Mad Men - your verdict

The first series of BBC Four's award winning and critically acclaimed 'Mad Men', the provocative US drama about the ad industry in 60s America ended on Sunday.

And the BBC has announced the series will return to BBC Four for the second season, which is set to debut in the US in July.

Did you enjoy the first season? Will you be tuning in for the next series and what kind of developments would you like to see Sterling Cooper get to grips with in the second series?

Do you work at an agency - is sexism, drinking, racism, adultery, and smoking still part of the work culture?

Like me, I suspect no one made it past episode 2 let alone on to another series ...

Part of its appeal seems to be its lack of political correctness - similar to BBC One's 'Ashes to Ashes'. The David Oglivy documentary which accompanied 'Mad Men' on BBC Four is also definitely worth a look. Or just read his brilliant book 'Confessions of an Advertising Man'.

I watched the last episode last night . Slow as the previous ones but strangely I am now involved with the fortunes of the agency. I'll watch series two but not with the same passion as I watched the brilliant "Men from the agency" documentary that followed MadMen last night. Seen it before, will watch it again. It Should be compulsory viewing for all entrants to the business today.

 

 

I was really sceptical when it first started, but it grew on me immensely (in a good way) mostly because of the performance of Jon Hamm Don Draper the creative director with a shady and tragic past. He is so good as the leading man that there would not be a show without him. There are some strong supports, but it is hard to care much about many of the other cast members.

It has been interesting as well to the show deal with challenging topics particularly sexism and antisemitism, which i think it has done well.

Looking forward to the second series. It is definitely been one of the highlights on TV this winter/spring.

I like the idea - the follow-up to Ashes to Ashes is called 'Jump They Say' and it sees Gene Hunt leave the force in the 90s to set up an ad agency. The Mad Men/Ashes crossover starts here.

I truly enjoyed Mad Men and thought that it matured into a fantastic series. The character development, plot lines, cinematography and those '60 sets (!) got more authentic as the season went on. Matthew Weiner's attention to detail is stunning.

Lucky for Phil Smith, the BBCi player is there to prove me right. Ha! 

"And now, a commercial break, brought to you by more liquor ... "

~G~ 

Is Mad Men going to be on iPlayer? As it's a US import as opposed to a BBC produced programme I doubt it will appear on iPlayer.

I really enjoyed the whole series although it took a while to reel me in. Regarding the five deadly sins ... four are rife in my agency .. but under the radar. And by four, I mean sexism, adultery, drinking and smoking. Hell yes!

Mark Smith wrote:"rife...but under the radar" Fool. This is a paradoxical statement. Either it's rife and overt or you're deluding yourself. What are you going to sick-up next? "It's really slow but really fast" "Invisible but really overt" "Sour but really sweet" The list goes on. I bet you're the sort of impressionable young buffoon who has been deeply influenced by that show so much so that you attempt to re-create and fashion similar situations in whatever you do. You really are a child.

Terrific show

Another plus for the iPlayer.

Now all it needs are period ads!

Charlie Salem

 

I loved Mad Men. It was a slow burn – not a lot happened in each episode – but the last episode was fantastic. John Hamm's portrayal of a man on the edge of a breakdown is wonderfully understated. Can't wait till it returns.

As a period drama, it stood head and shoulders over the likes of Rome, Cranford, Deadwood or Bleak House. It hearkened back to the skills of seventies drama, now all but lost, of slow, considered storytelling. Full of morally flawed characters, trapped in cages only visible from a future vantage point, and the time and consideration to allow entire episodes to address one simple theme at a time. Gorgeous.

It had less to do with advertising than The Creatives, but which would you rather watch?

 

Mark, yes, it is on iPlayer ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009364t.shtml 

The smoking and the drinking is dizzying to watch and while that culture has changed, I get the impression that ad agencies are still bastions of sexism. I mean just look at the creative department's of London agencies very few women make it to the top.