Mad Men; The Television Series

This series ran seven season.  It began in 2007 ended in 2014.  It is the story of the Advertising Industry in America, primarily, New York City; Madison Avenue.  The show begins in 1959 and ends in 1970.

The attempt is to make it as authentic as possible.

Almost all the characters smoke cigarettes.  This was very true in the ’60s when ‘everybody’ seemed to smoke.  They drink.  This is also something that might be a bit over the top as people did drink but not the excess that most of the characters do.     They are unfaithful to their wives, having sex with anyone who passes.  This was not all that prevalent in the early sixties.

However, the reference to events and how people reacted to them, the styles and attitudes are pretty accurate.

The key character is Don Draper.   At first one thinks he is a cardboard character as he seems so stiff and controlled.  But Don is the ultimate in dishonesty.   Nothing about him is true; he, himself, doesn’t know what he likes or doesn’t like, and is more a creature of his environment than a real person.

His back story comes out over the seasons in dribs and drabs, so there is no linear path.   By the last season we know his mother was a whore, his father was married but is attributed with impregnating the whore.  The child is given to his father’s wife who was unable to have children, at least with him.

Don is called Dick, his last name, Whitman.  He lives in poverty with his father and his father’s wife.  His father is killed by a horse, and his father’s wife takes him with her, and they move to live in a whore house, where the mother marries the man in charge.

Joining the Army,  Dick goes to Korea where his C.O., Don Draper is killed in front of him. He takes Don Draper’s dog tags and  his identity.    He is evacuated from Korea as Don Draper.   He goes to New York City. He eventually meets Roger Sterling, who comes to the furrier where he works.  Through Roger, ‘Don’ gets into the Advertising business.  Then he marries Betty who is a bit upper class.

The show begins with Don Draper going home to his wife Betty and their two children in upstate New York.

Draper is wildly unfaithful, does everything.  Whatever is happening around him, he is part of it.  He is always striving to fit in.

The other characters in the show have their own lives which intertwine and split apart. All are unfaithful to their wives, some more, some less.  As the series progresses one sees how truly repulsive Draper is and realises he is cardboard.

It is only in the very last episodes where he walks out of the firm and does an ‘on the road’ travel that he begins to emerge as a person.

The interest in the show was the portrayal of the culture, the interplay of the characters, the decisions they make.  The mistakes.

It is a good show to watch because it doesn’t fall into the usual categories.  It is good to use to off set crime dramas or story arc shows.