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What is the fuss about Mad Men?

13

Comments

  • #62
    Kylo Ren
    Registered Users Posts: 10,364 ✭✭✭✭Kylo Ren


    This...

    84015.jpg


  • #63
    WilburWild
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20 ✭WilburWild


    I totally agree with this. The first episode I thought was only so so but by the time I got to session 4 I thought it was the best show ever put on TV. The characters are what make the story. So many realistic complicated individuals who you will love but then see do stupid things as well. Just like real people. Not at all like the usual good person bad person senario you get in most shows.


  • #64
    Dozen Wicked Words
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,325 ✭✭✭✭Dozen Wicked Words


    Its very long winded, very clever, just to be clever at times.

    Fairly stupid plot twist where
    it transpires Don stole his commanding officers identity
    was straight from an episode of Dallas or Neighbours. Yet Dons response is brilliant.

    Mostly unlikeable characters, the men and the women. A view of unpleasant consumerist right wing money driven muppets from the past in America.

    Saying all that, I have still found myself staying up til god knows what time for the repeat on BBC 2, fuppin annoying that I can't think of a thing I like about it, but still watch it, curse you brain. :confused:


  • #65
    fonecrusher1
    Registered Users Posts: 5,700 ✭✭✭fonecrusher1


    Keno 92 wrote: »
    This...

    84015.jpg

    Ah sure i might give it another go. It is good show actually.


  • #66
    darkdubh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,628 ✭✭✭darkdubh


    Richard Dower wrote: »
    Glee is mush, has been since the back 9 of S1 + all of S2, it was fantastic in it's first 13 eps. - i'd NEVER claim Glee as quality tv, but it's entertaining.
    Have never watched Glee and never will.What little i know about it is enough to know i'd hate it.


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  • #67
    phantom_lord
    Registered Users Posts: 10,894 ✭✭✭✭phantom_lord


    It's an amazing show, definitely my favourite behind the wire. I can understand how it might not be to everyone taste and some find it boring but it's so well written and acted, has so much depth and other fantastic qualities. If you want to watch quality drama this is the show. It's the only show I've ever watched through fully a second time and it delivered.

    liah wrote: »
    You should see my first post on Mad Men :pac: I thought the exact same thing. It was really hard to get into, the characters seemed so unlikeable.

    Unlikeable? I've never heard anyone say something like that! I wonder if it's a gender thing maybe, thinking about it I've only ever talked about the show with other men and everyone pretty much thinks Don and Roger are kings!


  • #68
    grungepants
    Registered Users Posts: 318 ✭✭grungepants


    I know the most out of all of you.I write for a show called 30rock.Its a good show.Mad men is bad.So is any show about animal rescuing or zoo's.Remember lost.Remember how boring its was..."oh but what about the secret door?"....NO!!! shut up....shows like these are an exuse for beautiful and ugly people to shy away from social interaction...


    trolly troll troll


  • #69
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    I am very new to watching this show, have seen a few episodes here and there so my sense of continuity is not great, but so far I am well impressed and aside from my guilty pleasure Gossip Girl, this is the only show I look forward to and make a point of trying to hunt down and see.

    I dont have a problem [yet] with the characters being unlikable or Don being a very flawed individual, the anti hero was the convention at the time, but I get what Liah is saying, sometimes I think 'you better do something really quickly to make me want to watch you' because this can get old fast. So throw some contradiction in there somewhere.


    I do think I am seduced by the booze and the cigarettes, the eccentricities, the lipstick, the clothes, the lack of PC, the lack of regulation, the hats, the art and the aesthetics.


  • #70
    liah
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,750 ✭✭✭liah


    phantom_lord wrote: »
    Unlikeable? I've never heard anyone say something like that! I wonder if it's a gender thing maybe, thinking about it I've only ever talked about the show with other men and everyone pretty much thinks Don and Roger are kings!

    That's a bit depressing. Remind me not to get to know any men you know :pac:


  • #71
    Earthhorse
    Registered Users Posts: 14,715 ✭✭✭✭Earthhorse


    Watched the first season and can't say it grabbed me at all. Well acted and a lovingly recreated era, sure, but mostly unengaging and a little silly in places, I thought.
    phantom_lord wrote: »
    Unlikeable? I've never heard anyone say something like that! I wonder if it's a gender thing maybe, thinking about it I've only ever talked about the show with other men and everyone pretty much thinks Don and Roger are kings!

