The Ultimate Guide to Mad Men

The Ultimate Guide to Mad Men: The Guardian Companion to the Slickest Show on Television

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Draper's fatal flaw is his lack of psychological awareness: He is at once perfectly tuned into the desires of America and entirely out of touch with his own character".

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Each one is filled with thwarted ambitions and frustrated dreams, none more so than Don Draper himself, whose closet, it's gradually revealed over Seasons 1 and 2, is filled with proverbial skeletons". Mad Men has provoked much discussion about sexism, sexual politics and relationships. The show presents a workplace culture in which men — regardless of marital status — frequently enter sexual relationships with other women, in which it is assumed that female employees are sexually available for their male bosses and in which jokes about the desirability of one's wife dying are told by husbands in front of their own wives.

Most of the main characters have cheated on their wives. It's painful because this behavior is not as far back in our past as we would like to think. Our daughters continually get the messages that power still comes through powerful men. And unfortunately being pretty is still a quality that can get you on the ladder—though it still won't take you to the top".

The Los Angeles Times said that "the sexism, in particular, is almost suffocating, and not in the least fun to watch. But it's the force against which the most compelling female characters struggle, and the opposition that defines them. The interaction with everyday misogyny and condescension—the housewife whose shrink reports to her husband, the ad woman who's cut out of the after-hours wheeling and dealing—gives the characters purpose and shape. Stephanie Coontz of The Washington Post said that women "portrayed the sexism of that era so unflinchingly, they told me, that they could not bear to watch.

Aviva Dove-Viebahn wrote that " Mad Men straddles the line between a nuanced portrayal of how sexism and patriarchal entitlement shape lives, careers and social interactions in the s and a glorified rendering of the 'fast-paced, chauvinistic world of s advertising and all that comes with it. ABC News noted that "as the show's time frame progressed into the s, series creator Matthew Weiner didn't hold back in depicting a world of liquor-stocked offices, boozy lunches and alcohol-soaked dinners. During the fourth season Don Draper starts to realize he has a major drinking problem.

ABC News quoted an addiction specialist who said that "over the last ten years, alcoholism has been more fully understood as a disease. But in the sixties, bad behavior resulting from heavy drinking could be considered 'macho' and even romantic, rather than as a compulsive use of alcohol despite adverse consequences. Advertisement executive Jerry Della Femina said of the show, "if anything, it's underplayed. There was a tremendous amount of drinking. Three-martini lunches were the norm The only thing that saved us was that the clients and agencies that we were going back to drank as much as we did Bottles in desk drawers were not the exception but the rule".

The Los Angeles Times opined that Mad Men excels at "stories of characters fighting to achieve personal liberation in the restless years before the advent of the full-blown culture wars. Peggy's visit to a loft, with a Life Magazine photo editor-friend, placed her squarely in the center of the exciting creativity so rampant in the underground and also so rebellious against the mainstream. As they embark on their opposite trajectories, the camera lingers on their knowing glances.

Here is where we find emotional truth. Critics contend that postracial beliefs complicate the show by only visualizing people of color at work and rarely in their homes or from their point of view. Slate writer Tanner Colby praised the show's treatment of race and Madison Avenue as historically accurate, especially the storyline in the third season episode "The Fog" in which Pete Campbell's idea to market certain products specifically towards African-Americans is struck down by the company.

Slate also referred to the fourth season episode "The Beautiful Girls", where Peggy Olson suggests Harry Belafonte as a spokesman for Fillmore Auto, after Fillmore Auto faced a boycott for not hiring black employees and Don shoots down the idea. It's brave for being honest about Madison Avenue's cowardice.

Cigarette smoking , more common in the United States of the s than it is now, [77] is featured throughout the series; many characters can be seen smoking several times over the course of an episode. The finale finds the agency in talks with the American Cancer Society. In the series' penultimate episode, Betty Draper is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, after having been depicted as a heavy smoker throughout the series.

The actors smoke herbal cigarettes , not tobacco cigarettes; Matthew Weiner said in an interview with The New York Times that the reason is that "you don't want actors smoking real cigarettes. They get agitated and nervous. I've been on sets where people throw up, they've smoked so much".

Mad Men received high critical acclaim since its premiere, [10] and is generally included in critics' lists of the greatest television shows ever produced. A New York Times reviewer called the series groundbreaking for "luxuriating in the not-so-distant past. A Chicago Sun-Times reviewer described the series as an "unsentimental portrayal of complicated 'whole people' who act with the more decent manners America has lost, while also playing grab-ass and crassly defaming subordinates.

The Washington Post agreed with most other reviews in regard to Mad Men' s visual style, but disliked what was referred to as "lethargic" pacing of the storylines. Greif stated that the series was an "unpleasant little entry in the genre of Now We Know Better" as the cast was a series of historical stereotypes that failed to do anything except "congratulate the present.

