Mad Men Reviews

“I've actually spent half my life studying 1960s graphic design and the dramatic effect that psychology had on advertising. Why I've been studying this stuff, I couldn't begin to explain. What's bewildering is that until the 1960s, there was pretty much zero consideration for psychology in the advertising industry. So you had people advertising TV dinners by suggesting that housewives are too lazy to cook three meals a day, instead of stroking them and musing about their busy lifestyles. It's amazing stuff.

And that's the period that this show covers, in meticulous detail -- not just in the set dressing and costumes and cultural references, but in the clueless and brutish attitudes of the characters and in the show's intricate thematic structure.

Everything about Don Draper's life is false. This whole American ideal that he built up for himself is an empty shell. Nobody is happy. Nobody really considers why not. Instead, everyone fills the void with one distraction after another. It's bleak with a chipper face, which is the saddest way to do it.”