When men were men and made women mad
Centered around the smoke-filled boardroom of NYC’s Sterling Cooper agency, Mad Men captures the essence of the high-octane, cut-throat advertising industry of the 1960s and the emotionally vacant relationships behind money-hungry adman Don Draper, played by John Hamm.
It also explores the moral codes of the era, with smoking, sexism and adultery all portrayed liberally. Indeed, the Los Angeles Times claims Mad Men has found ‘a strange and lovely space between nostalgia and political correctness’.
Mad Men made Emmy-award history in 2008 with a record-breaking 16 nominations. The American Film Institute selected it as one of the 10 best television series of 2007, and it was named the best television show of that year by the Television Critics Association and several US newspapers.
Writer and executive producer Matthew Weiner (of The Sopranos fame) is the man behind the original 13-episode series. And he likes to keep his success in the “family”. His 11-year-old son, Marten, plays Glen Bishop.
Take a look at the show’s already iconic opening theme, A Beautiful Mine. It might just be enough to earn a place in the Timeless 50.