171 replies to this topic

[KRamsey]

I watched the first episode of "Mad Men" after reading a couple of glowing reviews. Anyone else catch it? Interesting actors who are not really well known and great set design, costumes, and music. Pretty brutal portrayal of men's attitudes towards women in 1960. The end of the first episode really caught me by surprise. I'll definitely continue watching. Anyone who is in the midst of trying to quit smoking should not watch "Mad Men."

Written and produced by Sopranos executive producer Matt Weiner.

[flyfish]

The cigarettes we use are all herbal cigarettes. If we get filtered ones, we cut the filter off. It's not tobacco, but I still wouldn’t recommend it. It’s really nasty.

Quote above is from a nice photo essay on designing the set for this series on their web site.

[StephanieL]

I saw the first episode; the second is in the DVR queue. I think it's pretty good, and it makes me glad I wasn't working in the bad old sexist, anti-Semitic, homophobic days.

[backstory]

I love this show but cannot quite explain why. Partly because I am just glad i'm not living in that era. It wasn't very good for women, but not men either.
Maybe it is just the setting and the clothes and make-up the women wear, the lifestyle.
Oh the acting is great.
I believe there is a marathon Madmen on Sunday when all the episodes will be shown back to back.

[memesuze]

I'm another fan - and wondering if the man falling in the title sequence portends anything

[backstory]

I'm another fan - and wondering if the man falling in the title sequence portends anything

does that remind anyone else of 9/11?

[Stone]

I'm another fan - and wondering if the man falling in the title sequence portends anything

does that remind anyone else of 9/11?

No. Go back to therapy.

I like the show as well. Although I'm worried that it's getting a bit too outlandish too quickly. The secret family, the affairs every time a man and woman are alone in a room together (hey! just like Cinemax after dark!).

[Maison Rustique]

I love this show. I started my advertising career around 1977. It had changed quite a bit by then, but there were still a lot of hold-overs and the execs were still mostly male. The show brings back a lot of memories (good and bad) of those days. I just just adore the women's clothing.

We have caught them in a few mistakes with products that didn't exist in 1960.

[backstory]

We have caught them in a few mistakes with products that didn't exist in 1960.

i wondered about how they eat - it looks very now. i thought back then it was all campbell soup thrown over some meat or other and jello salad - good old fashioned home cooking.

[memesuze]

Well, I remember meals in the fifties from my mother, who was born/raised in Connecticut and married a man from Poughkeepsie who took the train into NYC daily from Norwalk Connecticut. She fed us roast beef roasted "properly" in the oven - not cooked by boiling in a pot of water [as I know some of my friends' childhood "roast beef" to be], lettuce and tomato salads, barely cooked frozen vegetables, no soupcan sauces, some casseroles from ground beef/pasta/vegetables, meatloaf from ground beef/bread crumbs/egg, absolutely no fried foods or hour-long-cooked vegetables. We occasionally had a dessert - always home-made, but it usually appeared only on the weekend, and also the occasional jello in the fridge [as a treat, not as the basis of a salad].

[Lauren]

I know my mother would have thought using canned soup was too much of a luxury for her. We grew up eating "real" foods without "modern conveniences". I'm guessing that, if the show were set in 1968, we'd see more shortcut food.

[memesuze]

On NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday Liane Hanson interviewed Matthew Weiner - near the end she asked him if it was her imagination, or had Peggy's breasts become more formidable as the season has progressed. He said they had, but gave no reason.

I'm thinking, what if she's pregnant from Pete's pre-wedding excursion? That would account for more formidable-ness....What would President Bartlett think?

[TrishCT]

When I was a kid I remember being invited to a friend's house for dinner and her mother said we were starting off our meal with "pear salad."

My mind could only imagine what kind of exotic dish that might be. At my house we never had any such thing.

The salad was served and it was — half a canned pear on a leaf of lettuce.

That will always be quintessential early 60's cooking to me.

[Lauren]

On NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday Liane Hanson interviewed Matthew Weiner - near the end she asked him if it was her imagination, or had Peggy's breasts become more formidable as the season has progressed. He said they had, but gave no reason.

I'm thinking, what if she's pregnant from Pete's pre-wedding excursion? That would account for more formidable-ness....What would President Bartlett think?

I noticed that too - especially on the last episode. I attributed it to a conversation she had with the redhead secretary shortly after she was hired. Something about taking a good long look at your self and figuring out what your best features are. I guess I figured she thought her best features needed a torpedo bra!

[Maison Rustique]

When I was a kid I remember being invited to a friend's house for dinner and her mother said we were starting off our meal with "pear salad."

My mind could only imagine what kind of exotic dish that might be. At my house we never had any such thing.

The salad was served and it was — half a canned pear on a leaf of lettuce.

That will always be quintessential early 60's cooking to me.

I don't remember you coming to our house!!