Where you else can you hear people talking about People Are Funny, and a guy in the office (Paul played by Michael Gladis) doing a "submitted for your approval" riff on The Twilight Zone, and lamenting that CBS might be cancelling it?
The show is such a trip to the '50s (pardon the '60s expression) that even some of the real ads - when the show stops for commercials - are integrated into the Mad Men mix. In addition to providing historical tidbits about various aspects of advertising history, Mad Men also provides a tidbit about Orkin, the exterminator company, before showing an actual Orkin ad (the tidbit: Orkin's first TV ad dates to 1954).
And the smoke and sexism reign supreme. As I mentioned last week, I was a kid in 1950s, and I remember the television all right, but not people smoking this much. On the other hand, I wasn't in the advertising world.
On Mad Men, smoke is a common denominator, shared by just about every adult. Men hitting on women in the office are ubiquitous, too, but some women, notably new girl in the office Peggy (played by Elizabeth Moss) are just beginning to confide their objections to other women. Why are we always the dessert after men take us out to lunch, Peggy asks office manager Joan (played by Christina Hendricks).
Fair enough - but, I gotta admit that, as much as I like Peggy, it's a little hard for me to sympathize after she indicated to Paul - about his Twilight Zone routine - that she doesn't like science fiction! Apostasy!
There is one bit of worrying action: Don's wife Betty (January Jones - that's the actress's name - a name from the 1950s if ever there was one) is having trouble with her hands, as in they're not working quite right. She's off to the shrink - they were probably at the height of their trendiness then - but I have a feeling this is something more serious...
More next week ... it's good indeed to be back in the late 1950s, again -- especially since the smoke doesn't go through the screen...
20-minute interview with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) - in which we discuss what Harry and the characters are really smoking on Mad Men - at Light On Light Through
great interview with Peggy (Elisabeth Moss)...
See also reviews of other episodes: Mad Men Debuts on AMC: Cigarettes and Nixon Coming ... Mad Men 3: Hot 1960 Kiss ... Mad Men 4 and 5: Double Mad Men Mad Men 6: The Medium is the Message! ... Mad Men 7: Revenge of the Mollusk ... Mad Men 8: Weed, Twist, Hobo ... ... Mad Man 9: Betty Grace Kelly ... Mad men 10: Life, Death, and Politics ... Mad Men 11: Heat! ... Mad Men 12: Admirable Don ... Mad Men 13: Double-Endings, Lascaux, and Holes
6-minute podcast review of Mad Men
The Plot to Save Socrates
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
7 comments:
I enjoyed reading this entry. It's quite interesting.
Thanks, neo - hope you come on back!
This is gonna sound like I'm a conspiracy theorist, and that's not really who I am. But there is sooo much cigarette smoke in this show that I wonder if the cigarette companies are somehow behind it. If you're a cigarette company, it's difficult to get your message across. You can't advertise on TV and product placement doesn't work so well in TV shows and movies set in the present day. Along comes a TV show or movie that takes place in a cigarette-smoking era, and voila, you've got an hourlong commercial, full of sexy people looking sexy while smoking, or smoking after sex, or smoking and drinking simultaneously. This show isn't about any deep message from the vintage advertising world. It's an excuse to show all kinds of behavior that's not acceptable today. The Edward R. Murrow movie, "Good Night and Good Luck," offered a similar opportunity, at least as far as the smoking goes. In tonight's episode (7/26), there was someone smoking in EVERY SINGLE SCENE of the show. Anybody who's watched a friend or relative shrivel up and die from lung cancer has got to find this difficult to watch. Knowing their history of using clever techniques to reach an audience, I have to wonder whether the cigarette companies somehow are supporting these vintage shows.
I'd doubt it - if only because, at least to our eyes, the smoking doesn't look all that attractive in Mad Men. To me it feels as if, these people have no idea what they're doing to their lungs etc. But I guess different viewers could see that differently.
I hadn't noticed the show's integration with its real commercials, wonderful observation! Mad Men has such a great feel, and is unique in that there are so few TV shows set in the early '60s. It's already set as a season pass on my TiVo so that I won't miss any episodes.
BTW, thank you for your comment on my Vox blog! I've enjoyed your blog and podcasts and will be reading/listening routinely.
Thanks for coming by, Karen - I like your Vox blog a lot, too, and I'm glad you'll be reading here and listening to my podcasts. Feel free to comment any time!
Paul
Low Level Cadmium Exposure Linked To Lung Disease...Science Daily reported on August 20 that new research suggests that cadmium is one of the critical ingredients causing emphysema, and even low-level exposure attained through second-hand smoke and other means may also increase the chance of developing lung disease. http://www.chantixhome.com/
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