Mad Men Working Out After All

I readily admit that I didn't think this show could go the distance. But I threw the proverbial baby out with the bath water, and didn't realize that, like creator Matthew Weiner's old show "The Sopranos", this thing is unfolding like a great novel. And who the hell doesn't realize that you can't judge ANY show in the history of programs on the first two episodes alone? Don't you have to give it an entire season? There, I'm sorry, this fucking show is growing on me.

(BTW, for $24.99, you can subscribe to a season pass of the show in itunes, get every episode in advance, and hook your ipod up to any TV and watch in full HD. Am I the only one just getting this?)

I think part of what's appealing to me is that I'm still "in" the advertising game, and people in that industry STILL behave like that. Weiner almost didn't need to set the show in the 60's. These people still smoke and drink and fuck and fuck and fuck one another every day. It's their job. It's just, shall we say, a wee bit frowned upon than it was in the day. But these people can justify it because, hell, they were rock stars of their times, and damn if you're going to create ads for cigarettes, you better damn well know what makes one cigarette better than another one. I'm glad it's set in 1960 though because EVERYBODY smokes, everybody orders martinis over lunch, and nobody bats an eye. Yes, it makes me want to cue up Brian Wilson's "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" and wish that I could have had my career back then instead of now. But AMC has something here.

And now we've finally got an anti-hero (not a Tony Soprano type mind you, because let's face it, we're just never going to have a character like Tony in our lives ever again) we can relate to in Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm). Draper's the cock of the walk, but he can feel the young lings and changing society nipping at him.

I'm not ready to crown this show as the next big thing (remember, I'm the guy who set the DVR for "Mind of the Married Man"), but for the time being, it's enjoyable. And I need that now that the Yankees have woken up and seem destined to make the playoffs again. Fucking A-Rod.