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“The glittering young blonde in a low-cut gown is sipping champagne in a swank Manhattan restaurant back in the day when things were still swank. She is on a first date with an advertising man as dashing as his name, Don Draper. So you don’t really expect her to break the ice by talking about bad news.
“‘The world is so dark right now,’ she says. ‘One of the boys killed in Mississippi, Andrew Goodman — he’s from here. A girlfriend of mine knew him from summer camp.’ Her date is too busy studying her decolletage, so she fills in the dead air. ‘Is that what it takes to change things?’ she asks. He ventures no answer.
“This is just one arresting moment in the first episode of the new Mad Men season premiering tonight. Like much in this landmark television series, the scene haunts you in part because of what people don’t say and can’t say. Mad Men is about placid postwar America before it went smash.
“We know from the young woman’s reference to Goodman — one of the three civil rights activists murdered in Philadelphia, Miss., in June 1964 — that the crackup is on its way. But the characters can’t imagine the full brunt of what’s to come, and so a viewer in 2010 is left to contemplate how none of us, then or now, can see around the corner and know what history will bring.” — from Frank Rich‘s 7.24 N.Y Times piece, called “There’s a Battle Outside and It Is Still Ragin’”.
I’m not on AMC’s screening list or I’d have a thought or two of my own to pass along. I probably won’t see the opening Mad Men episode tonight because I’m on a flight back to New York this evening around 10 pm, and so it goes. I don’t know what it is about me and Mad Men, but I never seem to watch it. This may be because I started to intensely dislike Draper during season #2. No offense to Jon Hamm , who plays him well and believably. It’s just that Draper is such a prick.
That’s too bad because it’s the best drama on TV.
Seconded, and you’re not really meant to like Don Draper. He all but pushed his brother to kill himself, is a terrible husband and father….what in season 2 made you realize that he’s a prick? You’re not wrong there, but he wasn’t a nice guy to begin with.
And I walked out of There Will Be Blood at the halfway point because that Daniel Plainview was such an asshole…
Seriously, Jeff — you’re missing out and that’s not a good excuse. Don Draper is one of the greatest characters on TV and you “not liking him” is something an Eloi housewife would say. (“Ugh, he’s so slimy! Look how he treats Betty, he’s a cheater!”)
I guess I saw Draper more as a guy who had his motives and reasons for being like he was during Season #1. He seemed to be weighing the value of things. In Season #2 he seemed to stopped weighing and start committing to the darkness. He kinda went cold and ugly. Unlike James Gandolfini‘s Tony Soprano, who was always curiously and vaguely sympathetic despite his many crimes. I rented the DVD box set for seasons #3 and only watched half of it. I’ll give #4 a try. I respect the show and what they’re doing, etc. It’s not that I refuse to watch it or anything. It’s that somehow I never seem to sit down and turn on the tube at the right time. Does AMC have an On Demand option? They must. I’ll get to it somehow.
I have a semi-serious question:
Is it EVER really possible to dislike the lead of a movie or TV show? Doesn’t the entire artform, or at least our expectations as a viewer, make us inherently side with the “lead” in just about anything? The mere act of making a show about someone makes them automatically sympathetic.
In recent months I’ve heard everyone on HE complain about Greenberg being too mean or selfish or unrelatable; Even if I hadn’t found him THE most relatable movie character of 2010, don’t you ALWAYS root for the main guy of any movie, whether it’s Tony Montana or John McClane, Hannibal Lecter or Bruce Wayne, Daniel Plainview (AWESOMEST character ever) or Clark Kent?
Within the universe of ANY tv show or movie, you ARE the main guy and experiencing everything viscerally through them, thus I NEVER buy when people complain they can’t go along with Tony Soprano or Walter White or Vic Mackey… As long as the show is working, you are rooting for them 1000%.
Lex I think people feel they shouldn’t be rooting for the character because of some sort of moral qualm, so they pull back.
Personally I find it boring when the main character of something is too nice, or too perfect. In my experience people who don’t have an edge of darkness to them are just covering up something uglier than most, whether it’s some sort of internal angst or something they did in their past or some personality flaw.
@themodernage: Second-best. After Breaking Bad. : ) (I love them both!)
What makes Don Draper a fascinating character, to me, is how enigmatic he is. Then again, I find enigmatic people fascinating in real life as well.
One other thing about “Mad Men” – there aren’t many shows, or movies, with as many three-dimensional woman characters on it. Betty, Don’s (SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t seen Season 3) now ex-wife, Peggy, Don’s secretary turned co-worker, and Joan, the head secretary – all three of them may be symbolic of the struggles women were going through at the time, but they’re all interesting in their own as well, and the actresses are as good in their roles as Jon Hamm is as Draper.
Lex makes a good point; I know that when Don and Betty had their…arguments (to be vague) last season, I was oddly siding with Don, even though he’s definitely the biggest reason why the marriage was as shaky as it was. I think part of that goes to how charming and charismatic an actor Jon Hamm is, but part of it is that idea that we’re automatically going to side with the lead of the show, or that we should, no matter what.
