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DVD : Mad Men - Season OneBrowse or Search and Buy Online our Best Sellers Shopping Sales of DVD and Mad Men - Season One. Rating:  - memories revisitedIt has the makings of a Mamet style with excellent plot development and outstanding characterization. Rating: - The Eisenhower Era RevisitedAfter watching the first few episodes of "Mad Men", you can be forgiven if your eyes burn and you start to cough. It might be the only television show in history to cause second-hand smoke. Set in 1960, "Men Mad" is really about the 1950's and it captures the spiritual emptiness of the period perfectly. While the Eisenhower era has been romanticized recently as a wonderful time when all Americans had jobs, homes, and cars (and when Republicans were considered "nice" people believing in thrift) this fantasy is true only if you were a straight, white male. And a conforming one at that. Still, the emotion that pervades this series is sadness: no one is happy, no matter how many material goodies they have. Even the beatniks are gloomy and dull. The men survive by chain-smoking, drinking themselves insensible and attempting to seduce anything in a skirt. The women are treated to such casual and pervasive sexism that, viewing "Mad Men", even conservatives like Phylliss Schlafly would go down on her knees and thank Gloria Steinem. The women themselves are either the original "Desperate Housewives" or trying to stay sane by manipulating the men who prey on them. People of color exist merely as waiters and elevator operators. In the world of 1960 advertising, they are completely non-existent. You see no ads depicting a black or Hispanic family buying a new car, sharing a beer with friends or ogling a new refrigerator. Nor will you for another decade. Centering around the advertising executives of the fictional Sterling-Cooper agency ("Mad Men" is slang for the admen working on Madison Avenue in New York City, the archetypal Men in the Gray Flannel Suits), "Mad Men" succeeds more from mood then plot. The action is focused on the nuances of facial expression that speaks louder than words at a time when true self-expression was unknown and unwanted. The plot itself centers on rising adman star Don Draper (Jon Hamm), who has a secret past and his relationship with his suppressed wife, Betty (January Jones) who, although in therapy, is treated like a dependent child by her analyst who discusses her case only with her husband, not her. Elisabeth Moss shines as Peggy Olson, Draper's new secretary who is ahead of her time in terms of sexual liberation and professional intelligence. When she finally writes copy for a successful ad campaign (unheard of for the women in the office) she is condescendingly offered a drink, a pat on the back but no pay or no position. She chafes under her treatment and one wonders what the coming of the tumultuous Sixies has in store for her. Which bring us to the children of the principal characters. All those cute little tykes running around with cowboy hats and cap guns will, within the coming decade, become hippies, anti-war protesters, feminists and environmental activists. Bob Dylan is still a year away from descending upon the scene but if there ever was a time that needed a'changing, it was 1960 America. The Beatles, Vietnam, and Kennedy's assassination are just around the corner but no one at Sterling-Cooper knows this or even has the imagination to envision the cataclysmic changes about to descend upon them. And when they do happen, will they notice or care? Rating: - must see dvdif you missed season 1. scene notes fascinating. i think i will also have to buy season 2. Rating: - Mad Men Season One - Raw, Offensive, Powerful and Highly Addicting!!!Mad Men - Season One has completely changed the way I view TV. I generally watch things at random and don't watch a lot of shows consistently. This is a show worth changing that for. It's hard to describe what makes this show such a rare event in TV. Somebody had the vision to put a show on TV that has something to say and is as raw, honest and true to the period it is based on. I, for one, am grateful for that. The show centers on the NY advertising world of the 1960s. Why "Mad Men?" The old row of famous agencies on Madison Avenue, of course. The men are sexist, rude, slicked up, and well dressed. The women are submissive yet cunning, half accepting sexism and half ignoring it. There's not a lot of political correctness here. That is bound to offend some. While my first reaction was to wonder as to the motives behind that, the truth is that after watching the show for a few episodes it becomes clear that the bigotry of the period is key to understanding the characters. Plenty that the characters say would get them fired today. For their era, sexist banter in the office was considered par for the course. There's also plenty of smoking, drinking and sexual situations. If you are very conservative this might not be for you. Yet even conservative people would have to warm up somewhat to the effectiveness of the portrayal. This show makes you believe you are witnessing things as they were. Not having been there, we can't know for sure. Regardless, this sure is convincing. There are some nice special features and extras sprinkled sparingly throughout the disks. Of course you have your usual commentary tracks on the episodes, which are actually worth listing to in my opinion. Not every show can say that. The behind-the-scenes documentary section is also standard fare, but well done. It covers the basic elements of how the show is put together, from characters, sets, makeup, wardrobes, and art design. You also get some small extras that are nice like a segment on scoring the music for the show, which is great, and audio clips of some of the period songs that are used. Because of the way the disks are set up, many of these specific extras are on the individual disks. So you have to search for them. Also, there are only a few episodes per disk (about 3). I guess those extras and commentary tracks took up a lot of disk space. Still, these are minor details. Conclusion This is a great show and well worth watching again and again. I hope you will check this out if you haven't already. Enjoy! Rating: - Must viewingMad Men is a reminder how it was not so good in the "good old days". Alcohol was the drug of choice. Women were servants without brains. Men wanted all the freedom and none of the consequences. Cynical manipulation was ramping up. In some ways, much has changed. And in some ways, nothing has changed. The production values are incredible and the characters are irresistible. You never know what gem will show up next. Would you scold a child with a plastic bag over her head for leaving the cleaning on the floor instead of grabbing the bag off her? |