Mad Men

ANYBODY EVER HEARD of AMC? Me neither. However, in 2007 this little known cable company from Virginia stunned the television world with its first ever original programme: Mad Men. At the 2008 Golden Globes it was a shock winner, beating shows like House, Grey’s Anatomy and The Tudors in the ‘Best Drama’ category and making a repeat performance in 2009. The second series started on BBC4 on 10th February, so you can catch it on iPlayer – do so.

If you haven’t watched the first series, don’t worry too much – this is an American show, so no matter how intelligent it is, all the characters have to be re-introduced in the first episode of series two (Series one is cheaply available on DVD and well worth the time and money).
Set in 1960s Manhattan, Mad Men gives a sort of social commentary on a racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, homophobic and overtly patriarchal society in post-war America, all from the perspective of the employees of ‘Sterling Cooper’, a fictional advertising agency.

These employees make up one of the best casts on TV anywhere, headed by the brilliant John Hamm as ‘Creative Director’ Don Draper. Hamm’s character is from the same school of coolness as Hugh Laurie’s Greg House; a dark, confident, troubled genius, both feared and admired by his colleagues. Unlike House though, Draper has heart and is easier to like; he’s a family man, an all American war hero – the strong silent type.

The self-made Draper contrasts brilliantly with some of the other characters on the show, mainly the greasy, nepotistic Pete Campbell, a spoilt society brat who got where he is because of his parents. Then of course we have the women, the two main characters being ‘the new girl’ Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss) and the office manager Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks).

Holloway is a social climber, using her femininity to get ahead; Olson is a new woman, diligent and studious – she’s practically a man by 1960s standards and she’s often treated like one. On top of these is Draper’s wife, Betty (January Jones), the sort of ‘desperate housewife’, almost childlike and very troubled. Indeed, the whole ensemble is excellent; none of the characters are simply plucked from the shelves of generic drama, none of them are obvious.

In fact, none of Mad Men is obvious, and what distances it from many of its rival dramas is its realism. For example: in the first series we follow the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon election, as well as many famous advertising campaigns. The first realisations of the health implications of smoking and the ‘teenager’ phenomenon are also touched on. With creator Matthew Weiner (partly responsible for the genius ‘The Sopranos’) at the helm, we can expect nothing less than intensely watchable, relevant television from the second series.

I think Mad Men lets us look at our modern society too. In the first episode there’s a brilliant line from Draper when he’s explaining how culture is driven by advertising: “I’m living like there’s no tomorrow… because there isn’t one”. On the whole, we have continued to live like there’s no tomorrow ever since the booming 50s and 60s, consumerism rules the day and even politics is governed by big business – just look at all those banks being bailed out at the minute.