    Well, I'm a dude, and one of the reasons I disliked the show was because there was no one to cheer for. They're all pretty unlikable, including the women.


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  • #72
    BlaasForRafa
    Registered Users Posts: 7,020 ✭✭✭BlaasForRafa


    Earthhorse wrote: »
    Well, I'm a dude, and one of the reasons I disliked the show was because there was no one to cheer for. They're all pretty unlikable, including the women.

    If you're a straight bloke and you don't like Joan then theres something wrong with you ;)


  • #73
    Earthhorse
    Registered Users Posts: 14,715 ✭✭✭✭Earthhorse


    BlaasForRafa wrote: »
    If you're a straight bloke and you don't like Joan then theres something wrong with you ;)
    If you're a straight bloke then why are you winking at me? :eek:


  • #74
    BlaasForRafa
    Registered Users Posts: 7,020 ✭✭✭BlaasForRafa


    Earthhorse wrote: »
    If you're a straight bloke then why are you winking at me? :eek:

    Its your fascinating personality of course.


  • #75
    phantom_lord
    Registered Users Posts: 10,894 ✭✭✭✭phantom_lord


    liah wrote: »
    That's a bit depressing. Remind me not to get to know any men you know :pac:

    Harsh! in fairness he's exceeding cool, dapper, ballin', awesome at his job and just purely a man's man. But I don't think we're ever really going to judge him too hard for his transgressions though.


  • #76
    liah
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,750 ✭✭✭liah


    phantom_lord wrote: »
    Harsh! in fairness he's exceeding cool, dapper, ballin', awesome at his job and just purely a man's man. But I don't think we're ever really going to judge him too hard for his transgressions though.

    He's also a liar, a manipulator, a chauvinist (at times), a cheater, etc.. :p


  • #77
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    phantom_lord wrote: »
    Harsh! in fairness he's exceeding cool, dapper, ballin', awesome at his job and just purely a man's man. But I don't think we're ever really going to judge him too hard for his transgressions though.

    He's a cad, a fraud, an imposter, a womaniser, a Nixon supporter, and wears a hat when everyone else has stopped wearing them.


  • #78
    liah
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,750 ✭✭✭liah


    metrovelvet wrote: »
    He's a cad, a fraud, an imposter, a womaniser, a Nixon supporter, and wears a hat when everyone else has stopped wearing them.

    In fairness though that hat is kinda cool..


  • #79
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    liah wrote: »
    In fairness though that hat is kinda cool..

    Oh I agree. No dispute there. He is very cool...he is all cool. Doesnt say much, secret history, displays invulnerability [from what I have seen so far.. my perspective is limited at present], is the definition of cool.. be interested to see how his 1950s coolness fares in the heat of the 1960s.

    He is also a self made man, a survivor, a troubled past and the successful embodiment of American obsessions, identity and the pursuit of happiness, the little boy from the midwest who makes it in the big city.

    *Sorry Liah- I misread your post. I didn;t notice you said HAT. Im definitely into the hat. I love hats. Big thumbs up.


  • #80
    phantom_lord
    Registered Users Posts: 10,894 ✭✭✭✭phantom_lord


    liah wrote: »
    He's also a liar, a manipulator, a chauvinist (at times), a cheater, etc.. :p

    Meh...


  • #81
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,059 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    metrovelvet wrote: »
    He's a cad, a fraud, an imposter, a womaniser, a Nixon supporter, and wears a hat when everyone else has stopped wearing them.

    He was wearing a hat before everyone else started wearing them again.


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  • #82
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    pickarooney wrote: »
    He was wearing a hat before everyone else started wearing them again.

    When did people start wearing hats again?


  • #83
    trishasaffron
    Registered Users Posts: 922 ✭✭✭trishasaffron


    I've watched the first 3 series on DVD - this is the very first boxed set I've watched and followed! I adore it - Don is my favourite character - he is so bad and so scarey and so cool. I don't like Don when he's being a good domestic hubbie like in series 3 - but reading between the lines here I reckon he's reverting to his old bad ways soon......;)

    Roger's lines are funny and clever. The women in general are harder to identify with - I guess that's because of the period its set in.

