The New York Times Magazine spends three days on the set of “Mad Men” with creator/producer/writer Matthew Weiner, and this weekend publishes an 8000-word love letter to the best-written series on television.
Weiner‚Äôs achievements with ‚ÄúMad Men,‚Äù which is produced by Lionsgate, are plentiful, starting with the storytelling. Setting it in the early 1960s, on the cusp between the repression and conformity of the cold war and McCarthy-era 1950s and the yet-to-unfold social and cultural upheavals of the 60s, allows Weiner an arc of character growth that is staggering in its possibilities. It also gives him the opportunity to mine the Rat Pack romance of that period, when the wreaths of cigarette smoke, the fog of too many martinis ‚Äî whether exhilarating or nauseating ‚Äî and the silhouettes specific to bullet bras only heightened the headiness of the dream that all men might one day become James Bond or, at the very least, key holders to the local Playboy Club…
In an e-mail message, Ed Carroll, president of AMC Networks, said: “The network was looking for distinction in launching its first original series, and we took a bet that quality would win out over formulaic mass appeal. In our view, there’s no doubt it paid off.”
No doubt at all. If you’ve seen Mad Men you know how brilliant it is. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, the Season One DVD is released July 1st, so you can look forward to watching the best epic 10-hour Billy Wilder movie that Billy Wilder never made.
so whats your opinion on the netflix price increase for their streaming and dvd service? honestly we dont really care that much because if you really think about it, the more you pay the more movies they can purchase for us and in the long run subscribers will be happy again. but maybe im wrong?
Off topic, but some possible terrible news to report tonight….the great George Carlin has died tonight.
Unconfirmed, but if this true, well lets honor the greatest stand-up comic to have ever worked the stage by uttering outloud the 7 words you can’t say on television.
SHIT
PISS
FUCK
CUNT
COCKSUCKER
MOTHERFUCKER
TITS
If Carlin is indeed gone….so long Rufus, and thanks for the jokes.
I only got to watch the first hour of Mad Men , so far. Where I can already tell how good it will probably be, I can look forward to the rest of it getting better. From what I hear. The things all the comments have said make me want to go out and get the full DVD box set as soon as stores have it on Tuesday. As a keeper it looks worth it. One thing I wish to see gets improved on is how the lack of very many Black, Latino, Asian, etc are nowhere in site. Was New York City that White in 1960? I highly doubt it, lol. True how in offices of the time it might be factual, and this is one thing I wish the writer would try to show the other side of.
What’s so funny about that “general weirdness,” Sasha, is how that’s how people acted back then (!?). It’s like a very sophisticated primitive country, or parallel bizarro universe, isn’t it? No wonder our parents and grandparents are so messed up.
Hate to turn everything political, but no wonder guys like McCain appear so out of touch with the reality the rest of us know. Eisenhower Era mentality was pretty warped, even during the Eisenhower Era! But to apply that mindset to the world today is like applying a 2000-year-old book of rules to modern society. It doesn’t fit. It’s inappropriate. It’s damaging and downright dangerous.
One thing I especially love about Mad Men is its respect for its female characters and the equal prominence given to their shared point of view. TV is typically better at gender balance than most recent movies, but maybe because Mad Men feels so cinematic, it’s great to see the girls given such strong story lines in a film-like environment.
Extraordinary and unexpected, considering the title Mad Men, and the presumed focus on the male-dominated milieu of 1960’s Madison Avenue. The fact that the series shows secretaries and wives having a major influence (and takes care to emphasize their first struggles to assert that influence) makes Mad Men a terrifically symmetrical stage on which to wage battles and powerplays. Battles in what James Thurber called The War Between Men and Women.
Sure, we see that ongoing battle in real life even today, and it’s reflected in contemporary TV series all the time. But what make Mad Men unique — and the reason its period setting so crucial to its themes — is how the story takes us back to the era when rigidly defined gender roles were finally breaking out of the shells that had encased them for centuries.
Oh Mad Men rules. I think I have to say it’s the best show on TV. It’s too good to win the Emmy, though. But I look forward to every episode – I practically drool in anticipation. I don’t know what it is – the characters, the writing, the general weirdness, but it is as good as The Sopranos was.
I was about to say The Wire is the best written series, but then I remembered that it’s finished, so the statement is in fact correct.
I’ve got this show on my Netflix Queue. I hope to be able to watch it before Season 2 starts.
I get creepy nightmares if I watch too much Adult Swim before bedtime, but I’ll check it out, RRA.
(I remember now that I’ve seen Venture Bros. That’s another problem with me and the Cartoon Network: short term memory issues.)
Ryan, I’m just ribbing you. I’ve heard great things about MAD MEN.
No really, VENTURE BROS. is great too, and season 3 has been hall o fame so far….though honestly, you need to rent seasons 1 and 2 before you head into year 3.
To put it another way, you get more laughs in 30 minutes of VB than you do in 30 episodes of FAMILY GUY.
Anyway, its on tonight on Adult Swim(Cartoon Network) at 11:30. Check it out….
uh-oh… should I be watching the Venture Brothers? Amend my proclamation to read, “The best-written series I know of.”
Ryan, the best written?
You mean even better written than VENTURE BROS., which I think is the best goddman show on television?