I could wax poetic about this show for days and days, but I won't. In brief, I think it is one of the best written, best acted shows that has ever been on television. It amazes me that there are still people at the time of this post being written, August 2010, who have never even heard of it.
Mad Men is the story of advertising executives in the 1960s, but that is really just the setting.
Our hero, or anti-hero depending on your point of view, is Don Draper, aka Jon Hamm. Don is fairly typical for a 1960s creative director. He drinks. A lot. He smokes. A lot. He is cynical and very very good at his job. He has affairs that trouble his conscience not a bit. He has a beautiful wife, two lovely children, a house in Ossining, NY, and the world by the tail. Or so it seems at first glance. Once we get to know Don, which is a feat in itself, we see that nothing in his life is as it appears. A minor spoiler for those who have never seen the show .. his name isn't even Don Draper. As a woman in 2010, I should despise Don and all that he does and stands for, but I don't. I do not condone his many mistakes and poor judgment, but I find myself cheering for him and wanting things to work out for him. A few episodes into Season 4, and they haven't started to work out for him yet. But I'm hopeful.
In my opinion, the other star of the show is Peggy Olson, aka Elisabeth Moss. This is Peggy as she appears at the beginning of the show's run, sweet, girlish, and young. But look in those eyes. There is so much more there. She starts off as Don's secretary, but when she proves to have a brain and some wit, is promoted to a copywriter. A woman copywriter. She's one of the first. Peggy is intelligent, funny, kind, and loyal, but she is also ambitious. She wants more than what most would consider her lot in life. She's also a little naive and innocent in Season 1, and there are some truly life altering events that occur.
Pete Campbell, aka Vincent Kartheiser, is the smarmy little backstabbing office asshole that everybody loves to hate. At the start of the series, he is engaged and just days away from being married when he has a drunken one-night-stand with one of the secretaries. He craves Don's approval but doesn't hesitate to try to stab Don in the back to curry favor with the founding partner of the agency. Pete is an upper-class WASP and is just as snobby as you might imagine. As is the case with almost every character on this show, there is more to Pete. It takes a while to get beyond the image he presents to the world, but I've come to like Pete very much.
Betty Draper, aka January Jones, has it all. She's a beautiful former model from an upper-class, privileged background. She's married to the very handsome Don, and keeps house for him and their two lovely children. She has Carla, the maid to help keep her house tidy, to help cook, and to help with the children. She rides her horse at least once a week, gossips with her friends, and is in general, the envy of all. So why is she so unhappy? Because being a housewife in the early 60s feels like a trap to a lot of women, and being married to Don is no picnic. She's self-centered, selfish, cold to her children, and not a little crazy. It is all the rage to hate Betty for some of the decisions she makes, but I feel for her. I don't always like her, but don't hate her.
Joan Holloway aka Christine Hendricks is the office manager at Sterling Cooper. She's beautiful and intelligent and knows where all the bodies are buried. She had an affair with Roger Sterling that apparently lasted several years, but she never expected him to leave his wife. Joan is much too smart for that. She was definitely looking for Mr. Right when the series began, and thought she found him in a handsome surgical resident, but again, things weren't as the seemed. Most of the employees of Sterling Cooper are in awe and a little afraid of Joan, and she likes it that way.
Roger Sterling, aka John Slattery, is the son of the man who, along with Bert Cooper, founded Sterling Cooper. He is a partner and his main job seems to be schmoozing with clients, especially his number one client, Lucky Strike. Roger is married to Mona but, like Don, sleeps around. He also smokes and drinks a lot, and his health has suffered as a result. Slattery reportedly wanted the role of Don, and showrunner Matt Weiner told him that Don had already been cast, but that if he would accept the role of Roger, he would make it up to him. He has done so by having the writers give Roger all the best lines.
There are lots of other characters, in and out of the offices of Sterling Cooper. Please, do yourself a favor and watch this show from Season 1, Episode 1. If you watch the first season and don't think it's one of the best shows that has ever been on television, I'll buy you a jelly donut.
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