more like "meh men" am i rite

[rone]

After watching the first two episodes, "Mad Men" makes me think of "Seinfeld": it's an inexplicably popular show with a very distinct style populated by abhorrent characters where nothing happens, except that instead of purportedly playing the dialogue for laughs, it's a dramatic drama.  It's another example of Schadenfreude TV, where having a story takes a backseat (or, in Mad Men's case, it's shoved into the trunk) to having characters who are mostly repulsive and, at best, give you mixed feelings.  The costuming and sets are visually striking and very well done, but all that came to mind after i was done watching were those eight deadly words.

Comments

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Which "first two episodes"? The first two of the current season, without having seen the first two seasons, or the first two episodes of season one?

There's a story in there, though it kind of takes a back-seat to characterisation a lot of the time. Not all of the characters are nasty, either, though if all you've really seen is Don Draper and Roger Sterling, plus the Lucky Strikes buffoon (assuming 3x02 here) then yeah, you're not going to have much cause to give a shit.

I loved the first two seasons. The third, not so sure, but I'll keep watching for now and see where it goes.

(Then again, I liked Seinfeld too.)

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Season one.

There's a story in there, but it's not a good one.

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Peggy -- and her story -- develop quite a bit beyond what you'll see in the first two episodes.

Same goes for Joan. She's not quite who she seems at first either.

The guys, they mostly just keep being guys. The women and their stories are what make the show interesting -- it's about how the world was changing at that time, particularly with respect to women's lives.

Some of the guys get mildly interesting. There's some stuff around homosexuality, and a little bit of civil rights. But mostly it's a show about women.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I got that impression, but they're really not making it about the women at first. It's almost like it's some wacky postmodern show about women inside a show about men except they don't want the viewer to notice the women right away so they hide the women.

Anyway, a new show needs to grab your attention, and the first two episodes had a whole lack of attention-grabbing.

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

As always, YMMV. It grabbed my attention sufficiently, the same seems to have been true for enough people for it to get on to a fourth season.

I kind of liked the way it starts out being subversive about the women: it sucks in the sorts of people who wouldn't watch a show about women.

[nothings.livejournal.com]

I believe I tried approximately the first two as well and bailed. I didn't bother figuring out why, so I'll steal your explanation henceforth if anyone asks.

Actually the person who recommended it to me made me try one more time, with the last episode of S1, The Wheel, because it has this big moment (the carousel speech) in it. Maybe it would work better in the context of the whole series, but for me at least that big moment just was lame, implausible cheese.

[mistressdeath.livejournal.com]

I didn't like it at first, either, but then I accidentally saw some stuff from later seasons and decided to try it again, starting from the beginning. Now I'm hooked. The first two episodes are just to mess with your head. Peggy and Joan, as another commenter says, really change the show as it progresses. Also, you get to see Don get his comeuppance, and it's very interesting. For me, sometimes I feel bad for him even though he's being a total ass, and other times I'm like, "Yeah! Take that!"

The show is also kind of hot sometimes. I never found Seinfeld arousing.

[deirdremoon.livejournal.com]

a very distinct style populated by abhorrent characters where nothing happens

Oh gods, thank you for saying this. I sometimes feel like I'm the only one in the world who doesn't like Seinfeld. (I'm also not crazy about Friends, but I'd remove most of the "abhorrent" part for them, I suppose.)

In 6 words

[nerdsholmferret.livejournal.com]

I have never seen Mad Men at all, but my advice to almost every TV character everywhere is "Don't be a stupid pathological liar."