I think it is over the top and exagerated. The good story line is getting lost amongst the crap.

Another tour de force episode. My favorite moments - when daughter Sally is caught playing with a dry cleaning bag over her head. Mom calls her over for a scolding - not because she could suffocate (so 21st century paranoid!) but because the clothes that were in it might end up on the floor. Also, the closeted gay character is begging for more exposition. Living the closeted life in a high powered ad agency in the early 60's could be a show in itself. Another brilliant touch - after he finds out Don is out sick, he tells Peggy he's skipping out too. The next scene shows Peggy knocking on a door with the name "Kinsey" stencilled on it. Get it?

it's a terrific show.

I have watched both episodes and loved it. The acting and storyline is good and can't wait to see episode 3. Granted, the workplace has come along way in the last few decades, especially the sexual harrassment laws! None the less I give it a two thumbs up!

BORING EPISODE AGAIN. Well, I've watched the show twice now, and it's turning into a soap opera. Draper is in bed with another woman. Peggy gets an un-wanted kiss. BFD

Other than the production value, there is nothing to look at here. What is the show about , other than little vignettes about smoking , drinking, sexism, etc. I'd like to see something about why America was at its peak in 1960 (economic power, technology, etc.)

If the third episode doesn't hook me, I'm done.

What was the name of the song that played at the end of the show?

It's beginning lyrics are: "There's a monster growing in my head"

1961OEMguy, the song at the end of that episode is by the Cardigans. I *think* that song is called "The Great Divide." It's from their "First Band on the Moon" album.

I'm pretty sure in 1960, offices had manual typewriters.

IBM Selectric with its golf-ball type-element was introduced in 1961.

Another than that, I love how authentically portrayed this show is.

I'm pretty sure in 1960, offices had manual typewriters.

IBM Selectric with its golf-ball type-element was introduced in 1961.

Another than that, I love how authentically portrayed this show is.

I worked on Madison Ave fot 2 agencies between 1953 and 1967. At one, i was part of the account team on Lorilard,(kent and newport cigarettes). Later, at Gillette was involv ed with Right Guard.

Where did mr. Weiner get his data, lots of it is not true. The staff was mostly WW2 vets, some with MBA,s from our GI bill-we worked hard, did not drink in the office and the secretary liasons were infrequent-about the same as in every company where bright, younger people work.we believed in our products and helped build the success that

these companies became. P.S-no one ever considered Right Guard as a female product-it was the breakthru product for men.

If your wryers want some unusual stories about agency life in the sixties,

I 'll be happy to share.

Love the dance between the suits and the skirts. Can't wait til you turn up the tempo.

My last comment has beeen deleted, mabe it was to harsh but definetly the truth this show is boring.Mad Men has a different meaning to me. It has made me a MAD MAN- that people could over advertise such a bomb,and me getting suckered into wasting my time watching it.

It's interesting to me how almost all of the comments are about the time period or the ad industry, yet almost none about the main character Don Draper.

Here is a character that has stated that he doesn't vote, doesn't believe in love or much of anything else. The comparisons with Tony "you-know-who" are irresistible. Tony S could kill or maim one or two at a time, Don can kill millions with a clever ad campaign.

This man has respect, status and yet is completely amoral. He will create an ad campaign to sell cigarettes or a book by a failed artist named A. Hitler. It doesn't matter to Don, because life is all a sham and only he knows it. Love is just a product that a successful ad campaign, created by guys like him, and sold to the gullible masses. The wife and kid, just status symbols needed to complete his image of respectability and normalcy.

No one knows Don, not his boss or even his wife. She can only guess at what is underneath, she asks: "who are you in there?"

Why would a man not talk about his childhood except that he is fill with shame. Is he Jewish? A bastard? An African American ancestor? Don is a modern man, his identity a facade, behind a mask, unknown even to himself.

This is a great character and so far a great show.

I can't get enough, I just realized it only goes for 13 episodes, please tell me this is just season 1...LOVE IT! More Joan, More Mencken Department Store Owner... I am telling all my friends to tune in.

