Is anyone watching AMC's 'Mad Men'?

[lavenderdiva]

Even though its not a classic film, its being shown on American Movie Classics Channel. Its the story of an ad agency, set in the early 1960's. It recently received 16 Emmy nominations. I was late to start watching it, but am now hooked! The 2nd season opener will be shown this Sunday, July 27th at 9pmCST.

Its spurred a lot of new interest in all things 60's: clothing, decoration, the ads. In last week's episode, they played a lot of original political ads from the 1960 campaign!

[Longhorn]

1. I watched it the first time around on AMC. Thanks for the update on

the second season! I'll get the VCR set to record!

Keeping in mind that it's Hollywood's take on these issues in the 60s, it's still amazing what women put up with back then! :hi:

[lavenderdiva]

2. I told my boss at work about how we had gotten 'into' watching this series

and told her about the 2nd season starting, if she wanted to tune in. She said that she had started to watch it during the first season, but couldn't get past the misogynistic male characters. I told her that that was the story depicting what went on back then. She agreed, but said it was too hard for her to watch.

I kinda think that this season the women characters are going to react a bit more to how they're 'used' and we'll see more of a development with them.

I'm glad to hear you're watching it too- I've got someone to discuss the episodes with! :hi:

[Longhorn]

3. Frankly, I had a similar reaction!

But then I remembered some of the crap I had to put up with in the 70s. Things were better but not that much better. My mother also has some stories about working in an ad agency in the 60s -- not that sexism was confined to advertising. The show may be a little over the top but I suspect there's some truth in it. It seems a little too early to see too much of a womens movement but the seeds were likely planted long before it became a movement.

We discussed it just a bit in the TV chat group, too, if you want to look it up. :hi:

[lavenderdiva]

4. Thanks, Longhorn-

I'll check in at the TV chat group, and see what they're saying over there- As I understand it, season 2 starts in 1962, still pre-feminist group, but as you say, I think some stuff was brewing under the surface. Perhaps they are going to try to incorporate that into the story line as well.

[terrya]

5. I put Season One in my Netflix queue.

I haven't seen it yet. The first season is on dvd now. Looking forward to it. :-)

[lavenderdiva]

6. are you also going to watch the season premiere tomorrow evening?

I think you'll be able to catch onto what's going on very quickly. I did within 1-2 episodes, and didn't need to see the whole of season one.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. I downloaded it from iTunes

Having been a child during that period, I especially enjoy the scenes with the kids. But on the whole, the look and feel of the series seem right to me.

I'm still watching the first season, episode by episode, but once I've finished with that, I'll download the second season.

[lavenderdiva]

8. Hey, Lydia-

I never thought of itunes, to catch up on last season. Mr. ld and I missed last season, except for the last couple of episodes, which gave us 'just' enough to understand who was who, and what was what on Season 2 episode 1. Even with our ignorance of last season, we're enjoying Season2!

[Matilda]

9. This sounds good.

I hope we'll get it here before too long.

Who is in it?

[Longhorn]

10. The only one I recognized was the actress who played Zoey Bartlett on The West Wing.

Here's more about it, including the cast: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/

I watched the first season as it came out and have been recording the second season but haven't started watching it yet. It's strange to me that it ended up on AMC -- it seems more like an HBO sort of production because it's that good! :hi:

[Matilda]

11. Thanks for the link!

I definitely haven't heard any word of it coming here yet, so I can only
hope. I've worked in several ad agencies at different times in my life,
and what the reviews have to say pretty well sums it up.

Unfortunately it sounds like the sort of show that our commercial FTA
channels buy and then bury late at night (would you believe that's what
happened to The West Wing for the first four years, until our ABC bought
it and screened the last three years at a civilized time? I was only
able to watch it in a regular time slot on cable).

I also recognised Robert Morse - I only ever saw him in two movies; one
was "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying", and the other was
"The Loved One', one of those spoofs about the funeral business. I
haven't heard of him for a couple of decades, and was surprised to see
that he's been working pretty consistently.

I shall live in hope ...