24-09-2009, 04:33 AM
I don't know if there are any fellow travellers out there, but I must admit that it hasn't taken me long to become addicted to this classy production, which has been scooping all the awards for the last couple of years:
http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/
Hats off to Matthew Weiner for creating the complex Don Draper/ Dick Whitman character. Music, acting, scripts and sets are all first class. For those who grew up in the sixties the series has added resonance because the great events of that amazing decade are often woven into the storylines. Season one had Draper's advertising agency working for Nixon during the 1960 campaign.
The series is currently midway through its third season, and last Sunday's episode "Guy walks into an advertising agency" is set in July 1963 (the series signposts the approximate date each episode is set--in this case the Time Magazine cover featuring Conrad Hilton). Hence, the remainder of series three should be played out against the backdrop of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the death of Patrick Kennedy (August), the emergence of Beatlemania (generally regarded as October '63) and JFK's death (November '63). The resignation of Harold McMillan will be in there too, no doubt.
The only drawback is that watching it makes one feel like smoking cigarettes and drinking whisky.
http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/
Hats off to Matthew Weiner for creating the complex Don Draper/ Dick Whitman character. Music, acting, scripts and sets are all first class. For those who grew up in the sixties the series has added resonance because the great events of that amazing decade are often woven into the storylines. Season one had Draper's advertising agency working for Nixon during the 1960 campaign.
The series is currently midway through its third season, and last Sunday's episode "Guy walks into an advertising agency" is set in July 1963 (the series signposts the approximate date each episode is set--in this case the Time Magazine cover featuring Conrad Hilton). Hence, the remainder of series three should be played out against the backdrop of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the death of Patrick Kennedy (August), the emergence of Beatlemania (generally regarded as October '63) and JFK's death (November '63). The resignation of Harold McMillan will be in there too, no doubt.
The only drawback is that watching it makes one feel like smoking cigarettes and drinking whisky.