Confessions of a MAD MEN Virgin

TELEVISION Specific Shows
21

A

I think Draper is a great character, and Hamm is a fantastic actor, but besides the pilot and first season, this show has not really been something I’ve thought highly of. It seems like a self important soap opera, peopled with unlikeable characters portrayed by bland or outright bad actors. There is no sense of reality to the office or their business. Compare it to something like Luck, with the sense of pulsing life around that horse track, and Mad Men comes off feeling positively funereal in how lifeless it can be. Don disappears into the background and we’re left with nothing but stilted drama inexplicably focused on all the least interesting one dimensional characters. It rarely feels ‘of the period’ outside the first season, and I’ve about given up hope the show will ever make good on it’s early promise. But, uh, good luck, dude. You’re going to love the first season at least. It’s quality TV.

22

What an odd thing to say…

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Yeah I’ve definitely found myself outnumbered in recent years when it comes to how down on Mad Men I can be. So Chris Spider can read my post and know most other people online won’t agree with me.

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I’m okay with not being totally on board with Mad Men. It’s a fine line the show walks. It’s had to sustain a dramatic show about everyday people without devolving into melodrama that can seem cheap, and/or turn a section of the viewing public off. But to call it a soap opera is just wrong. There are any number of places online where you can read thoughtful analysis of Mad Men episodes that just simply would not apply to Days of Our Lives, Dallas, or Melrose Place.

25

I may be overly hard on it when I call it a soap opea, I just find some of the office squabbles, rivalries and the like lack fission. There isn’t energy or tension in this show the way I think there should be given what these people do for a living, and the fascinating historical setting. The characters don’t feel “real” to me. Anyway, I just wanted to give a quick summery of my thoughts for Chris. I’ll save in depth Mad Men critiques for the season five thread.

26

I appreciate the dissent, actually, though I don’t know how much I’ll end up agreeing with it. Anyway, thoughts on “Ladies Room”:

-…Yeah, Betty’s got some issues. I’m not really having problems with January Jones at the moment; she’s not as dynamic as Hamm, John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss or Christina Hendricks, but she’s doing a good job with the part as written.

-I’ve heard Sally turns into one of the best characters on the show. I like her actress (she’s currently voicing Jinora on The Legend of Korra), so this news pleases me.

-I don’t usually get to praise central sets on shows unless they’re, like, spaceships or something. But the Sterling-Cooper office is one of the best I’ve seen in years. So much personality thanks to the period detail and how it’s organized.

-Women crying in the bathroom seemed to be a theme in this episode. I’m not sure as to what the actual meaning is, but it was interesting nonetheless.

-Kinsey being a Twilight Zone fan=Cool. Sexually harassing Peggy? Not cool, though I know it’s part of the whole period attitude, and Peggy is shown to be disturbed by it.

-While I do not approve of his cheating, shirtless Don is still a fine-looking man. And I’m as straight as an arrow.

-This is something I’ve always wondered, but how do actors fake smoking? Is it an old special effects technique or something? Faking drinking seems like it would be much easier (hurray for food coloring!).

27

I can understand where the soap opera comparisons come from, but that’s mostly because the show is about never-ending interpersonal relationships. It’s the writing and thematic depth that put it WAY above such nonsense.

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A[quote name=“Chris Spider” url=“/community/t/143705/confessions-of-a-mad-men-virgin#post_3336506”]I appreciate the dissent, actually, though I don’t know how much I’ll end up agreeing with it. Anyway, thoughts on “Ladies Room”:

-…Yeah, Betty’s got some issues. I’m not really having problems with January Jones at the moment; she’s not as dynamic as Hamm, John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss or Christina Hendricks, but she’s doing a good job with the part as written.

-I’ve heard Sally turns into one of the best characters on the show. I like her actress (she’s currently voicing Jinora on The Legend of Korra), so this news pleases me.

-I don’t usually get to praise central sets on shows unless they’re, like, spaceships or something. But the Sterling-Cooper office is one of the best I’ve seen in years. So much personality thanks to the period detail and how it’s organized.

-Women crying in the bathroom seemed to be a theme in this episode. I’m not sure as to what the actual meaning is, but it was interesting nonetheless.

