When things get bad, we tend to look to the past. And the bleaker the
future looks, the further back we search for comfort. As the new
millennium keeps disappointing us, TV shows set on the 50's and the 60's
(once a rarity) keep growing in numbers. Many have tried and failed.
Mad Men tried and closed the deal. And have been doing so for 5 seasons
now.
From bursting with joie-de-vivre Roger Sterling
(hilarious John Slattery) and ever scheming Pete Cambell (baby-faced
Vincent Kartheiser) to the gorgeous women (such as barbie January Jones
and refined Jessica Paré as his first and second wife, respectively),
the cast is one perfect pick after another. And the writing is
brilliant, reproducing the tastes and smells and nuisances of the era
around Camelot, while drawing you in to the personal stories of
characters polished yet inevitably flawed.
The 50's and the 60's
were before my time so it is not nostalgia that makes me love the show.
Yes, I find the era mesmerizing and (probably undeservingly) less
complicated. If nothing else, though, back then they knew how to dress.
Women looked feminine and men looked manly. You see January Jones on the
red carpet, for example, all dressed up and groomed for a Hollywood
function - and that modern image cannot hold a candle to herself dressed
for everyday(!) life in the 50's. When did we loose it? When did we
decide men should stop wearing suits and hats and women should start
wearing sweat-suits outside the house? I, for one, blame the hippies!
This
is one of the best TV shows ever. Seasons 1 - 5 have been already
completed whereas season 6 is eminent - and the show has already been
green-lighted for a 7th season as well. As I have said again before,
good TV is best watched on DVD. Make weekends out of it. It is much more
enjoyable to watch an entire season in a couple of days than having to
wait week(s) between episodes. And (quite ironically, in this case), you
will not have to suffer the...commercials.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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