AMC's Mad Men is a vastly acclaimed show, garnering numerous Emmys, Golden Globes, and accolades across the board. So you don't need me to tell you that it's good. Nonetheless, after spending the past two months making my way through four seasons and 52 episodes, I feel compelled to outline why exactly you should watch this show if you haven't done so already.
A common complaint from many people who have tried to watch Mad Men is that it is not easy to get started. This the very reason I never watched it until now. By the time the show started racking up awards and I felt like I ought to give it a try, too many episodes had passed. I tried to watch the Season 3 premiere in August 2009, but with absolutely no back story or idea of who these characters were, I found it less than compelling. So my first piece of advice is this: watch it from the beginning. This is emphatically NOT a show that you can just get into midway. Well, you could try, but you won't enjoy it or understand it half as much as you would if you had seen every episode.
I organized my viewing of the show by watching one episode a day at the gym. This is a strategy I highly recommend, because this is a show that demands your attention. The episodes always seem to start a little slow, especially at the beginning of a season, because this is a series that relies very much on establishing a mood and tone rather than being exclusively plot-driven. So it is easy to stop paying attention during a slow bit, only to discover that you have managed to miss some crucial piece of information that will resurface with dramatic consequences later on. But if you go with the flow and allow yourself to be immersed in this 60's world of advertising, booze, cigarettes, and other assorted vices, you'll find yourself fully enveloped in the show's charm.
Speaking of charm, almost everyone knows about Don Draper, the show's antihero protagonist who ought to be reprehensible but somehow just becomes the guy you root for. Every time he does something awful, he does something spectacularly kind that makes him hard to hate. The glimpses into his past life help you make excuses for his current behavior, and there's always someone else who behaves a little worse than him and helps him escape the blame. It is little wonder than Jon Hamm keeps winning Best Actor awards for this performance because he has taken what should be an unlikable character and made him thoroughly sympathetic. Every time you see Don's eyes go dark as he realizes the mess he had made of his life, you can't help but wish he could find a way to be happy, and you insist that he deserves happiness regardless of the things he's done.
Apart from Don, the show is chock-full of other brilliant characters. There are no one-note performances; every character has a complicated background, complex motivations, and myriad facets to their personalities that always keep you guessing. From its slow start the show has rapidly accumulated a series of shocking plot twists and secrets that threaten to help or harm various people and the complex interplay between these characters and their dueling ambitions is what makes this show one of the most riveting dramas on TV. The show is also great for any one who likes to get a little education with their TV watching since there is plenty of social commentary and discussions of the events that formed this period of American history. Racism, feminism, Communism, Hollywood, space, Kennedy, the list goes on. These topics are all woven into the fabric of the show and the writers artfully provide social discourse while refraining from sounding preachy.
A final word on the production value. The show has earned multiple awards just for costume design and you can find plenty of articles that discuss the showrunners' obsession with detail. They ensure that the TV shows they have running in the background or the products they discuss or the music they feature are all historically accurate. Your belief in this world they have created is sustained for the full 50 minutes of each episode and it is with a start that you return to the 21st century when the show ends.
If you've been putting off watching Mad Men, don't put it off any longer. The show has been on an extra-long hiatus due to contract negotiations, so you have ample time to get caught up on all four seasons and greet the Season 5 premiere (whenever that is) as a fully informed audience member. At least, that's what I'll be doing.
A common complaint from many people who have tried to watch Mad Men is that it is not easy to get started. This the very reason I never watched it until now. By the time the show started racking up awards and I felt like I ought to give it a try, too many episodes had passed. I tried to watch the Season 3 premiere in August 2009, but with absolutely no back story or idea of who these characters were, I found it less than compelling. So my first piece of advice is this: watch it from the beginning. This is emphatically NOT a show that you can just get into midway. Well, you could try, but you won't enjoy it or understand it half as much as you would if you had seen every episode.
I organized my viewing of the show by watching one episode a day at the gym. This is a strategy I highly recommend, because this is a show that demands your attention. The episodes always seem to start a little slow, especially at the beginning of a season, because this is a series that relies very much on establishing a mood and tone rather than being exclusively plot-driven. So it is easy to stop paying attention during a slow bit, only to discover that you have managed to miss some crucial piece of information that will resurface with dramatic consequences later on. But if you go with the flow and allow yourself to be immersed in this 60's world of advertising, booze, cigarettes, and other assorted vices, you'll find yourself fully enveloped in the show's charm.
Speaking of charm, almost everyone knows about Don Draper, the show's antihero protagonist who ought to be reprehensible but somehow just becomes the guy you root for. Every time he does something awful, he does something spectacularly kind that makes him hard to hate. The glimpses into his past life help you make excuses for his current behavior, and there's always someone else who behaves a little worse than him and helps him escape the blame. It is little wonder than Jon Hamm keeps winning Best Actor awards for this performance because he has taken what should be an unlikable character and made him thoroughly sympathetic. Every time you see Don's eyes go dark as he realizes the mess he had made of his life, you can't help but wish he could find a way to be happy, and you insist that he deserves happiness regardless of the things he's done.
Apart from Don, the show is chock-full of other brilliant characters. There are no one-note performances; every character has a complicated background, complex motivations, and myriad facets to their personalities that always keep you guessing. From its slow start the show has rapidly accumulated a series of shocking plot twists and secrets that threaten to help or harm various people and the complex interplay between these characters and their dueling ambitions is what makes this show one of the most riveting dramas on TV. The show is also great for any one who likes to get a little education with their TV watching since there is plenty of social commentary and discussions of the events that formed this period of American history. Racism, feminism, Communism, Hollywood, space, Kennedy, the list goes on. These topics are all woven into the fabric of the show and the writers artfully provide social discourse while refraining from sounding preachy.
A final word on the production value. The show has earned multiple awards just for costume design and you can find plenty of articles that discuss the showrunners' obsession with detail. They ensure that the TV shows they have running in the background or the products they discuss or the music they feature are all historically accurate. Your belief in this world they have created is sustained for the full 50 minutes of each episode and it is with a start that you return to the 21st century when the show ends.
If you've been putting off watching Mad Men, don't put it off any longer. The show has been on an extra-long hiatus due to contract negotiations, so you have ample time to get caught up on all four seasons and greet the Season 5 premiere (whenever that is) as a fully informed audience member. At least, that's what I'll be doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment