0 Mad Men Seasons 1, 2 and Now 3 Posted by Broadcast Bandits |

I am pretty excited about this and have been waiting for the right time to write about it.  The right time is now as Mad Men is returning for Season 3 in August and Season 2 DVD will be on sale July 14th.  EXCITING!!!  No one quite understands my obsession with this show, and I assure you it's more than my simple crush on Jon Hamm (leading character Don Draper).  I personally believe this show is dramatic, suspenseful, intelligent and stylish all in one box.  Good entertainment always takes a backseat to silliness, sad non?  But shows like Mad Men deserve the millions of audiences that flock to insulting-to-my-mind reality television that follows couples, their kids and the fake drama involved.

NO SPOILERS!!! NO SPOILERS!!! NO SPOILERS!!!


Mad Men Season 1

We are introduced to the Mad Men, a self-given nickname of Madison Avenue men at the height of advertising's glamour, that is the late 1950s-1960s.  At this time, everybody chain-smoked like chimneys.  The irony, they had severe coughing fits and didn't see the relationship between the two.  The start of show is just about this particular subject, the men of Sterling-Cooper, a small time advertising agency, are given the challenge of selling cigarettes glamourously when Reader Digest had just published an article stating cigarette smoking is linked to cancer.

The pilot episode starts with a young newly graduated secretary Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss), who comes to work for Sterling-Cooper.  She walks into the working world completely fascinated, a great parallel for the audience's introduction to the show.  It is her first day working for Don Draper, the dark-handsome creative exec.  Draper is the show's main character as well as the most-respected man in the agency.  He cheats on his wife, like everyone else in the agency, but not in the secretary pool.  The office manager aka head secretary Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) makes a comment indicating he is the one man no one can get to.  He is completely mysterious, shows up for work, hangs out long enough to be seen but not long enough to be known.  At night, or some nights (as sometimes he 'works late'), he goes home to Betty Draper (January Jones), his perfect blonde Grace Kelly-like wife, his 2 perfect looking children (girl & boy) and his perfect suburbian home.  What is the mystery then?  Who is the Don Draper?  No one knows, not his wife and not even his Beatnik uptown girlfriend.  As the show continues, the mystery behind Don Draper slowly unravels, Peggy Olson's mysterious weight gain (obvious to us, but not her) and most characters' realization that life is not as 'perfect' as they all thought. 

The show is very subtle in its messages, assuming we are intelligent enough to 'get it'.  In a timely manner, the audience is introduced to the ways of the late 50s: the excessive drinking and smoking (particularly in advertising), the sexual harassment, the Blonde-Betty wives, the pressure of realizing the nuclear family and, the post-war and post-depression glamour.

Mad Men Season 2

Season 2 continues in 1962, 3 years after the first season.  Peggy Olson has lost all the weight, although no one knows how and why (don't worry it is revealed mid-season what happens to her).  Don Draper is being weighed and told his cholesterol is too high.  And, Betty has taken up horse backriding as a hobby.  Everything seems usual and 'perfect', but we know there are problems waiting around the corner.

Without revealing too much (or anything b/c my friend Robbie will simply kill me), I will say that this season moves to an even higher level of intellectual than the first.  As the men are facing the challenges in life and at work, so are the women.  And the women's lib is right around the corner (give or take a couple of years) from this time.  You can imagine, their strength and confidence rises as they begin to stand up for their own rights, whether in the household or at work.

The glamour of advertising is fading with time because the consumers are beginning to catch on.  Therefore, the methods of advertising need to continously be on top of their consumer.  After all, advertising is all about psychological manipulation with a real understanding of consumer perspective and behaviour.  And who better to do all this than Don Draper?  In Season 1, most of Don Draper's mysteries are revealed, or so you think.  There's actually more to look forward to and most people will mistakently believe once the mystery's gone, the show's ambience goes along with it.  This is absolutely not true as Don Draper is now faced with having to reconcile his past with his present.  I'm thinking he will do this in Season 3 (cross-fingers on my prediction).

I think the show's biggest surprise comes from the women: Joan, Peggy and Betty.  As mentioned earlier, some of the women begin to be more assertive (boy do they!) and shockingly, one takes a back seat, perhaps believing that assertion only leads to disappointment and loneliness.

The season finale leaves the show in great suspense as to what will become of the characters as they face the consequences of their choices in Season 2.

Season 2 will be availabe for sale on July 14th.


Mad Men Season 3

Season 3 will begin in August.  Hoorah for smart television!