Viewership for the premiere at The third season premiere, which aired August 16, , gained 2. The fourth season premiere received 2. The fifth season premiere, " A Little Kiss ", was the most watched-episode of Mad Men of all-time to date, receiving 3. Before the fifth season, Mad Men had never achieved above a 1. Charlie Collier, AMC's president, said that:. For each of the five Mad Men seasons Matthew Weiner and his team have crafted a beautifully told story and each season a larger audience has responded; a rare accomplishment.

We couldn't be more proud of this program, the brilliant writers, cast and crew, and the entire team on each side of the camera. The fifth season finale, " The Phantom ", was watched by 2. On April 7, , the sixth season premiered to 3. The sixth season finale on June 23, , attracted 2. The first part of the seventh season, titled "The Beginning", premiered on April 13, , and garnered 2.

The first part of season seven concluded on May 25, , to 1. The series finale of Mad Men aired on May 17, , to 3. With Mad Men , Weiner and his creative team have "received critical acclaim for its historical authenticity and visual style" although opinions on Mad Men vary among people who worked in advertising during the s. The drinking was commonplace, the smoking was constant, the relationships between the executives and the secretaries was exactly right".

Allen Rosenshine, a copywriter who went on to lead BBDO, called the show a "total fabrication", saying that "if anybody talked to women the way these goons do, they'd have been out on their ass".

And our only 'extracurricular activity' was chasing fly balls and dunking basketballs on our agency softball and basketball teams! The Renegades of Madison Avenue and the Golden Age of Advertising , also thought the show lacked authenticity, stating, "One thing of which they all are all equally contemptuous", in regards to the industry's elite, "is the output of Sterling Cooper.

But then they have every right. None of them would ever have wanted to work for Draper and none of his departments would have got a job at any of their agencies. According to an analysis of the language used in Mad Men by Benjamin Schmidt, a visiting graduate fellow at the Cultural Observatory at Harvard University , the vocabulary and phrases used in the show are not all quite authentic to the period, despite attempts to use contemporary vocabulary. Using a computer program, he determined that the show uses relatively few words that are clearly anachronistic but that there are many words and phrases used that are far more common in modern speech, than in the speech of the era "need to", "feel good about", "euthanize", etc.

In aggregate these words and constructions give a misleading impression of the speech patterns of the time. He notes that the use of modern business language, leverage, signing bonus, etc.. Mad Men has been credited with setting off a wave of renewed interest in the fashion and culture of the early s. According to The Guardian in , the show was responsible for a revival in men's suits, especially suits resembling those of that time period, with higher waistbands and shorter jackets; as well as "everything from tortoise shell glasses to fedoras ".

Two network television series that premiered in , the short-lived The Playboy Club and the one-season Pan Am , both set in , were frequently referred to as imitations of Mad Men. The appearance of Christina Hendricks as office manager Joan, is said to have sparked a renewed interest in a voluptuous look for women and to be partly responsible for, among other things, a 10 percent increase in breast implant surgery in Britain in Amy Benfer, writing in Salon , asked, "But [ sic ] isn't it a little odd that a show that, among other things, warns about the dangers of seeing the past in too amber a light has spawned an industry devoted to fetishizing nostalgia for that same flawed past?

Magazine , wrote, "Mad Men itself might ascribe [ sic ] to the feminist agenda, but thanks to its pervasive impact on pop culture, the show is crafting a whole new generation of would-be Bettys Draper's stylish wife not Peggys the show's ambitious 'career woman'. In the State of the Union Address , President Barack Obama , in speaking out against unequal pay for women, said "It's time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a Mad Men episode.

Award highlights include winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series four times, for each of its first four seasons; its fourth win tied the record for serial dramas set earlier by Hill Street Blues —84 , L. Law , —91 , and The West Wing — In promotions for the series, AMC aired commercials and a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Mad Men before its premiere. The commercials mostly show the one usually brief sex scene from each episode of the season.

Mad Men was also made available at the iTunes Store on July 20, , along with the "making of" documentary. For the second season, AMC undertook the largest marketing campaign it had ever launched, intending to reflect the "cinematic quality" of the series.

The advertising campaign for the fifth season of Mad Men was conceived by the network as a way to promote the series after the month break between seasons. A teaser campaign began in which posters, using images of the enigmatic "falling man" from the opening credits, were spread out on buildings in New York and Los Angeles. AMC responded with a statement that said, "The image of Don Draper tumbling through space has been used since the show began in to represent a man whose life is in turmoil.

The image used in the campaign is intended to serve as a metaphor for what is happening in Don Draper's fictional life and in no way references actual events. The advertising campaign also included the use of posters that proclaimed "Adultery Is Back. Promotion for Seasons 4 and 5 saw Mad Men and AMC partnering with Banana Republic for the Mad Men Casting Call, in which users submit photos of themselves in Mad Men style and one winner receives the opportunity for a walk-on role in an upcoming season.