LexG brings up an interesting (if only semi-serious) question. To which I reply: Larry David. Can’t recall ever siding with him. He’s an unpleasant individual, yet the show is pretty great.
BB is the best drama on TV. MM dropped off in quality last season, it just seemed to sputter long until it got to the only strong episode of the third season, which was the third season finale. But I’m still a fan and am hoping it finds its groove again because the first two seasons were stellar. Poor Jon Hamm. As good as he is, he is gonna lose the Emmy a third straight time to Bryan Cranston, who remains the most electrifying lead actor in any TV show in recent memory.
As much as there is to like about JIm G. as a actor, I have NEVER found TONY SOPRANO likable or worth rooting for. Evil is evil.
I honestly never understand when people say Breaking Bad is the best show on TV. I mean, it’s entertaining and all, but I’d probably put it below not just Mad Men, but True Blood, Dexter, and Treme, as well.
BTW, how come no one’s bringing up Treme in these conversations? Show deserves mad respect.
RIP Fat John Goodman
add ‘sons of anarchy’ to the list of truly bad guys the audience can’t help but root for…also one of the best shows on tv….
The difference between Don Draper and Tony Soprano is that while Draper can be a prick, they give you enough background to know why he’s so screwed up, and you really want to see him get it together.
Tony Soprano is a compelling villain, but if you’re watching Tho Sopranos hoping Tony will exorcise his demons and find peace and contentment there’s something wrong with you.
As far as Emmys, I think this might be Hamm’s year if he’s nominated for the episode where Betty confronts him about his fake identity. Seeing Draper lose his cool facade and start fumbling around with his cigarette was really a powerful moment.
You want to resent Draper because he’s getting so much poozle.
“Can’t recall ever siding with him.”
I’m always siding with him.
Breaking Bad is relentlessly awesome. Dexter was heartbreaking last season. True Blood is like porn. Damages is probably the best episodic television I watched last season. Mad Men is brilliant.
If I were Jeff, I’d be devoting some lines to the incredible dramas running on basic and premium cable.
Raygo, are you a friend of mine on Facebook?
I recently posted as my status, “Weeds is as relentlessly mediocre as Breaking Bad is relentlessly awesome.”
I lost a few friends for that who love the former show, but seriously, “Breaking Bad” is the greatest TV show since “The Sopranos” and that last season was a masterpiece. It’s too bad that “Mad Men” and “30 Rock” have death grips on the Emmys because they were nowhere in the league of some other series this year.
And Treme, for me, is a huge bore. David Simon’s coattails can only stretch so far. I’m still giving it a chance, but it’s a chore.
Excellent titular reference, by the way – probably Roger Donaldson’s best film…
Breaking Bad > Mad Men
Mad Men may have dropped a bit in quality in season 3 but Breaking Bad went for the jugular in season 3. After a little slow burn in the beginning of season 3 once Hank found the RV Breaking Bad went full bore and never let go. Even the polarizing fly episode was awesome. And how can your jaw not drop after seeing the ending to that “Half Measures” episode.
“I once convinced a woman I was Kevin Costner. How? Because even I believed it.” – Saul
4 seasons in and MAD MEN is still the best show on TV.
Excellent start to the new season tonight. Some interesting reveals about Don Draper.
everybody’s a scumbag. heavy. that passes for tv depth.
and that mad men dialogue is awful. “i knew a guy named martin luther king…”
party animals, you’re a child.
The only time I can remember truly rooting against the lead character: Nic Cage in Vampire’s Kiss.
no, it’s children who think that characters being a shit is the antidote to characters being ‘too nice and perfect’
Anyone who says “Mad Men” is the best thing on TV hasn’t seen “Breaking Bad.”
i’m assuming that ‘party animal’ is a unicorn bathed in a rainbow…..
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i watched seasons 1-3 of Mad Men and its well written and stylish and sort of like watching the end of the roman empire, Hamm should win something, great scene when he rips Peggy for wanting more, ‘you’re good, get better.’. the writing is the winner in this show for sure, those other shows..i dont bother. you have to cherry pick those tv shows, you’re whole life will pass by and you’ll just be a guy with an opinion…
thatrader,
I break your rule. I’m a fan of both. I’ve seen every episode of both shows. But I prefer Mad Men.
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/07/the_star_market_jon_hamm.html
‘the town’ looks good, low rent departed but good..
Check out season 1 of Damages for free on crackel.com. You’ll be glad you did.
@thatrader … I’m not on Facebook, but I owe you a coke. Those were the only adjectives that come to mind when describing Breaking Bad. Bleak, volatile, relentless, unnerving, mesmerizing. I think it needs to end soon. Season 4 should be a wrap. I don’t see many other avenues left for Walt.
YES, THANK YOU!!! I thought it was just me, but Don Draper is the biggest prick in tv history. I know that there is all of this past family trauma that he’s dealing with, but writers never let him show us that he’s really dealing with it (except towards the end of Season 3…in ONE scene).
