Did the Mad Men Marathon this weekend. Really enjoyed it!! Up to Season 2 now. Excellent TV series about advertising industry in the 60's. It won an Emmy for best drama just now and its 8.8 on IMDB.

Also started Breaking Bad after reading the thread on SB too.

Add:
Sons of Anarchy
Eastbound and Down

Keep up with Breaking Bad you gonna LOVE it.

Dudes who have hair like Don draper are pretty awesome and really I hate to be such a dude but goddamn



Also
yes SOA fucking rules.
SAMCRO!

This show makes me wish I had cable. I see stills of it and it pretty much looks like everything I love. I need to start getting these dvds.

missy I think you'd love it from a design perspective. It's probably the most meticulously researched and depicted "period" TV drama, ever. Although it goes overboard to indicate "era! era!" it's pure eye candy if you have any sort of fondness for midcentury design and fashion, and I don't just mean the self-consciously design-y stuff. Even the clutter and acoutrements in the Draper home are spot on. The art direction is so complete that some shots actually look like excerpts from old movies or TV shows.

Dramatically, it's addictive and incorporates social/historical realities of the time that emphasize the contrast between then and now, but I wish it had a bit more depth and resonance overall. It's a little soap opera-y in general and like most progressive dramas, sometimes leaves threads hanging, unresolved. I still have a few episodes to catch up on but from what I've seen so far, the third season does seem to be pushing everything a lot further, to the credit of the show's makers.

Until I hit the third season I kept thinking that the show, as great as it is, has been overhyped and overrated, and have preferred the unlikely-but-intense drama of "Breaking Bad." However both shows seem to have gone from very good to truly great as they've progressed.

Speaking of midcentury design and advertising, Google has put the classic era of Life Magazine online. This isn't just the photo excerpts that have been there for some time, it's entire issues, cover to cover from 1935 through the early 1970s. You can find ads (like the then-radically minimalist and ostensibly self-critical Volkswagon ads that perplexed the traditionalists at Sterling Cooper) discussed on "Mad Men" in its pages, which aside from the legendary good journalistic photography, include a real wealth of period advertising. Oh man, the classic cars! And if you're a recombinant sort of artist, it's spot art heaven.

Dean,

You're speakin' my language.

Soap opera-y is fine. I'm immersed in Dark Shadows right now. Talk about a melodrama!

Finally caught up. I should have saved my comments for being up-to-date. The series got even better in the third season. Plus I learned something. Do not drive a tractor through the office while inebriated.

Say WhaT!

Resurrecting this thread. Who's watching/has watched tonight's premier?

Watching now. Betty's got a mouth on her!

Was it just me or was this Mad Men premiere really disappointing?

Just my thoughts.

Haha! I couldn't believe that part! Weird and out of character

I thought it was a pretty lackluster premier as well, especially for being 2 episodes. I felt the violin girl drama was non sequitur and strange also. I was happy that it seems like it is gearing up to be a Peggy heavy season, I wanted more of her last season, however it seems like her story being bossy dealing with the tumult of the ad biz has been done on this show enough already. Also, not enough Joan for me, even with her being a focus last season. Betty's rape diatribe was pretty funny and unexpected, and I really like Rizzo's beard, those were my favorite parts.

I loved this start. You guys have to remember this show is layered with so much complexity that it needs to be studied. If you don't have the time to either think deeply or do the research to help you get it a lot can be lost.

For example, Matt Weiner in an interview said that both this eppisode as well as the rest of this season are heavily influenced by Dante's Inferno. Don was actually reading it on the beach.

Now in the book Dante's Inferno hell is described as cold, freezing not fire. And the decent is structured in levels. In this eppisode we see and reflect a lot on death. The door man, the doctor, Rogers mom, don even has a drunken conversation with the door man asking what heaven looked like. Don starts out this eppisode in a paradise and a hot climate and end up in freezing place doing what he knows he doesn't want to do ( this is both his hell and purgatory) . This series also has been basically Dons decent into hell from the get go.

Also from experience we know this show always delivers and is a slow build.

If your expecting brainless entertainment this isn't the show to watch.

As for Sandy and a lot of the unexplained, it will all work out you gotta keep watching.

I for one am so happy to have great TV back on !

Where is Dean now with his break down

Not out of character at all actually.

Betty is weird, and this is showing how comfortable she is around Henry now.

The scene was supposed to shock you with her awkwardness. Worked beautifully.

I don't think its been done at all. Peggy is turning into Don, and were seeing her power grow. Hopefully we will see her harness it and not let it turn her into Don.

Joan will get her airtime now she is a partner. Patience !!

I had the same thought about Peggy (I'm assuming you meant Peggy) turning into Don. It'll be interesting to see if/when she realizes it.

Fixed. Yup thanks, I meant Peggy

To me the only thing that was a bit out of place betty and the violinist. Even then I can see how her conversation with the girl would have gotten to her. It was a pretty dark episode, i think. Death seemed to be everywhere. I really enjoyed, and felt for Roger, and how they built up to his breakdown. When he saw the shoe shine box is when he finally accepted his mother's death, before that he was in shock. Don throwing up at the funeral, what was that all about?

anyways, someone pointed out to me this website for having great madmen episode analysis. for those who want to dig a little deeper.

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/08/mad_men ... _paradise/


ps. peggy rules! and she's still talking with Stan, that whole scene was awesome. "He likes you.."

^^Thanks for that link! I just got around to reading it, really interesting. I've always been one to take a lot of shows for face value, not really digging in too deep into things but there were some good points in there. It goes along with what Rich was saying about dantes inferno and the rings of hell.
Haha and it reminded me of probably my favorite line(s) from the episode:
Don "does that make you think of suicide?"
Stan "Yeah! That's what's so great about it!"

I hate Pete and loved tonight's episode, momentum has been built!

The gallery I work at had a past exhibition focusing on remixes, and brought in a NY video artist who remixed scenes from Mad Men to look like Don and Roger were having an affair with each other. Pretty amusing to watch!

http://elisakreisinger.wordpress.com/video/queer-men-don-loves-roger/

Yeah I enjoyed this episode much more! Loved Trudi's line ".. I will destroy you!" she's such a housewife and then turns around with that!

Things are getting more and more interesting. Good for Trudy put her foot down, show's how much of a coward Pete is.