Mad Men Season One Review

I haven't watched AMC much in recent years, ever since they added commercial breaks to their movies, and stopped showing classics in favor of '80s and '90s films. However, the channel scored a coup when they landed Mad Men, a drama set in the world of Sterling-Cooper, an early '60s advertising agency (on Madison Avenue, hence the title). Since creator/producer Matthew Weiner was part of the creative team behind The Sopranos, HBO had the right of first refusal on this series, but passed. It's HBO's loss and AMC's gain.

The first season of the acclaimed series has been collected in this DVD, and it is impressive indeed. I enjoyed watching the episodes without commercials, although after viewing the show on AMC, you can look at the ads with a different perspective. Last time I watched the show, one of the spots was for an aid in quitting smoking, which most of the characters on the show could really use. In capturing the look and feel of America circa 1960, the constant cloud of cigarette smoke is as much a part of the fabric as the vintage automobiles, the women's fashions, and the men's Brylcreamed hair.

One of the things viewers will perthaps find a bit shocking is the overt sexism, racism, and anti-semitism of the times, which is portrayed in a very matter-of-fact way.

While irony abounds and there are some laugh out loud moments throught the 13 episodes presented here, Mad Men is essentially a very well-written and well-acted soap opera. Leading the cast are Jon Hamm as Donald Draper, hotshot ad exec with a hidden past, January Jones as his emotionally fragile wife, Elizabeth Moss as the new girl in the secretarial pool who becomes a junior copywriter, and the lovely Chistina Hendricks, whom you may remember from her recurring role as Saffron on Firefly, plays the buxotic (to borrow a phrase from Russ Meyer) Joan Holloway, queen bee of the secretaries, who is sleeping with the boss (John Slattery).

In a nice bit of casting, the firm's senior partner is played by Robert Morse, who played the Puckish J. Pierpont Finch in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

The show has been getting a lot of ink lately, as well as a pantload of Emmy nominations, as its second season debuted at the end of July. Catch up on the first season while you can, and get caught up in the heady drama of Mad Men.

Available on DVD from Lion's Gate Home Entertainment.