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Watching the tv show Mad Men from the beginning

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I've seen the first few episodes. A few were pretty slow and nothing really seemed to happen, but a few others seem to add some more complexity to the show and were enjoyable (such as the one with Draper's brother). I'm going to finish out season 1 and see if its something I want to continue with.
 
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This is one show that has taken me time to warm up to; I watched the first two episodes years ago - but the show didn't catch me until I sat down and went through half of the first season recently....

/i think it's got me hooked.
//going to watch the rest.
 
UberNeuman said:
Just wondering - what are the problems you have with the show?

\just curious to see if they were the same as I was having with it...
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1. no likable characters
2. not interested in advertising executives
3. terrible pace, same crap every episode
4. lame acting
 
cyclohexane said:
1. no likable characters
2. not interested in advertising executives
3. terrible pace, same crap every episode
4. lame acting
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Mad men is incredible in the exact same reasons you listed.

1) No clear protagonist because they are all kind of slutty or slimy

2) It's the ads and the history/setting that makes it interesting

3) Pace is moody and is perfect, this is not an action movie

4) Who?

Off to watch Season 4 e1 and 2
 
It only took one episode for me to realize what an overrated hunk of crap Mad Men is. It's boring. Nothing happens. All the characters are despicable and I never care what happens to them. The sets and costumes are pretty; that's the only advantage the show has.

Yes, everyone smokes and drinks and the men are all pigs. How incredibly hilarious!
 
I can certainly understand how Mad Men might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I can comfortably say that anyone who finds it "boring" is a moron or has ADD. The show is, from my perspective, relentlessly entertaining because of the crispness and wit of the dialogue, it's beautifully acted, and there's always something (or someone) interesting on screen to look at.
 
AstroManLuca said:
It only took one episode for me to realize what an overrated hunk of crap Mad Men is. It's boring. Nothing happens. All the characters are despicable and I never care what happens to them. The sets and costumes are pretty; that's the only advantage the show has.

Yes, everyone smokes and drinks and the men are all pigs. How incredibly hilarious!
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I can see how going into Mad Men expecting a sit com can be quite disappointing.

As would I be disappointed by walking in a showing of Brokeback Mountain and expecting a Mel Gibson's Christ retelling.
 
I guess the other advantage to Mad Men is that it allows those who like it to feel smugly superior about themselves.

EDIT: Eh, I'm being too harsh, really. Everyone has their own tastes. I don't think you have to be "a moron or have ADD" to find Mad Men boring, though. Even people who love it will admit it's a very slow-moving show.
 
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AstroManLuca said:
I guess the other advantage to Mad Men is that it allows those who like it to feel smugly superior about themselves.

EDIT: Eh, I'm being too harsh, really. Everyone has their own tastes. I don't think you have to be "a moron or have ADD" to find Mad Men boring, though. Even people who love it will admit it's a very slow-moving show.
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In fairness your first critical post was itself pretty categorically negative (then again, so was my response).

As I said, I can respect differences of opinion and would not say this is the greatest show ever made (though I certainly think it's one of the greatest of the last decade, and it has the awards and critical acclaim to support the proposition that I'm not the only one who feels that way). I just think calling it boring suggests something negative about the viewer, because it's so richly entertaining IMO
 
Don Vito Corleone said:
In fairness your first critical post was itself pretty categorically negative (then again, so was my response).

As I said, I can respect differences of opinion and would not say this is the greatest show ever made (though I certainly think it's one of the greatest of the last decade, and it has the awards and critical acclaim to support the proposition that I'm not the only one who feels that way). I just think calling it boring suggests something negative about the viewer, because it's so richly entertaining IMO
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Maybe it's a show for TV buffs. People who love watching TV (including almost anyone who reviews TV shows) love it because they notice all these subtleties. But I'm not a TV buff. I don't watch much TV at all, so when I do, I want to see something with a bit more excitement and suspense. Others may consider my tastes to be too heavy-handed or crass. I just think that a show like Mad Men is practically made for critics who've seen so much in-your-face TV that they're aching for something a bit more subtle and refined.
 
I wouldn't exactly say it's slow moving. Especially last season. A lot of shit hit the fan and everything's different now.
 
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:awe:
 
AstroManLuca said:
Maybe it's a show for TV buffs. People who love watching TV (including almost anyone who reviews TV shows) love it because they notice all these subtleties. But I'm not a TV buff. I don't watch much TV at all, so when I do, I want to see something with a bit more excitement and suspense. Others may consider my tastes to be too heavy-handed or crass. I just think that a show like Mad Men is practically made for critics who've seen so much in-your-face TV that they're aching for something a bit more subtle and refined.
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I'm not really a fan of TV, in any way. Sure I watched a lot of it growing up, so I have a rich TV-based cultural understanding from a certain period, but that doesn't mean I've stuck with liking TV as my tastes have matured.

I like shows like Mad Men b/c I like brilliant writing, great characters, excellent production values. The show is so subtle, that it's really hard for me to put a finger on why I can't stop watching it, but I've loved it since the pilot. Whether it be a TV series or a Feature, I'm always a sucker for brilliant writing and great characters. I don't give a shit about the world of advertising; frankly--I think it's quite worthless.

What I've learned form various interviews of old ad execs is that there really was (and perhaps remains) this ultra-insular world in the ad agencies where these people truly believed that they were the kings of the world--what they said and what they did defined culture and shaped behavior, perhaps even political, in much the same way that a guy like Hearst can accurately claim to have shaped history simply by what he printed. I think this attitude was at its height during the period of Mad Men, and it's largely this attitude that serves as the driving force, or simply the backdrop of the various plots.

I tend to think that Mad Men presents this diagnosis of the ad men of the time in a somewhat ironic manner. You see their brash cockiness, yet the utter failures they are when it comes to simple human connections--the very thing which they claim to be masters of.
 
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