Mad Men: Season One 2007 Lionsgate Home Entertainment Official Website Buy It Now

Like it or not, most of the good dramas these days are making their way to cable channels that require subscriptions. HBO had The Sopranos and now they have another success story with True Blood, Showtime has Dexter, and it seems that most of the dramas that were on the major networks are concluding their runs completely or were never given half a chance. However, there are other cable networks, the ones that are part of your extended cable package, who are trying to bring some more interesting entertainment to viewers. FX seems to keep hitting the mark, though they also seem to unnecessarily cancel some of their programming, and even AMC is moving beyond their “classic” lineup and offering new shows. Actually, I felt they should have dropped the American Movie Classics name the instant I saw Godzilla vs. Mothra air since not only is it a Japanese movie it was also the remake that came out in the 90’s, but that’s a different soapbox that isn’t related to this review.

Mad Men is one of those series that I had heard about, but never actually watched. Were it not for a little mispricing on the part of FYE, I might have continued to ignore the series but when a complete season of a television series is staring you in the face on blu-ray for $15, you really can’t pass it up. Mad Men take place in New York City circa 1960 and the focus is on the world of advertising, more specifically the high end world of Sterling Cooper who has a number of large clients to their name. Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is one of the best that the agency has working for them, but advertising is also a very cutthroat business with others trying to outdo Don whenever they can, something that no one has been successful at.

From the first episode we see that Don and many of his co-workers aren’t terribly different from what you might find today. Draper has a mistress and yet a very loyal wife, Betty (January Jones) who is suffering with bouts of depression due to her mother’s passing as well as most of the anxieties that a housewife might undergo during the era. Given the point in history, this is very much a man’s world and things like sexual harassment in the workplace are common and not given a second thought nor is spousal abuse, something that isn’t necessarily seen in Mad Men but is referenced at various points. The firm doesn’t necessarily deal with troubles outside of their collective as much as they do within it. For Don, Peter Dyckman "Pete" Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) tends to be something of an adversary, though also is very good at his job, but as the series moves forward Pete eventually gets some dirt on Don that he believes will help him to better his position within the company.

Also essential to the plots of the episodes is a new assistant that has been hired to assist Draper. Margaret "Peggy" Olson (Elisabeth Moss) who may not look it, but she could be thought of as the blossoming attitude of the modern woman. She might be quick to say yes to anything that she’s asked, but we can also see that she’s not someone who is as easily taken in by the opinions and attitudes of the male dominated corporate world. In time she proves that she can be just as creative as what her male counterparts are, something that isn’t necessarily always intentional, but it does prove to be just the thing to push her farther up the corporate ladder beyond being just another secretary.

At times Mad Men has the approach of who is sleeping with who, something that is commonly seen in most dramas today, but Mad Men manages to do it with style and often in a way that you might not be expecting. Just like any time period, people will tend to hide their extra marital affairs and in the case of Mad Men, this often becomes even more the situation. It’s okay for the male characters, but in the case of someone like Don’s boss Roger Sterling, Jr. (John Slattery) hides his affair with Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) from everyone and their involvement actually comes as something of a surprise.

Mad Men however isn’t just all about who is sleeping with who as episodes often tend to deal with the company trying to come up with the best plan to promote their clients, something that usually Don manages to secure, though his co-workers often have some input as well. Other times the series deals with Don’s home life, issues from his past (something that I’ll keep quite on if you haven’t already seen the series), the inter-office conflicts and even politics. The agency happens to be representing Nixon during his presidential campaign against Kennedy, but the series also never tries to push politics to the forefront like some other programs will.

What really makes Mad Men captivating however is the stylistic approach that the series has. Part of this comes with the dialog and the series really manages to capture what the lingo and attitudes might have been during those days leading into Camelot, at least that’s what someone my age can assume since the only thing I have to go by are seeing television segments, movies, and reading interviews. Mad Men also has a fantastic group of individuals working in set design and dressing. You will see plenty of late 50’s décor in every episode which never feels too out of place, at times is just the right touch of gaudy, and really manages to successfully capture the feeling that the series should have. At times it’s like you are part of that era without being too involved.

While I have noticed that a number of television series from the past year or so have really taken it to heart that there will most likely be a high definition release in their future, Mad Men originally was broadcast when blu-ray was still a big question, but it still looks really good. There are some occasional moments of grain but in some ways I think this adds just a little something extra to the feeling of the series. I can’t really complain much about the way that Mad Men presents itself and while it’s not really a series that necessarily is going to be some showpiece, I think that the high definition version does a great job at bringing out the look of the series much more than what standard definition would allow for.

If you’re someone who is into audio commentary, Mad Men has more than its fair share and in fact really has gone beyond what most home video releases include. There isn’t one commentary track, not one of the first and last episode, but a grand total of twenty-three different audio commentaries meaning that there are episodes which include more than one. That isn’t enough for this release though and while I had thought that the Establishing Mad Men extra was going to be some short and sweet behind-the-scenes feature it turned out to be over an hour of details on the creation of the series including interviews with cast and crew. If you’re curious about the evolution of the advertising industry, you’re covered on that as well with Advertising the American Dream, a somewhat short but rather informative piece. The music of the series is also highlighted; there is a photo collection and even a preview of the second season.

Mad Men may not get the benefit of having the option to include profanity and nudity like the shows on subscription based networks do, but the series manages to make do without it and really does come across as something unique and special. It is a little hard to get into the first few episodes, but if you can manage to keep your interest long enough you’ll find that Mad Men is a very compelling and captivating series that will have you wishing that you could live out this version of the American Dream, no matter how fictional it might be.

-mike-