Everybody says the TV series Mad Men is AH-mazing—so smart and cool. Everybody is wrong. I completely fetishize the era’s style—primarily via a 1963 Corvair convertible, a collection of approximately 27 typewriters, and a rotary phone. I worked in advertising for a while, and it’s an industry that would make for a great series IF it were the slightest bit incisive. After a number of episodes, it’s safe to say Mad Men is little more than a tedious, repetitive period-piece soap opera with cereal-box writing and the character development of a mannequin factory. All the red lipstick and skinny lapels in the world cannot save it.

This parodies it pretty much perfectly.

“Ohhh…scotch!…Cigarettes!…Skinny ties!…Rotary phones!…Racism!”

57 replies on “‘Mad Men’ in 60 Seconds”

  1. Thank you. Someone recently told me that Madmen was superior to The Wire. I promptly slapped that fool in the head.

    I gave the show seven episodes before I said fuck it. Booooooring. It’s like Carnival all over again.

  3. You’re both insane. I’m sorry you’re too cool for an awesome cable television show. I guess you should hop on to your one speed bikes and pedal over to your local microbrewery to complain about being forced to watch Mad Men.

    What a traumatizing experience that must have been for you. I imagine it was just like Clockwork Orange, where Malcolm’s eyes are pryed open.

    Or it probably wasn’t, and you just feel the need to rant about it because your lives aren’t nearly as cool or as interesting as your vintage collections would lead people to believe.

  6. @4, would you settle for an M on M hand job? Interruptus with the fire alarm, but still: you won’t get a man’s hand in another man’s shorts on CBS.

    You also get the sexiest woman in pictures singing Cole Porter’s “C’est Magnifique”, accompanying herself on the accordion, which you won’t find too many other places.

  7. I have now lost all respect for BJC.

    I guess you’d like it better if it had helicopter crashes and people falling down elevator shafts…

    And after Jen Graves shitting all over ‘Lost” in the Bumbershoot guide, I have to say the Women of Slog have bad taste in television…

  8. I just finished Sopranos and I’m working my way through the Wire (Netflix DVDs). I guess I’ll watch MM next.

    I don’t have cable (I have DTV and use Netflix on demand streaming through my PC for movies) so all these fantastic TV shows are amazing to me — amazing that HBO has left the old networks so far behind. And with no commercials its like the days of BBC/PBS series in the 70s…high quality acting in the small screen format.

    Amazing.

  10. Mad Men is great. I can see how the stylistic flourishes can grate over time (constant mentions of how cheap the sandwiches, cars and homes were), but the writing is not “cereal-box.”
    Don Draper is the perverse culmination of the fundamental American promise: That with enough talent, hard work and good luck, you can make yourself into anything you want — even if it’s a complete con job.

  12. @8, it’s not just HBO, and they’ve not just left the networks behind — they’ve made the movies irrelevant. The garbage product put out by the big studios with the big stars for the big screen can’t even begin to compete with what’s on TV nowadays, and the gap gets wider all the time. Cruise, Jackson, Kidman, Bullock, Ford: these people probably couldn’t even get work on TV these days. They’re just not good enough or interesting enough. And the writing! The directing! There’s no contest. Movies are shit. TV rules.

  14. “…and the character development of a mannequin factory.”

    You’re entitled to your opinion, but that statement just shows how far off the mark you are. And Fnarf’s right, every good drama is a bit of a soap opera.

  15. @12: I actually think you make a good point. There are other shows ( Lost ) that are easily among the best viditure (video literature) made.

    And for basic entertainment, Fringe and Dollhouse are way, way better and thoughtful than a lot of Hollywood monster movies with aliens that have stringy heads.

    The Sopranos has all the elements of a great Russian novel. I have just begun to rattle through all the themes and threads that run through the work.

  16. I love the show, but I can see how people would get bored of it if they want lots of stuff to happen constantly, like a chef using a pot of boiling water that belongs to someone else.* That youtube parody was pretty lame though- you wouldn’t even have needed to watch the show to make it.

    *For the record, I also love Top Chef. Let’s be real though: it’s totally repetitive & the drama of it is, when you really look at it, beyond lame.

  19. The show IS incisive. Have you read Thomas Frank’s Conquest of Cool? The show probes the ways in which “do what you feel” morality was partly an invention of the advertising industry, as Thomas Frank argues, and not just the New Left or the beats. Mad Men’s characters are ushering in major changes to American life described by Frank– but in a haphazard and halting way, sometimes tossing ideas (like a death instinct) which get picked up later, sometimes embracing new fads but for reasons that quickly become obsolete. Its approach to the messy and unintentional way that change happens, to the way in which power is wielded, is very smart.

    Another major achievement: complex characters in a different moral universe. So many descriptions of 1950s/ early 60s norms reduce people to cardboard cutouts– especially when trying to capture the lives of women constrained by sexism. Mad Men doesn’t, and that is one of its major achievements. The show offers up something much more complex and subtle than you suggest.

