ManicMammy's Blog

Reviews, news, family, wine and me

Mad Men

Posted on | June 9, 2008 | No Comments

Just 3 episodes in and I’m really looking forward to the next instalment of this drama series. Set in an advertising world of New York in 1960, it centres on Don Draper, the creative director of the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency.

Initially we see the facade of a suave, goodlooking, stylish man working in this fast paced, pressurised world with his picture perfect wife and 2 kids to go home to. Then the cracks begin to appear: his mistress, drinking, alternative name and we begin to realise all is not as it seems and the snap analysis of this man that we made on initial viewing may not be the real one.

The first episode also heralds the arrival of his new secretary, Peggy Olsen who initially appears very naive and out of her depth as she hears a barage of advice on what to wear, how to act, who to placate from Joan, the office manager. The whole typing pool is something to behold.

The New York of 1960 is incredibly well portrayed here. It looks fabulous, the costumes, scenery and feel faultless. Every scene seems to have the majority of characters smoking, which is really odd to see now. Pregnant women drinking, drink driving, sexism, racism: all subjects that are now not tolerated are shown and it does really strike home how much has changed in the intervening years. It does make uncomfortable viewing at times.

The dialogue is sharp and the rivalry and subterfuge between the ad execs is entertaining as they struggle to come up with the next winning slogan and ad campaign. Their certainty that Dickie Nixon is a shoe in for the upcoming election and the wives’ bewilderment at why the new single mother on the block just likes to walk to clear her head without having a purposeful destination adds to the humour.

Worth keeping an eye out for, I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds.

Creative Commons License
The Mad Men by ManicMammy's Blog, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Category: Reviews
Tags: > > >

Comments

Leave a Reply