Mad Men ran for seven seasons and 92 episodes, from July 19, 2007 to May 17, 2015. AMC’s first original series, created by Matthew Weiner, it made the advertising business of 1960s Madison Avenue into a stage for the decade itself.
Trailer, via amc+.
Don Draper’s Double Life
Jon Hamm plays Don Draper, creative director and junior partner at Sterling Cooper. He is a hard-drinking, chain-smoking executive with a shadowy past. Early in the run we learn his real name is Richard “Dick” Whitman, and that during the Korean War he took the identity of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Don Draper, killed in an ambush. He hides that, and his adultery, from his wife Betty, played by January Jones.
Peggy Olson Rises From the Desk
Elisabeth Moss plays Peggy Olson, who starts as Don’s secretary and becomes a copywriter with her own office. Vincent Kartheiser’s Pete Campbell is a young, ambitious account executive from an old New York family. Christina Hendricks plays Joan Holloway, office manager and head of the secretarial pool, who has a long affair with Roger Sterling (John Slattery) and rises to partner.
1960 to 1970, Season by Season
The show covers March 1960 to November 1970. Weiner first developed it in 2000, and AMC greenlit it years later. Shooting took place mainly in New York City and Los Angeles, and the writers did heavy research to get the period right. That research pays off in the details of the office, the clothes, the talk.
What the Show Gets Right
The series tracks the changing moods and social mores of the United States across the decade, and its best scenes are the small ones where the era leaks into the room. It is a period drama that treats the period as a character, not a backdrop.
Where It Drags
The double-life premise runs long past its usefulness, and the later seasons sometimes mistake slowness for depth. The show is at its sharpest when it stays in the office.
Mad Men is not the best drama of its era, but it is one of the most carefully made. Its 77/100 Metacritic score is fair. 7.7 of 10.
Key Facts
– First aired: July 19, 2007
– Last aired: May 17, 2015
– Seasons: 7
– Episodes: 92
– Network: AMC
– Metacritic: 77/100
– Score: 7.7/10
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