Season 4 of MAD MEN opens tonight with the enigmatic Don Draper making a mistake that could sink his new, renegade advertising agency. I’ve been a fan of MAD MEN from the start. I can’t think of another program with a stronger cast of quirky characters. The historical setting, the Sixties, blends realism and surrealism into the plots. Actual historical events are referred to, but the characters react in bizarre fashions. For example, Don Draper’s up-tight wife engages in anonymous sex during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Later, she’ll travel to Egypt with her husband in an attempt to land the Conrad Hilton account. I’m hoping the writers focus more on the advertising business and less on the soap-opera aspects of the characters’ private lives.
I’m guessing the producers think the soap aspect sells, especially to women, and we won’t be seeing any less of it.
You’re probably right, Jeff. But I find the workings of the ad agency, especially the designing of the advertising campaigns, compelling. I show bits of the ad process to my ADVERTISING class. MAD MEN is ruthlessly accurate.
So a missile crisis is a good way to score with hot chicks. Something to keep in mind…
The rules go out the window when it looks like the world is coming to an end, Drongo.
Oh, That old line.