    When I watch an episode I get competely enthralled - its like I've entered another world - I feel dazed afterwards.

    Some of the period detail is so funny - apart from all the booze and ciggies - did you see the episode (series 1 or 2) when after a picnic in a country beauty spot Betty threw all the rubbish on the ground and Don flung his can into the trees. O Tempora O Mores!


  • #84
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,059 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    trishasaffron wrote: »
    Some of the period detail is so funny - apart from all the booze and ciggies - did you see the episode (series 1 or 2) when
    after a picnic in a country beauty spot Betty threw all the rubbish on the ground and Don flung his can into the trees.
    O Tempora O Mores!

    That was the single most shocking moment in the series so far for me, just ahead of the
    lawnmower scene
    .


  • #85
    ixoy
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 17,988 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


    trishasaffron wrote: »
    Some of the period detail is so funny - apart from all the booze and ciggies - did you see the episode (series 1 or 2) when after a picnic in a country beauty spot Betty threw all the rubbish on the ground and Don flung his can into the trees. O Tempora O Mores!
    For me it was when Roger
    did a minstrel routine. I cringed (although some of the younger crowd, like Pete, did too).


  • #86
    liah
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,750 ✭✭✭liah


    pickarooney wrote: »
    That was the single most shocking moment in the series so far for me, just ahead of the
    lawnmower scene
    .

    What about
    Blackface
    ? :pac:


  • #87
    Geansai Rua
    Registered Users Posts: 343 ✭✭Geansai Rua


    I will be working in an ad agency in a few years.. (hopefully)

    Would be amazing if they are unchanged since the 1960's

    The smoking, the drinking...:) and I am planning to morph into Joan. ;)


  • #88
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,059 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    liah wrote: »
    What about
    Blackface
    ? :pac:

    To be honest, having appeared in a school musical in the 90s featuring
    blackface minstrels
    , this has no effect on me. :o


  • #89
    The Corinthian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,777 ✭✭✭✭The Corinthian


    trishasaffron wrote: »
    Some of the period detail is so funny - apart from all the booze and ciggies - did you see the episode (series 1 or 2) when after a picnic in a country beauty spot Betty threw all the rubbish on the ground and Don flung his can into the trees. O Tempora O Mores!
    I think this is one of the more interesting things about Mad Men. All too often, a historical drama series will overlay our own contemporary morals and attitudes, which is wildly unrealistic.

    Mad Men made a point (an exaggerated one in the first season) to portray the actual morals and attitudes of the time and how they were considered normal - as normal as we consider our own. If the shock of that does not cause us to reflect on the nature of our own morals and attitudes, I don't know what will.
    liah wrote: »
    He's also a liar, a manipulator, a chauvinist (at times), a cheater, etc.. :p
    He also, despite being a man of his times, displays considerably more sympathetic and less bigoted attitudes to many his peers. As the series progresses, he's shown to have views on sexism, homosexuality and race that we would consider almost 'modern'. For example,
    he was the only one to identify Peggy's talent in season 1, even though pretty much everyone else automatically dismissed her on the basis of gender and despite his obvious chauvinism and womanizing, is one of the few who, with her, actually develops a purely platonic friendship with a woman (at least up to season 4 inclusive)
    . Combined with his vices and flaws and demons, it makes him a very interesting character.

    And, TBH, despite his ruthless womanizing (or because of it), I suspect that many women would if he asked...

    http://rutube.ru/tracks/3289858.html?v=aa4ed758f5c3cbf07d7f89782dda95d8


  • #90
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    ^
    Re Peggy:

    I suspect Peggy has craftily played on the low expectations set for women [which was clevery foiled against the spoiled privaleged college boy Pete-where there were greater expectations]. In other words its an amazing feat if a woman comes up with a few good ideas, but not so amazing if someone like Pete does.


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  • #91
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,059 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    metrovelvet wrote: »
    ^
    Re Peggy:

    I suspect Peggy has craftily played on the low expectations set for women [which was clevery foiled against the spoiled privaleged college boy Pete-where there were greater expectations]. In other words its an amazing feat if a woman comes up with a few good ideas, but not so amazing if someone like Pete does.

    They work in different departments though - she's in Creative with Don while Pete is in Accounts.


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