I think it's shocking that Don told his two bosses that he doesn't vote. I don't know how many guys would announce that in the office in the late 1950's. Here's a guy who's got the wife and kids in the suburbs and looks the part completely, but he's faking it.

Maybe since it's the height of the cold war, Don is some sort of covert agent. Remember Kevin Costner in No Way Out? Maybe Don's really Russian, but was given a whole American identity, complete with a stint in the Army. He was placed in the ad business so he could influence and corrupt American society.

Just a crazy thought of mine. Hehe.

I love the look of this show, so different than anything else on the tube. I love the smoking, drinking and the fashions;the faux sophistication! Another thing, I like watching new faces for a change and actors that haven't been overexposed. It lags a little here and there, but it kept my interest. Another round of scotch please!

"I think it's shocking that Don told his two bosses that he doesn't vote. I don't know how many guys would announce that in the office in the late 1950's."

I suspect that Don was able to say that because Roger and Bertram aren't his bosses. They're his partners. That would mean that Don can't be fired as easily as an employee, and they probably can't cut him out of the partnership without buying back his share of the business.

Don can't totally blow off Bertram and Roger because they would have bigger shares of the business than he does, plus he would want to keep the peace most of the time.

At least, that's my take on the situation at this point. Somebody as successful as Don is supposed to be would expect to own a piece of the business, or he'd go elsewhere.

This episode reveals the depth where Madmen can go when the art department was discussing the VW "Lemon" print ad. This was a turning point for ad creative that dared to challenge cultural mores.

Interesting comment on July 31 from "Jack" who says he worked on Madison Ave during that period.

Know everyone is intitled to their own opinion but this is not a boring show in the least unless you may be 15 y/o. It is GREAT and pretty much tells it as I remember it as I was a late teen then.

Someone in one of these blogs mention making of. Well go to On Demand if you have Comcast and there is making of along with all episodes and "behind the scenes." hope the negative posters change their minds, but then...............Dave

Really lke the comments by poster about 6-7 above my last that compaired Don to Tony S. That is interesting and never gave that a thought. The persons post is well worth reading again. I get sooo much into the show and think I should watch all 3 episodes again. In the 60s marriage, having children was just "routine thing to do" as was smoking and drink anytime and place. Don is ef hinding something and will watch to see what unfolds. Dave

So, Don is really Dick (and Jewish), Betty has MS, Sal is gay, kids play in plastic dry cleaning bags, don't wear seat belts, and are slapped at partys by other kids parents for running in the house and knocking over cocktails. Everyone smokes and drinks constantly, sexual harrassment is everywhere, and...oh yes, the lapels and the typewriters are wrong. But boring? Hardly. It's just TV folks! Would you rather be watching re-runs of "I Love Lucy" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show?" (OK, now that you mention it....)

I love this show. I'm a 70's baby who is smitten with this time and I can remember the flavor of the time in my grandparents and family members homes all too well. I agree that Don Draper's character is an ingenius one and played quite well.

A nice complement to working with Rachel Menken would be for Rachel to recommend a friend written as a transparency of ruth Handler who developed the Barbie Doll (debut 19570market 58-first real ads flopped in 59--real re-start and huge send-off was 1960). I wrote my thesis at Amherst College on how Mad Ave and Toy Fair Marketed Barbie into American by the advertising creation of the vicarious thrill. Should anyone from the show actually read this--my mom was the marketer! Love to discuss! Also, someone at the show should go back to the 1930s print ads for the Jordan Playboy automobile "Somewhere West from Laramie Lay-outs"--This was the first narrative style ad campaign--Nothing matched it until the DIor Ads of the 60s!

I LOVE THE SCENES ON THE TRAIN.. THE MOVEMENT, SCENES FROM WINDOW ARE REALLY INTRIGUEING~! THE CONDUCTOR ON EPISODE 3 WHO SMILED AT THE VOLKSWAGON AD AND PICKED UP THE PAPER WAS REALLY GOOD..BRING HIM BACK..HE KINDA REMINDED ME OF A COMBINATIO OF DR PHIL AND JEFFREY TAMBOR..