I first started to watch Mad Men when it was in its fifth season or so. I gave up in the second or third season because I didn't find it particularly interesting or engaging. Now that the entire series is on Netflix I decided to try again and watch the whole thing no matter what. My initial take on the show hasn't changed.
Having worked on several, I recognize a soap when I see one. People are so dazzled by the show being set in the 60's and the effects it has on set design, costume and hairstyle. And the setting is fun, with people smoking everywhere and office workers drinking like sailors on shore leave. But once the novelty wears off, the storylines are straight out of soap operas and the only thing more flat than the characters is the dialogue. And despite the show's attempt to be racy with its many, many sex scenes, in the end it's very chaste since it's on basic cable. Not a female nipple in sight, with blankets being pulled up to the armpits one split second post coitus and one swear word per show or season. Clutch the pearls and get the smelling salts.
The show is obsessed with Jews for obvious reasons, but it gets pretty old after a while. What else have you got? For a show trying so hard to be progressive, I find it somewhat amusing that the only religious and ethnic minorities which Hollywood (not only this show) deems worthy of attention are Jews and blacks. Perhaps it's because of the era the show is set in, but most likely not.
Don Draper has got to be one of the least interesting main characters in television. Having other characters commenting on how mysterious he is doesn't make him an interesting character. Forget for a minute how dashing Jon Hamm is playing him: Aside from screwing every woman who enters his field of vision and being afraid of his (not so terribly engaging) secret to come out, what does Don Draper want? After watching 92 episodes I still can't answer this basic question.
Evident from the plot point about his contract, it's clear he doesn't want to be tied down. So why did he choose to get married? And twice at that. In fact, why does he choose to work in advertising? He seems to enjoy neither his work nor his marriage(s). He just sort of trundles along sticking his weiner into any woman who happens to cross his path. I don't think there's anything wrong with Hamm's portrayal. It's just that he's given very little to work with. One character says the following to Don in the last season: "You don't have any character, you're just handsome!". I'm sure it was meant as a tongue in cheek joke by Weiner et al, but it accidentally summed up Don Draper to me. He's meaningless.
But singling out Don is unfair, most of the characters are one note. The acting is for the most part serviceable, with some notable exceptions. Vincent Kartheiser playing Pete is one example. It's not that I don't like the character, it's just that not a single moment (especially in the latter seasons) rings true.
But the prime example has got to be January Jones as Betty. I'm sorry to be piling on, because she has already gotten a lot of flak, but this is possibly the stiffest acting I have seen in a high budget project. She certainly looks the part, being a dead ringer for Grace Kelly, but every single line reading comes off as her reading from the phone book. But wait, it gets worse. In a move of blatant nepotism Matthew Weiner's son is cast as Glen, a boy with a dead-eyed thousand yard stare and all the likeability and charm of a serial rapist who crosses paths with the Draper household. The scenes he shares with Betty (of which there are many) are nothing but torture. One got cast because of her looks, the other because of his DNA, and neither one could act their way out of a paper bag.
Having worked on several, I recognize a soap when I see one. People are so dazzled by the show being set in the 60's and the effects it has on set design, costume and hairstyle. And the setting is fun, with people smoking everywhere and office workers drinking like sailors on shore leave. But once the novelty wears off, the storylines are straight out of soap operas and the only thing more flat than the characters is the dialogue. And despite the show's attempt to be racy with its many, many sex scenes, in the end it's very chaste since it's on basic cable. Not a female nipple in sight, with blankets being pulled up to the armpits one split second post coitus and one swear word per show or season. Clutch the pearls and get the smelling salts.
The show is obsessed with Jews for obvious reasons, but it gets pretty old after a while. What else have you got? For a show trying so hard to be progressive, I find it somewhat amusing that the only religious and ethnic minorities which Hollywood (not only this show) deems worthy of attention are Jews and blacks. Perhaps it's because of the era the show is set in, but most likely not.
Don Draper has got to be one of the least interesting main characters in television. Having other characters commenting on how mysterious he is doesn't make him an interesting character. Forget for a minute how dashing Jon Hamm is playing him: Aside from screwing every woman who enters his field of vision and being afraid of his (not so terribly engaging) secret to come out, what does Don Draper want? After watching 92 episodes I still can't answer this basic question.
Evident from the plot point about his contract, it's clear he doesn't want to be tied down. So why did he choose to get married? And twice at that. In fact, why does he choose to work in advertising? He seems to enjoy neither his work nor his marriage(s). He just sort of trundles along sticking his weiner into any woman who happens to cross his path. I don't think there's anything wrong with Hamm's portrayal. It's just that he's given very little to work with. One character says the following to Don in the last season: "You don't have any character, you're just handsome!". I'm sure it was meant as a tongue in cheek joke by Weiner et al, but it accidentally summed up Don Draper to me. He's meaningless.
But singling out Don is unfair, most of the characters are one note. The acting is for the most part serviceable, with some notable exceptions. Vincent Kartheiser playing Pete is one example. It's not that I don't like the character, it's just that not a single moment (especially in the latter seasons) rings true.
But the prime example has got to be January Jones as Betty. I'm sorry to be piling on, because she has already gotten a lot of flak, but this is possibly the stiffest acting I have seen in a high budget project. She certainly looks the part, being a dead ringer for Grace Kelly, but every single line reading comes off as her reading from the phone book. But wait, it gets worse. In a move of blatant nepotism Matthew Weiner's son is cast as Glen, a boy with a dead-eyed thousand yard stare and all the likeability and charm of a serial rapist who crosses paths with the Draper household. The scenes he shares with Betty (of which there are many) are nothing but torture. One got cast because of her looks, the other because of his DNA, and neither one could act their way out of a paper bag.