Featured Shows
All AMC Shows
More Shows
Watch Online
Featured Movies
Movies on AMC
Movie Resources
Watch Online
Start a Conversation
Talk is a public forum where you can ask questions and share your commentary with fellow Mad Men fans.
"Its all in the details!"
I have been watching from the beginning and for quite awhile wondering what it is about this show that has got me riveted. I mean geez all of these characters are just downright despicable. I kept thinking it was the well written story, the great acting, the look back but I do think that it is the unbelievable attention to detail that they have mastered. I lately have been looking for the little things and how spot on they are. When Don took the family for a picnic and Don throwing the beer can away, the trash they left behind. My first thought my god what pigs but you know in thinking about it that really is what people did back then. Or the little slap on the rump someone gave Peggy, that was the norm back then. Actually many many things that the show has got so right. I guess its the look back and seeing how much has changed has gotten to me or even how much really has not changed. Truly an interesting show. And Don's wife woofing up in his car at the end....my first thought was priceless....;-)
I appreciate the details not for historical truthfulness (I was born well after the show takes place), but because they are informative and inserted with great care by the writers. You can draw upon the details to make sense of what happens later. There are just endless threads throughout the show consequently. The care with the details makes the show coherent from episode to episode, and you feel like you are looking at reality, a reality that can teach you things. The characters are coherent; the plot is coherent, etc. We can all pick it apart, and some of our criticism may be justified, but the writers and producers are giving us a lot to work with.
At the same time, nothing seems forced. I too wonder what exactly draws you in. Nothing earth shattering happens week after week. If you were to explain the story to someone who's not been watching the show, it may sound boring or not appealing. Its definitely a must see show to appreciate! I too was born well after this time period and yet I don't have to be born in that era to know exactly what it was like, solely because of this masterpiece, that is MadMen.
I like that there are no huge cliffhangers from episode to episode. Life just happens to these people and they muddle along - sometimes you see glimpses of their past lives and it gives you some enlightenment on who they are now - but mostly you are just seeing people going about living their lives and the impact of their actions on each other. There is kind a ripple effect going on...
People have mentioned Peggy getting patted on the butt. The only time I saw anything like that, it was Freddy Rumsen who tapped her on the side of her thigh with a folder and mentioned wanting "tittilating copy."
Hardly PC but much better than a NFL-quality smack on the butt.
Or did I miss a different pat on Peggy's bottom?
I agree, Keith. The reason that I love this show really hit me with this last episode. The picnic scene really shocked me. When Don threw the beer can out into the woods and Betty just picked up the blanket and left all their trash, I said to myself or in this case to the TV, "Arent' you going to pick that up?" And then it donned on me that people really did that back then. Although, I was not born then, I really appreciate the attention to detail.
Having cleaned up more than one location, people don't just shake the blanket and leave everything on the ground any more. Now they throw it either into a conveniently placed 55-gal. trash barrel. Or chuck it into the brush beyond the grass.
I agree, zerelda, about the "ripple effect" in MM. I guess that is what is so gripping...they are "muddling along" and then---and this is key---you never know when a little (or big sometimes!) flashback will happen. I am constantly amazed at the caliber of writing and story lines. It's like a time capsule to my life.
I grew up in those times (b. 1951) and I get to take a little trip back in time with each episode. But, I never can figure out how they captured it all so well without looking inside my brain! lol
Amazing, just so completely amazing.
I also was born in '51 and love all the details in every episode. I feel like I'm revisiting my childhood. I got a special kick out of Betty defrosting the refrigerator in the last episode--I can so clearly remember helping my mom do that. But I was a little disappointed at the Checker cab that picked up the boys after their night on the town. It had side-marker lights, which weren't introduced on American cars until the 1968 model year. Since the episode took place in 1962 (based on Marilyn's death), that car couldn't have existed. I guess it's a tribute to the usual authenticity of the show that this one mistake stands out.