Mad Men on AMC

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Jezebel38
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Mad Men on AMC

Post by Jezebel38 »

I never watch movies on this channel anymore, but had read some good reviews about this new series and was curious to check it out. I also have Comcast cable and this is an offering on their On Demand menu. For those who have not heard of this yet, it is a drama that takes place in the world of a Madison Ave. advertizing agency, circa 1960. Well, I was hooked right away, mostly because of the TD&H leading man and the exceptional detail in recreating the workplace of the sixties. Some of the actors must have had to learn to smoke, because ALL the characters constantly have a cigarette in hand. But Oh My! All the fooling around in the office place and sexism directed towords the women on the staff - glad I didn't join the workplace until after the women's movement in the 1970's. Anyone else following this show?
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cinemalover
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Post by cinemalover »

I've got it On Demand also and I watched the first couple of episodes out of curiousity. I enjoyed them though I haven't seen enough to warm up to the characters quite yet. I liked it enough that I'll probably go back for some more when I get a chance. It certainly does capture the feel of a different era and sensabilty.
Chris

The only bad movie is no movie at all.
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CharlieT
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Post by CharlieT »

I haven't watched Mad Men on principle. I believed it was the introduction of AMC's series Remember WENN that was the beginning of the downfall of the network. It may not have caused it, but it seemed to be the first step away from the classic movie programming.

That being said, I do stil watch movies on AMC on occassion - if it's one that I enjoy. :oops:
"I'm at my most serious when I'm joking." - Dudley

Don't sweat the petty things - don't pet the sweaty things.
TalkieTime
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Post by TalkieTime »

Remember Wenn, set in a Pittsburgh radio station in the 1939-41 period, premiered on American Movie Classics on 1/13/96. After a run of fifty-six episodes the final original episode aired on 9/11/98. I watched and recorded all but six of those episodes. During that period AMC was still committed to classic movies and film preservation.

The Lot, set in a movie studio, was the replacement for Remember Wenn beginning in 1999. I did not watch nor record this series.

Beginning around 1997 AMC programmed more 1950's and 1960's movies into the mix.

AMC hosts Bob Dorian and Nick Clooney departed in the summer of 1999. Commercials began airing between movies in late 1999/early 2000. There were attempts to attract younger viewers with the much younger John Burke as the main host. There were more 1970's and 1980's movies added to the mix. The American Pop series was aimed at "babyboomers." While I am a babyboomer I always prefered early talkies through the film noir era so my AMC viewing dropped way off. About all I recorded from AMC were some Shirley Temple movies and the Monsterfest series.

In 2001 commercials interrupted movies and there were very few "classics" in the programming mix. My AMC viewing had ended. John Burke departed sometime in 2001. In 2002, as I surfed channels, I saw that American Movie Classics had become "amc" and completed their "youth transition" where a bunch of twenty-somethings sat around spewing mindless chatter about 1980's and 1990's movies.
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traceyk
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Post by traceyk »

I caught part of the "Mad Men" marathon last weekend (I think that's when it was). I enjoyed it. It captured that time when to be in advertising was considered glamorous, if a little shady (remember "Bewitched?") It's funny how our attitudes towards advertising have changed--now we (or at least I) think of people in advertising as slick phonies corrupting the youth of America and promoting our insane consumer-driven culture (or perhaps they could be accused of creating it?)
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. "~~Wilde
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

traceyk wrote:I caught part of the "Mad Men" marathon last weekend (I think that's when it was). I enjoyed it. It captured that time when to be in advertising was considered glamorous, if a little shady (remember "Bewitched?") It's funny how our attitudes towards advertising have changed--now we (or at least I) think of people in advertising as slick phonies corrupting the youth of America and promoting our insane consumer-driven culture (or perhaps they could be accused of creating it?)
Tracy, admen in the past, as long as there has been an advertising business, were also considered slick and rather shady. Think of the Clark Gable film "The Hucksters," just the use of the word "hucksters" to describe admen is telling, I think, and the way admen are portrayed in "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit." Are you familiar with Max Shulman's "Rally 'Round the Flag?" It's about some truly ghastly advertising people trying to sell a Connecticut commuter town on the idea of an Army base in their midst -- it was made into a not too good movie with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, with Joan Collins as a temptress.