-Kinsey being a Twilight Zone fan=Cool. Sexually harassing Peggy? Not cool, though I know it’s part of the whole period attitude, and Peggy is shown to be disturbed by it.

-While I do not approve of his cheating, shirtless Don is still a fine-looking man. And I’m as straight as an arrow.

-This is something I’ve always wondered, but how do actors fake smoking? Is it an old special effects technique or something? Faking drinking seems like it would be much easier (hurray for food coloring!).
[/quote]

They smoke herbal cigarettes, supposedly.

29

“Marriage of Figaro”:

-Man, that’s some serious stigma against divorce, huh? Men see it as an invitation to hit on single women, women look at Helen like she’s a destitute whore (not that it isn’t hard for her, mind you). I’m not sure whether I prefer our more relaxed attitude towards it now.

-Loved the scene with Don and the camera. It seemed almost… sad for some reason.

-Yeah, slapping someone else’s kid would get your ass beat by certain folks these days.

-I like that the show is already starting to play Don’s skirt-chasing as somewhat unhealthy.

-He does seem to genuinely love his kids, though buying a dog to make up for the cake debacle smacks of overkill.

-I love the interpersonal relationships on the show so far. Isn’t every show about them to some degree? I think “soap opera” is when you just take it to ludicrous extremes. Which this hasn’t done yet, at all.

I think my dad actually wants to watch this with me now. Cool!

30

You know, I don’t think January Jones is a good actor at all, and she’s sucked in everything I’ve seen her in outside of Mad Men, but somehow her limitations mesh completely with Betty’s character, and her total lack of effect is perfect - 99% of the time she’s very good in the role, IMO.

31

After watching interviews with the cast of Mad Men, I wonder if Wiener didn’t simply find actors with personalities that are close to the people they play. Slattery in particular seems pretty close to Roger Sterling (minus the drinking etc).

32

I got through about two and a half seasons on Netflix a couple months ago and wasn’t hooked. I think the show is well done but I was never emotionally invested in anything happening. I’m the king of doing the marathon thing with good shows but this one, I started to care less and less about getting to the next episode.

My question is this:

Does the show peak later? If I wasn’t interested after two seasons should I stick it out or is it clear that the series just isn’t my thing by this point?

33

Plus he’s really married to Mona!

I wonder if Roger would have been as big a presence on the show without Slattery making him indispensable? I remember he said he originally was up for the part of Don.

34

Yeah, the fact that Slattery keeps getting credited as a guest star seems strange to me. I’m guessing that changes?

35

As limited as January Jones is, the role of Betty is perfectly tailored to her.

36

I thought the last 3 episodes of season 3 were some of the best television I’d ever seen, ever.

To be blunt, I think that Band of Brothers was pretty much the best thing on tv ever, and the tail end of Mad Men S3 was as good.

37

Sounds like I should at least finish season 3 then…

38

Herbal cigarettes. And Weiner has a policy where no character smokes cigarettes if the actor playing them isn’t a smoker in real life, which is why Kinsey smokes a pipe and Harry is ‘trying to quit’ and has lollipops all the time.

39

Well, these last three episodes have been… eye-opening to say the least. General thoughts:

-Glen is creepy. Stop encouraging him, Betty! Why the hell would you EVER give a little kid a lock of your hair? Especially one who looked like he was about to drool on it?

-Those scenes between Don and Adam Whitman were painful. The scene where Don trips on the stairs, has a flashback to Adam’s birth, and then his younger self looks back to see his present self was pretty cool.

-I knew about Roger and Joan’s apparently long-standing affair ahead of time, but they were still excellent scenes.

-Would guessing that Sally starts to be more prominent next season be correct? It seems like the writers have plans for her, but right now she’s mostly adding extra, weapons-grade cuteness.

-The whole tourism-in-Israel subplot is (intentionally) awkward as hell to a 2012 viewer like me.

-Don being horrifically out of place at a crappy poetry slam was some excellent awkward comedy, especially in how Jon Hamm underplayed it. And then we had him being unexpectedly moved by the final song, which segued into a great little montage.

-I have *slightly* more sympathy for Pete now that I’ve seen his family life, and how frustrated he is that nobody will judge him on his own merits.

-That being said, Roger’s “You live and *die* in his shadow” speech was pretty awesome.

40

There are more moments like this ahead…