By John Brackett
Mad Men is a fresh burst of style and creative story telling that is seriously missing since the Soprano’s disappeared into abrupt darkness. Created by Matthew Weiner, an Emmy® Award-winning executive producer of “The Sopranos”, Mad Men is instantaneously intriguing much in the same way Tony Soprano grabbed our attention 7 years ago.
Weiner sets Mad Men in early 1960, when America has come into its heyday. The Depression is well over and World War II is won. It’s time to reap the rewards, and the ad agencies of Madison Ave are defining the new culture of American prosperity.
The setting is sleek and stylish, and the characters live by the rules of the day, which are light-years from our politically correct present. Everyone smokes, drinks hard, drive without seatbelts, and women are relegated to the secretarial pool or the kitchen.
The Mad Men, slang for Madison Ave. ad executives, are lead by creative director Don Draper (Jon Hamm). Draper is a man of his time, confident, capable and charming. His chiseled jaw good looks reflects a quiet confidence that impresses clients, attracts women, and intimidates underlings.
On the surface he’s a family man with a seemingly perfect nuclear family. He creates winning campaigns for cigarettes,
aerosol deodorant and possibly a politician named Richard M. Nixon. At night he goes home to the perfect suburban nuclear family. But like Tony Soprano, Draper is a complicated man aware of his world and accepts his vices. He protects his position against brash upstarts, and balances his life between his family and an affair with a beat generation artist who is his girlfriend and creative muse.
Weiner fills his world with and excellent cast of characters, including Pete Campbell (Vincent Earthier), as an arrogant, ambitious underling. His pre-wedding run-in with “the new girl” Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) sets up an enticing conflict that will should unfold with train-wreck tension. Client Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff) looks promising as the one professional woman with power in the bunch. Betty Draper (January Jones) reflects quiet desperation, as Don’s beautiful but damaged, neurotic wife.
Only two shows have aired so far. Just enough to wet the appetite and set us up for some great story lines. Mad Men airs Sunday nights at 10pm on AMC. I have no idea why HBO did not grab this show? It seems made for it. In a season where
Entourage is the only interesting series, it’s great to see that AMC has the vision to put Mad Men on the air.
So slip on your cardigan sweater, pour a double martini, and relish in that fact that even though the Soprano’s have been whacked, Madison Ave. has an offer you can’t refuse.