Writer: Matthew Weiner
Director: Alan Taylor
Cast: Jon Hamm (Don Draper), January Jones (Betty), Elisabeth Moss (Peggy), Christina Hendricks (Joan), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete), Bryan Batt (Salvatore), Aaron Staton (Ken), John Slattery (Roger Sterling), Rosemarie DeWitt (Midge Daniels), Rich Sommer (Harry), Michael J. X Gladis (Paul), Maggie Siff (Rachel Menken), John Cullum (Lee Garner, Sr.), Darren Pettie (Lee Garner, Jr.) & Remy Auberjonois (Dr. Emerson)
Advertising executive Don Draper struggles to control his problematic love life, whilst preventing his agency from losing a big tobacco account...
Mad Men is a new drama created by Michael Weiner (a writer for The Sopranos), exploring the little-known world of advertising in New York, circa 1960 – back then, during a"Golden Age" for the business, advertising was viewed as glamorous and populated by sexist, racist, playboy executives -- all juggling their sex lives with the cutthroat business world...
Our protagonist is granite-jawed Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the creative director of the Sterling Cooper advertising agency. Don is a hunky alpha male we first meet sitting alone in a bar, scribbling ideas on a napkin about how to combat recent medical evidence that cigarettes cause death.
It's this unfortunate blow to the tobacco industry that informs the episode's main dilemma, as Don tries to persuade a wealthy tobacconist that his "Lucky Strikes" brand can rise above his competitors with an appealing slogan, even now that lung cancer is an issue for consumers.
The script does a wonderful job of introducing us to every character and the vibe of 60s New York -- with the towering glass skyscraper of Sterling Cooper (situated on Madison Avenue, hence "Mad Men"), and the pastel-coloured dresses of the female staff. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) acts as the audience's guide through a typical working day, as she starts her new job under the tutelage of flame-haired Joan (Christina Hendricks).
And it's quite an eye-opener to see how far the culture has matured in nearly 50 years. The women (or "girls") of Sterling Cooper are basically slaves to a typewriter or stuck in a telephone exchange, encouraged to show some leg for their bosses delectation, and accept sexist remarks from their male superiors.
It's this outdated attitude to women that nicely unbalances another meeting Don attends with his ambitious subordinate Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) – where the owner of an upscale shopping chain turns out to be a woman: Rachel Menkin (Maggie Siff). Rachel, cigarette-holder in hand, is a far cry from the submissive girls Don's used to dealing with, and a presage of the change in sexual politics.
It's a very interesting near-past to explore, superbly brought to life with the attention to detail and utterly convincing costumes, furniture and general ambience. Even the actors all have that retro "60s-look" about them, with nobody delivering a bad performance throughout.
As the lead actor, Jon Hamm is excellent as top-dog Don, Kartheiser is enjoyably snide as protégé Pete, Moss is sweet and appealing as new-girl Peggy, Hendricks is sexy and professional as Joan, John Slattery does great work as Don's no-nonsense boss Roger Sterling, and the less-prominent supporting players put in solid performances. There are already a few scenes that stick in the memory – from the uncomfortable Don/Pete/Rachel meeting, to Don's schmoozing of Rachel in a bar afterwards: "What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons." Great dialogue throughout, as you'd expect from a writer on The Sopranos.
As the opening to a new series, this episode covers most of the bases: the characters are introduced and drawn well in brevity, the panache of the period is successfully recreated, the relationships are made pretty clear, we get a sense of what future episodes might bring (in both work and play), and the freshness of premise, snappy dialogue, and excellent performances have won my interest.
Hopefully it won’t dissolve into a glossy, retro soap-opera.
2 March 2008
BBC Four, 10.00 pm
Director: Alan Taylor
Cast: Jon Hamm (Don Draper), January Jones (Betty), Elisabeth Moss (Peggy), Christina Hendricks (Joan), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete), Bryan Batt (Salvatore), Aaron Staton (Ken), John Slattery (Roger Sterling), Rosemarie DeWitt (Midge Daniels), Rich Sommer (Harry), Michael J. X Gladis (Paul), Maggie Siff (Rachel Menken), John Cullum (Lee Garner, Sr.), Darren Pettie (Lee Garner, Jr.) & Remy Auberjonois (Dr. Emerson)
Advertising executive Don Draper struggles to control his problematic love life, whilst preventing his agency from losing a big tobacco account..."Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of the road that screams reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay."
-- Don Draper (Jon Hamm)
Mad Men is a new drama created by Michael Weiner (a writer for The Sopranos), exploring the little-known world of advertising in New York, circa 1960 – back then, during a"Golden Age" for the business, advertising was viewed as glamorous and populated by sexist, racist, playboy executives -- all juggling their sex lives with the cutthroat business world...
Our protagonist is granite-jawed Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the creative director of the Sterling Cooper advertising agency. Don is a hunky alpha male we first meet sitting alone in a bar, scribbling ideas on a napkin about how to combat recent medical evidence that cigarettes cause death.
It's this unfortunate blow to the tobacco industry that informs the episode's main dilemma, as Don tries to persuade a wealthy tobacconist that his "Lucky Strikes" brand can rise above his competitors with an appealing slogan, even now that lung cancer is an issue for consumers.
The script does a wonderful job of introducing us to every character and the vibe of 60s New York -- with the towering glass skyscraper of Sterling Cooper (situated on Madison Avenue, hence "Mad Men"), and the pastel-coloured dresses of the female staff. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) acts as the audience's guide through a typical working day, as she starts her new job under the tutelage of flame-haired Joan (Christina Hendricks).
And it's quite an eye-opener to see how far the culture has matured in nearly 50 years. The women (or "girls") of Sterling Cooper are basically slaves to a typewriter or stuck in a telephone exchange, encouraged to show some leg for their bosses delectation, and accept sexist remarks from their male superiors.
It's this outdated attitude to women that nicely unbalances another meeting Don attends with his ambitious subordinate Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) – where the owner of an upscale shopping chain turns out to be a woman: Rachel Menkin (Maggie Siff). Rachel, cigarette-holder in hand, is a far cry from the submissive girls Don's used to dealing with, and a presage of the change in sexual politics.
It's a very interesting near-past to explore, superbly brought to life with the attention to detail and utterly convincing costumes, furniture and general ambience. Even the actors all have that retro "60s-look" about them, with nobody delivering a bad performance throughout.
As the lead actor, Jon Hamm is excellent as top-dog Don, Kartheiser is enjoyably snide as protégé Pete, Moss is sweet and appealing as new-girl Peggy, Hendricks is sexy and professional as Joan, John Slattery does great work as Don's no-nonsense boss Roger Sterling, and the less-prominent supporting players put in solid performances. There are already a few scenes that stick in the memory – from the uncomfortable Don/Pete/Rachel meeting, to Don's schmoozing of Rachel in a bar afterwards: "What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons." Great dialogue throughout, as you'd expect from a writer on The Sopranos.
As the opening to a new series, this episode covers most of the bases: the characters are introduced and drawn well in brevity, the panache of the period is successfully recreated, the relationships are made pretty clear, we get a sense of what future episodes might bring (in both work and play), and the freshness of premise, snappy dialogue, and excellent performances have won my interest.
Hopefully it won’t dissolve into a glossy, retro soap-opera.
2 March 2008
BBC Four, 10.00 pm
