate stylisation

Given the ridiculous levels of detail anyone with the merest hint of an interest in the vintage can pick out in every scene I'm fairly sure it would purely have been an artistic nod (and another in-joke) at the period's own TV output.

Plus, you wonder about production values ? The costumes alone would dwarf most shows' entire budgets ..

Macca
14-11-2018, 12:27
Given the ridiculous levels of detail anyone with the merest hint of an interest in the vintage can pick out in every scene I'm fairly sure it would purely have been an artistic nod (and another in-joke) at the period's own TV output.

Plus, you wonder about production values ? The costumes alone would dwarf most shows' entire budgets ..

Yes, you're right. David Chase, just fresh from a massive hit with The Sopranos, so you've got to figure that they gave him a blank cheque. I just wasn't prepared for it to go all 'abstract' like that since that never happened in The Sopranos. It jarred with me.

Pigmy Pony
14-11-2018, 20:52
David Chase, with The Sopranos, heralded a new age of television, with movie-size budgets and production values.

How things have moved on...There was a time when theatre was the thing, and films were a poor second. Then television was similarly regarded by the film industry. These days it seems that the television companies attract the biggest stars and have enormous budgets at their disposal. While half the films made now are Pixar type cartoons with actors merely providing voice-overs.

I wonder what the future holds for cinema - in the past they've been able to use 3D or surround sound to get bums on seats. What will it be next?

Barry
14-11-2018, 21:45
Virtual reality headsets?

Pigmy Pony
14-11-2018, 22:44
Virtual reality headsets?

Possibly, it needs to be something that TV aren't able to emulate or even improve upon any time soon. VR headsets are everywhere these days - you only have to fart in a phone shop to qualify for a free one.