A Review of AMC's New Televison Show: Mad Men

AMC's new television show Mad Men, premiered July 19, 2007, to much hype and accolades. The series is set in the fictional 1960s advertising firm, the Sterling Cooper Agency. This is an era where everybody still smoked, Aids and HIV is unheard of, gay men and women are still in the closet, and where non-whites and women are treated like second class citizens. Mad Men revolves around Alpha male Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, a charming but emotionally disconnected man who sees the world around him too clearly and as a result is very cynical.

The premiere episode, centers around Don Draper as he tries to figure out a campaign slogan for a tobacco company, and this is after new medical studies have shown that cigarettes are the main cause of lung cancer. In the process, viewers are introduced to Don's fellow co-workers, one being his boss, played by John Slattery, and the other a new secretary, Peggy Olson, who is played by Elisabeth Moss. Peggy's naivete is a source of attraction for many men in the office, but is also something that must be immediately done away with.

Also, starring in Mad Men is Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Pete, a young junior exec. Pete alternates between kissing Don's butt, and envying him. Vincent Kartheiser plays Pete as a 26 year old man/boy who is imitates the actions of the men around him, but lacks the easy confidence which comes with real emotional maturity.

The great thing about this show is that we, the viewers, are aware of what is coming. We know that the world that the character's of Man Men inhabit- seemingly filled with in unending supply of wine, women, song, and, of course, cigarettes-will become the world in which we now live in.