F. Scott Fitzgerald had very little good to say about his time at an ad agency in the 1920s (he didn't like it at all), and of course there's our friend Thorne Smith's take on the ad business in "Turnabout." Smith was an adman for most of his professional life (from the 20s to the early 40s), was very good at it, but had nothing but scorn for the business, which he repeatedly lambasted in his novels.

In the 1950s, Madison Avenue was already an object of scorn and parody in movies and on TV. Many phrases, supposedly used by admen, were in vogue then, like "Let's run it up the flagpole, and see who salutes," and the famous "Will it play in Peoria?" I also remember the media making fun of ad agencies whose names were a long list of the partners (people weren't making such fun of law firms yet - that came in the 80s).
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traceyk
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Post by traceyk »

Interesting, jdb. My only memory of admen is "Bewitched" and while Larry Tate was a "huckster" I got the feeling that Darrin at least had some integrity (when he wasn't being emasculated by his mother-in-law, that is). He and Samantha were always coming up with these last minute, sort of lame ideas and the clients always loved them, which I suppose was sort of a wink at the gullibility of the American people?

I watched that movie where the husband and wife switch bodies because the idol in there bedroom grants their wish (can't remember the name to save my life, early 40'sm blonde wife, a bear was involved) and the husband was in advertising and he was slick, but there was a sense of admiration too--that he was smarter than the client, even if he wasn't entirely honest.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. "~~Wilde
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cinemalover
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Post by cinemalover »

I've had a chance to see the first six episodes of Mad Men and it is starting to grow on me. Jon Hamm is the lead actor and plays the mysterious ad man, Don Draper. There is a lot about his past hinted at, but the facts are only revealed in small dribbles. I've always enjoyed John Slattery and he plays one of the ad agency owners, Roger Sterling. It appears as though they've produced 13 episodes and I plan on watching them all when I get a chance. It's a well-made series that captures a piece of the past convincingly.
Chris

The only bad movie is no movie at all.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

traceyk wrote:Interesting, jdb. My only memory of admen is "Bewitched" and while Larry Tate was a "huckster" I got the feeling that Darrin at least had some integrity (when he wasn't being emasculated by his mother-in-law, that is). He and Samantha were always coming up with these last minute, sort of lame ideas and the clients always loved them, which I suppose was sort of a wink at the gullibility of the American people?

I watched that movie where the husband and wife switch bodies because the idol in there bedroom grants their wish (can't remember the name to save my life, early 40'sm blonde wife, a bear was involved) and the husband was in advertising and he was slick, but there was a sense of admiration too--that he was smarter than the client, even if he wasn't entirely honest.
The movie you're thinking of is Turnabout, discussed elsewhere on this board. The admen in the movie are given much better and more sympathetic treatment than those in Thorne Smith's book, upon which the movie is based.

I think that since Samantha, and by association, Darrin, are the heroes of Bewitched, they are not disparaged for being in advertising. Larry Tate, on the other hand, is clearly not as professionally moral as is Darrin.

I think that advertising still carries the stigma of the old medicine shows, and Americans still have, in the backs of their minds, the attitude that being pitched to by admen equals being cheated. An excellent example of this mindset can be found in The Music Man. The plot, after all, revolves around Prof. Harold Hill's ad campaign to get the town of River City to buy his musical instruments. He does this by creating a need for the product where no need existed before.

If you have an interest in this subject, I recommend reading the biography of King Camp Gillette (the safety razor mogul). It's called "King C. Gillette: The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device," by Russell B. Adams. Adams shows how Gillette conducted an advertising campaign that got American men to think that being clean-shaven was better than having whiskers (and that they would not look effeminate), and that using his safety razor was better and more economical than using a straight razor or going to the barber. Needless to say, it was one of the most successful campaigns in history.
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

I watched bits and pieces of "Mad Men" in the recent months.

Anyway, I watched "Days of Wine and Roses" on DVD last night, and it struck me that "Mad Men" was trying for the mood of that film (at least in the early scenes of "Days.")
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

The recent issue of "National Review," the one with Barack Obama on the cover, has an interesting take on "Mad Men." Briefly, the writer finds the show too busy with "tsk-tsking" over the sins of the past (prejudice, smoking, sexism) to be good storytelling.

I've never stuck with an entire episode, so I don't know if I agree with him or not, but I found it an interesting idea.
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