Zippo subsequently developed two designs of lighters with "Mad Men" logos to be sold at the company headquarters and online. For the third season, the clothing store Banana Republic partnered with Mad Men to create window displays at its U. The store also ran a "casting call" competition, in which participants were asked to mail photos of themselves in period fashion for a chance at a walk-on part in the show; [] two winners were announced in October Another clothing promotion from the series' third season includes a "Mad-Men Edition" suit offered by American clothing retailer Brooks Brothers.

The fourth season saw the announcement of a collaboration between Janie Bryant and Californian-based company, Nailtini, to produce a limited-edition line of Mad Men nail polish. The four shades are entitled Bourbon Satin, French 75 , Deauville and Stinger and are reported to have been inspired by the fabrics used to make cocktail dresses in the s. The Mad Men nail polish line went on sale in the U. Mad Men featured a significant number of products and brands that existed both in the s and at the time of airing, many of them shown as advertising clients, including Lucky Strike , Bethlehem Steel , Heineken , Volkswagen , Cadillac , Playtex , Chanel , Spam , Utz potato chips, Maidenform , Gillette , American Airlines and Clearasil.

This led to widespread speculation that many or all of the products and brands on the show are the result of paid product placement. Showrunner Matthew Weiner said in an interview: It never works out Literally I've named four [paid placements] in four seasons and there have probably been a hundred products on the show. Half of them are made up, no one's paying to be on the show. Heineken is seen in the show as a client seeking to bring its beer to the attention of American consumers.

Heineken was also the sole advertiser for the U.

A (very) quick beginner's guide to Mad Men

However, he found the product placement for Mad Men to be a frustrating experience: Because of these frustrations, Weiner stated in that he would "never again" agree to product placement for Mad Men. On June 20, , the consumer-rights activist group Commercial Alert filed a complaint with the United States Distilled Spirits Council alleging that Mad Men sponsor Jack Daniel's was violating liquor advertising standards since the show features "depictions of overt sexual activity" as well as irresponsible intoxication. During the fourth season, Unilever created a series of six retro commercials that were aired during the show in the United States.

The ads are set at the fictional Smith Winter Mitchell advertising agency and take place during the same time period as Mad Men. The series did not have to pay for the use of the Coca-Cola commercial known as " Hilltop ", which is featured in final scene of the series finale. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the television series. For the DC Comics villains, see Madmen. Silvercup Studios Lionsgate Television radical.

List of Mad Men characters. List of Mad Men episodes. If you do not see it in your inbox, please check your junk or spam folder. We've sent an email with instructions to create a new password. Your existing password has not been changed. You must verify your account in order to post comments. Please enter your email address and you'll receive a verification link to proceed. Share on Facebook Copy the link below To share this on Facebook click on the link below. Last step - Add your e-mail to complete your account. By proceeding I understand and agree to AMC's privacy policy , cookies policy , and terms of use.

Please try again later. Please enter the email address associated with your account, and we'll send you an email with instructions on how to reset your password. The Hitchcock-inspired title sequence, the period Madison Avenue set design, and the impeccably styled costumes have all garnered admiration, but it is the quality of the scripts and the intensity of the drama that keeps people coming back for more. What is Don Draper's big secret?

Will Pete and Peggy's love ever see the light of day? Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

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Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Nov 16, Michael de Percy rated it it was ok Shelves: Recent period-drama television series closely resemble soap operas but with a twist: Much has been written about the series on respected media websites, including the Wall Street Journal , The Conversation , and The Guardian.

Another of my favourite period-dramas, Downton Abbey , has a similar following in Recent period-drama television series closely resemble soap operas but with a twist: Another of my favourite period-dramas, Downton Abbey , has a similar following in terms of literary, cultural and historical references. I purchased this book to delve deeper into some of the cultural references appearing in the series. What I didn't know was that most of this book is available on The Guardian 's website. The book itself is formulaic, and only covers the first three seasons. Aside from some interesting essays on the various sociological aspects of the show, the general format is a description of each episode, commentary on the social and cultural references, and comments by a number of the participants on the original blog.

It wasn't riveting stuff, and at times I felt that almost anyone with the right institutional backing could produce such an easy lazy? Having said that, I discovered much that I had missed on my several viewings of the series. Like Downton Abbey , so much of the background research that went into writing the drama is far from self-evident, and there is much to be gained from lifting the lid on the research.

Even the anachronisms and historical errors usually stemming from poetic licence are sources of fascinating knowledge. Matthew Weiner 's work is first-class, and I must admit to a tinge of envy that someone could know so much and write for the screen.

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Of course, this is no ordinary person, but it was interesting that one of the blog commentators noticed in the credits that a mental health expert had been employed in the making of one episode. I took some solace in the fact that such big productions are the work of many people. Until I discovered that Matthew Weiner has written a novella , too. Now I will have to read it - and that's how my reading process works! I have often struggled with the idea of not finishing books that I do not like, but then I often end up discovering something interesting in even the worst of books.

Not that this book is so bad, but when the formula for the final episode of the book ends, so does the book. It is followed by a list of the music featured in each episode. Check out Spotify's Mad Men playlist - the soundtrack is great! I often get a bit snobbish about the value of a television series in comparison to literature.

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