I mainly watch for everyone else. Even the weasel Pete Campbell has insecurities that effect his behavior, which I understand. But Don is just an asshole.
Why’s everybody talk up that blowsy redhead, when January Jones has THE ultimate female body?
Wells needs a DVR.
“Why’s everybody talk up that blowsy redhead, when January Jones has THE ultimate female body?”
Once again Lex shows his aversion to real women.
January Jones is a REAL WOMAN, she is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, completely charming, HAS BLONDE HAIR, is skinny, has LONG LEGS and THIN FEET, and doesn’t have some RIDICULOUS fleshy rack that’s way, way, WAY more than anyone would ever need or want to look at. Big tits are absurd.
And, holy shit, she’s 32???? I’m almost pleased with myself, as I didn’t know that, and assumed she was 25. Do you know how HOT a chick over 30 has to be to still be hot? And dated/dating Jason Sudekis? That’s kind of unexpected and awesome and proves that SHE IS COOL.
Lex: If you’d like to come over to my place this weekend, Anita Ekberg, Gina Lollobrigida, and Sophia Loren will be there for a festival of their films. Mamie van Doren said she might stop by, too.
of course lex doesn’t find big tits hot; they’re the total opposite of what he’s really attracted to: adolescent boys.
oh, and the best show on tv is skins. at least the first two seasons. no, it’s not an american show but it wipes the floor with basically any show in this country. i never, in a thousand years, thought i’d ever say that about a show focusing on teens, but it’s true. the writing and acting on that show just makes mad men, breaking bad, and all the other “serious” shows look like the childish nonsense that they are. american tv is about being “dark” and “shocking” for the sake of ratings, but with skins, when an episode turns dark (and they frequently do), they don’t hold back and you feel like you’re watching a friend go off the deep end.
phantasmata: Nah. Some of Skins is excellent, like the first season episode focusing on the Chris character, and the one where Sid’s father dies, but a lot of it was shock-value lunacy too. The third season was pure nonsense.
It was a cut above the average teen show, but it was hardly anywhere approaching Mad Men, etc. If you want a more accurate and far funnier look at teenage life, The Inbetweeners is your best bet. Absolutely hilarious.
Adam & Joe’s commentary on the opening episode of Skins season 3 was spot-on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZTr9k4BUxw
phantasmata,
“Skins” is a show that really found its voice in the second season. And then completely went off the deep end in quality in the third, and ESPECIALLY in the fourth. The creators were a father-son team, and the father left the show to the son, who can’t write worth a damn let alone run a show.
No one, and I do mean NO ONE, thought the 4th season finale was good.
The problem with “Skins” was that Freddy, the character and the actor playing him, was so thoroughly boring and unlikable, that there’s no way you can root for him to get Effy. And yet they spent an entire two seasons trying to force you to do so.
I just watched all of Breaking Bad in a compressed time frame. It is very solid, and the last half of season 3 is unrelenting…that being said, they sorta meandered a bit in season 2 before finishing somewhat strong. I think Breaking Bad is great pulp – sometimes transcendent. I think the last three episodes were the strongest since the first three…that’s a long time to go between brilliance.
Mad Men has, more often than not, been consistent. Weak episodes are a rarity, and taken as a whole, it’s the better show. I loved the ending of last night’s episode. Don finally taking charge of his image for the better of the firm and his family life. Can’t wait to see how the Civil Rights movement hits Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Price.
And Lex, curves always win.
Eloi Wrath,
Adam & Joe’s commentary on this is fucking hilarious.
Aladdin Sane,
I don’t deny that “Mad Men” is a consistent show. It’s just consistently boring. I can’t watch it week to week because of its glacial pacing. I have to wait for the DVD to marathon through it so I can actually get some plot development.
Breaking Bad on the other hand… Season 3 is loaded with epic episodes. Are you really going to tell me “Sunset” or “One Minute” aren’t some of the best TV you’ve ever seen? Especially the latter?
you need to watch ‘general hospital’ next — it’ll take about five seasons before you get into it or can appreciate it.
Breaking Bad had no less than three legendary episodes this year, and arguably a couple more. The prologue to “Full Measure” is about as revealing a scene as I’ve watched. I only worry that the remainging seasons won’t live up to the first three.
Best tv show this year – JUSTIFIED.
Breaking Bad is second for me, though I hated that Fly episode.
people watch a shitload of tv and need to justify the time
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@ the trader – no denying that season 3 of Breaking Bad had some fantastic hours. It was one of the most solid seasons of TV I’ve seen since season 4 of The Wire. That being said, I still prefer Mad Men’s slow burn. I get that it’s not for everyone, but I find it sublime.
Pete Campbell >>> Don Draper
There, I said it.
Like much in this landmark television series, the scene haunts you in part because of what people don’t say and can’t say. Mad Men is about placid postwar America before it went smash.
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