Mad Men Review

Advertising revolves around happiness and happiness could be anything such as a billboard whose brand personifies and reassures your actions.

It would be an understatement to say that I am not a Maddict. In other words, an addict of Mad Men, a show about a popular Madison Avenue advertising agency set in the early sixties. It depicts the changing moods and social movements of the sixties America. I personally think it is a reservoir of quality TV that gets people to think. The thing that gets the viewer to think is the total lack of emotion or real human intimacy, be it sexual or otherwise that exists between the characters. That is to say everybody is obsessed with how things appear while avoiding the obvious, which seems ideal for a set of people whose lives revolve around the endless creation of image and facade.

But what is funny is that the series Mad Men comprises of combination of power, sexuality, power, repression with only a silent knowledge of changes on the horizon. It is even more funny that the children of some friends of mine who identify themselves with the series have taken up to secretly posting Mad Men oriented avatars of themselves on the popular social media network Facebook. This further exemplifies the fact that the show has a strong brand identity that makes today’s youth go to the extent of identifying personalities from their parents' generation.

According to Wikipedia, Mad Men is an American television drama created and produced by Matthew Weiner. It is produced by Lions Gate Television and was premiered on July 2007. According to a 2011 Miller Tabak and Company estimate published in Barrons, Lions Gate Entertainment receives an estimated $2.71 million from the American cable network AMC for each episode, a little less than the $2.84 million each episode costs to produce. Mad Men has received critical acclaim, particularly for its historical authenticity and visual style, and has won multiple awards, including thirteen Emmys and four Golden Globes. It is the first basic cable series to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, winning it in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Like many other Mad Maniacs, I try and watch most episodes a second time if time permits. This justifies my faith in the show and why it is currently the finest drama on television. It would be a lot better if people started producing similar dramas that have subtle humor blended with investigative and innovative journalism that gets people to think. For people who grew up in the sixties particularly in and around New York, this serial would be a trip down memory lane. Almost every character brings back primal memories as each of them have their flaws that helps the viewer to identify themselves with the character. All sorts of things we would rather avoid yet find tempting is a key theme of the show. Hence, it is no doubt that style and sexiness are a part of the show.

Summarizing, I like the serial for its almost perfect and suggestive recreation of the sixties and the philosophy that accompanies it. While the brand identity remains almost the same, it evolves with each series retaining its basics so as to not meddle with an award winning formula.

Why are you waiting…….. go watch the show today !