Mad Men Disturbs Me

By now, you’ve probably figured out that I’m a female. Recently, I caught up on all three seasons of Mad Men via DVD. Yes, there was actually a popular show I HADN’T been watching on TV! While I love the show and find it very entertaining and intriguing, it scares me a bit.

One, I wonder: how is it possible that, if this is the way business was conducted in the ’60s, people ever went home sober? My gosh, not only every meeting, but it seems that any time one guy walks into another’s office, they pour a drink. “Hey, how’s it going? Good morning. Oh, let me just grab a scotch before I leave.” “Hey, I forgot to give you those reports. We’re about to head to lunch, but why don’t we start it off with a quick cocktail?” Jesus, these guys must have had alcohol tolerance comparable to a bull! Then, there’s the smoking. I mean, people cry about every little thing these days and how it might affect a baby or a child or their own health. Yet it seems like smoking, and drinking, while pregnant, was a common occurence in the ’60s. How did the Baby Boomer generation survive? Clearly, it wasn’t out of stupidity; people didn’t know back them about the effects of smoking. But it’s still interesting to think about nonetheless.

So I started off the seasons loving Peggy more and more as the episodes progressed. But by the end of Season 3, I have a newfound respect for Betty Draper. Mind you, you know she’s going to get screwed over in some fashion by this politician dude. But I still give credit where it’s due for her kicking Don to the curb and standing her ground.

Sterling. Ah, good ol’ Sterling. What will happen with his ditzy trophy wife? So sad to see that some things haven’t changed since the ’60s. Heck, then it seems that if you weren’t cheating on your wife, something was wrong with you. And if your wife didn’t pretend not to know, something was wrong with her. Sad, sad.

Peter Campbell is a little s&*%, but clearly that’s the character they were going for, so kudos to the actor who plays him for doing a good job. God, I hope he’s acting. Because if he isn’t, there’s a problem. Ditto for the gal who plays his wife. Her character annoys the crap out of me; if I could throw my fist through the TV screen every time she’s on, I would. And the only reason I don’t do it now is because TVs are expensive. But that one scene with them dancing at the wedding? Holy cow, I almost puked out my dinner. In the styles of Chandler Bing, can you GET any cornier?

What I find most disturbing, however, is that most guys I talk to who watch the show think Don Draper is the bees knees. Um, sorry, what’s so great about him? So let’s see: the man has everything in life – a fantastic job, beautiful and loving and caring wife and home, two kids, friends, his health, and yet he finds the need to purposely screw it up. Because he had a horrible past. Oh boo hoo, suck it up. What is so endearing about that? I think guys see “guys gets lots of a**” and that’s all they need to know: automatically, he’s awesome. The same goes for Hank Moody in Californication: he’s, as the Dean told him in one of the last episodes, the “girl whisperer.” Somehow guys look up to that, choosing to ignore the fact that both men have issues beyond repair.

Come to think of it, there are a lot of similarities between Don Draper and Hank Moody. They should do a show together. Call it Two Half Men. haha. Get it? Because neither is whole?

Anyway, I’m looking forward to this season, although every time I watch it, it disturbs me even more. But I guess that’s what makes for good TV.