  20. This post infuriates me for a lot of reasons.

    1)It’s lazy writing. I don’t like a tv show so I’m going to bitch about it in the most general of terms, whining that it’s a “soap opera” but not taking the time to give concrete examples of why BJC doesn’t like it. Which is typically indicative of what’s wrong with The Stranger. They whine when they get labeled as shallow, snarky hipsters and they sneer at bloggers, commenters and anyone who’s not a professional writer and when they’re given an opportunity to have an intelligent discussion about something, whether it’s something in the news or in this case, a piece of pop cultue, they fail to deliver anything of any relevance or interest. I know there are people at The Stranger who like Mad Men; this would have been an excellent opportunity to do a classic Point/Counterpoint discussion. Instead, we get a lame, snarky observation that was probably only intended to spark a lot of comments and hits that help the Stranger’s bottom line.

    2)BJC should know better; she’s a good writer so it’s disappointing when she’s not.

    3)I hate people who only watch Mad Men because of the design elements. Those people are shallow and stupid.

    4)And, I’m not sure how a show can be labeled both “soap opera-y” and “boring; nothing ever happens”. This show has always avoided soap opera conventions yet manages to handle lots of plot but in realistic way.

    5)It’s fine if you don’t like a show that I love, but at least make the attempt to back up your beliefs with some legitimate arguements.

  21. By “a number of episodes,” do you mean the first two or three? The women on this show are some of the best characters I’ve seen on television ever.

    A parody like that could be made of any show and it would be just as dumb.

  22. I watched the first season all the way through, and it dawned on me after the finale that I just didn’t care… I felt total ambivalence.

    It’s not that the acting is bad- far from it. And it’s intriguing to see how different life was in the 60s. (Though it seems at times they try too hard to hit you over the head with it- “Look! Kids didn’t wear seatbelts! We smoke and drink CONSTANTLY! A woman breaking the glass ceiling? CA-RAAAZY!”)

    The bottom line is, the plot development just didn’t grab me. I didn’t really give a shit that Don was living a secret life, that Peggy got preggers, or that Salvatore is discovering his sexuality pre-stonewall.

    If this show were a person, to me it would be that acquaintance you don’t mind hanging out with, but if he went away tomorrow you wouldn’t really care.

  25. Ah yes Will in Seattle- I’m sure you’re well versed enough in the inner workings of both the Police force and the slum lords of Baltimore to decry the Wire as “unbelievable” and “inaccurate”. Please do tell us a tale of your youth growing up on the streets slinging heroin.

  26. It is probably too well praised, but it is something different.

    The acting is subtle and wonderful, the writing is smart, and of course the art direction is mesmerizing. I always said that Battlestar Galactica was The West Wing with space fights. Mad Men is West Wing with in the 60s with a dash of Soap.

    I am watching Veronica Mars on DVD and it kills me that they have a smart show that insists on a Voice Over to explain what the action meant. It is was written for the CW, so the kids need it. Mad Men rewards close attention. Looks are meaningful. Season One had lots of fun “oh look what they did in the 60s moments”, but they have gotten away from that.

    It is a great show.

  27. Fnarf @12 is right: Shows have gotten so complicated – and that’s a big part of their pleasure. Mad Men has a lot of moments where the tension is filled in by the viewer using his/her knowledge of the subplots and each character’s development to figure out what they are thinking. If you haven’t been paying close attention – it just looks like a slow conversation; but for a more empathetic viewer it’s very interesting.

    Disclaimer: I’ve watched it on DVD – which helps. As a tv show, it would be hard to tune in and remember all the nuances that give it that drama.

  28. @22: One of my few criticisms of the show, is that they do sometimes indulge in too much “hey, look it’s the 60’s!” Not everyone smoked to excess; in reality, there wouldn’t have been THAT much drinking in the office; the sexism was waaaay overdone in the early episodes and the funny, littering after the picnic scene in Season Two was stupid…maybe people didn’t have strong environmental concerns, but people still had common sense and were raised to clean up after yourselves and not leave a mess…

    But, many tv shows and movies have a tendency to wallow around in their time periods…the disappointing American remake of “Life On Mars” partly failed because of the phony and over-actualized design of the 70’s set show…that, and the moronic writing, directing and producing…

  29. ” It needs some BUTTSEX!
    Posted by wouldn’t want to be tedious and repetitive”

    You funditrolls really have an insatiable lust for cock. Seriously, I never see you post anything that doesn’t involve Dan or buttsecks. And yes, whoever you are in particular, you have a very obvious posting style and content.

  30. @27 – I agree with your DVD comment … I’ve watched Sopranos, The Wire, Weeds, Mad Men, and, hell, even The Office on DVD. And, I tend to gobble up each 3-4 episode disc in a day or two before getting the next one as quickly as possible. It makes each series like a long, complicated movie, and I don’t need to ease back into it to get my bearings on a weekly basis.

  31. Mad Men may be becoming a victim of its own success. Any open ended series is bound to lose some of its original oomph. The first season was marvelous and inspired by someone who actually worked on Madison Avenue in the early 60s. The advertising industry was shown to have a sinister undercurrent. Although that undercurrent remains to some extent, it is no longer shocking. Look at Dexter – a likable, heroic serial killer? What a concept! Also no longer shocking.

    It’s still fun to see how much things have changed whether it’s watching a family leave its picnic trash on the ground or someone telling a secretary that she has a great ass.

  32. @27: I agree; I think it’s a show best served by watching it on DVD, without interruptions. The first time I saw Mad Men was on television, a mid-season 2 episode, and I didn’t much like it or understand the hoopla. But, I rented the DVD’s and fell in love.

    And Mad Men is ALL about subtext and nuances and reading between the lines and what’s going on underneith. If you like obvious, big emotions and confrontations, (which are inherently false; in real life people go out of their way to NOT display emotions or to confront other people), then Mad Men is not the show for you.

    Yeah, I’m kinda passionate about this show…mainly because I don’t know where it’s going, and that’s rare in serialized drama…normally, every plot contrivance and piece of character development is telegraphed early on in a show or season but everytime I guess where a plot or character on this show is going, I’m wrong. It’s just a brilliantly writtent show.

  34. The Jai Alai element in last night’s show of Mad Men was particularly interesting – I remember my grandma had some old New Yorkers and there were images of those. She even had one of the scoopy things they used.

    That said, it is subtext and nuances. It helps if you know that these are supposed to be real people reacting to what was going on, with their own straight jackets of the times in both morals and fashion to work around.

    Loved the little girl driving.

  36. The last great TV show was West Wing until it hit season 5.

    The Office was pretty good until a season ago.

    Seriously, American television sucks the cock of a fat guy whose been dead for 60 years.

  37. @24: Frank is really smart, but I’m not sure I’d recommend him in person. He literally tosses the paper he is reading in the air when he’s done with a page, with a flourish I found a bit… much.

  39. I have to agree with 20: this post was a lazy bit of trolling. You don’t like the show, that’s fine. I’m all up for reading an interesting criticism of it. But this was just a trite little bitching session. If “little more than a tedious, repetitive period-piece soap opera with cereal-box writing” is what you come up with, then you can’t have actually been paying attention.

  41. I actually think it would be kind of funny if Mad Men, with its obsessively perfect record of nitpicky historical accuracy (see http://madmenfootnotes.tumblr.com/, my favorite MM blog) started to fuck with us a little. Like if the jai alai campaign is a success, and it surpasses baseball in popularity just like Junior Nutcase thinks it’s going to. Maybe Don could take a business trip to Dallas in a couple of months and his cab could get run over the foot of a schmoe with a long canvas bag in a hurry, sending him to the hospital instead of the Texas School Book Depository.

  42. “Safe to say” it’s “little more than tedious, repetitive period-piece soap opera?” Judging by the volume of comments stating otherwise, it’s hardly safe to say that, BJC. Writers far smarter than I have analyzed this show to pieces, so I don’t see the need to do so here. But calling it a “repetitive period piece” is like ripping on Cassavetes films for poor audio fidelity. You’re missing the point COMPLETELY.

  46. Wow, I came into this post to defend Mad Men and found that everyone had said it all earlier, and better than I could have. This is like a dream come true. Is this still the SLOG?

    Try giving a show more than “a couple of episodes,” Bethany. If you expect character development in a couple of episodes, you might want to stick with your soaps.

  48. 1. Rome.
    2. The Sopranos.
    3. The Wire.
    4. Mad Men.
    5. Six Feet Under.
    6. BattleStar Galactica

    And coming up next season on HBO “The Viaduct,” a series set in Seattle dealing with competing political struggles about this one elevated freeway.

    Amazingly, writers say they’ve enough material for nine seasons already!

  49. @ 46: Exactly.

    Just another word about pacing. Watching Season Two serially was an unusual television experience. It took a long time to build towards those last two or three episodes, final hours that were, for me, just gripping. I’m not judging, if that kind of pace is not your thing; I’m just happy that there is something like this on television.

    I also enjoy, say, House, but knowing that at, er, 48 minutes past the hour there will be the “twist” that will lead to the “breakthrough” in four minutes is a different viewing experience altogether.

    And, if you’re watching this season of MM, you must be struck by Don’s decline. This has the making of tragedy, and that’s never developed quickly. But the Peggy v. Joan stuff may be the most meaningful conflict of all.

  50. Who said there wasn’t ze buttsex?

    Peggy said to her one-night stand, “We can do other things.”

    There’s a lot of wiggle room in that sentence for tight, Norwegian backdoor action! She has birth control problems in her past, you know…

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