Mad Men is what the advertising men of Madison Avenue were called bacin the 60s.

Maria called me a couple of Saturdays ago and told me I had to watch Season 1 of Mad Men On Demand so that we could watch Season 2 together when it starts at the end of July.

It sounded interesting. Hot Ad execs from the early 60s smoking, drinking and screwing their way to the top. What’s not to love, right?

I’ll admit that I had a real hard time watching the show, but at the same time, I couldn’t look away. I have no idea who to root for, which is a problem for me. I want a hero to follow, and honestly, the guy they have as the hero, is just not very heroic–yet. We finally got to the meat of his backstory and now, after 13 shows, I’m starting to symapathize with him. It was almost too little too late, though. It’s like I’m liking the characters I’m supposed to hate and hating the characters I’m supposed to like!

As writers, it is beat into our brains not to give too much backstory away up front. But I tell ya, they would’ve done well to give us a little bit of Don Draper’s backstory before the 5th show. By that point, I had no sympathy for him whatsoever. He’s a male-slag. Okay, he has standards. Occasionally he turns down a girl and goes home to his wife.. But usually no.

It’s not the cheating that bothers me in the show, it’s the lack of set up. I know that part of it is the time period. It’s the early 60s and women are treated as servants and whores. That’s it. If they don’t put out and don’t ask how high when the man says jump, then they’re fired or tossed aside. And the women don’t blink an eye at this. Which bothers me as a woman (yes, different times, I know. But there is a reason I was not allowed to live back then. It would NOT have been pretty) Anyway, if there had been some set up for the bed-hopping, I could live with it. There’s a lot of bed-hopping in today’s shows, and usually, even if I don’t like the character, I at least ‘understand’ the motivation behind the slagging around.

But in Mad Men, they just do it because it’s what men do. Um. Yeah. That is hard for me to deal with. Really hard.

Yet, I’m still watching the show.

Damn these are some complex characters and stories. It’s a storyteller’s dream! I’m intrigued but not in love. Yet. It’s the strangest thing. It’s like being curious about a boy that you know is bad for you, but you can’t stop thinking about him no matter what you do. Two nights in a row I dreamed in the 60s. (OMG, can I tell you how much I love the way women dressed and wore their hair. that’s a style that should come back. Especially since I was smokin’ hot in my cute dress and awesome hair in my dream. I did NOT wear an apron.)

Okay and can we talk about the smoking? I remember the early seventies when even my parents smoked. I remember Bridge and Poker parties where everyone was smoking and we had various colored ugly ashtrays set throughout the house. But I don’t remember doctors smoking during exams. I didn’t realize people smoked in the office where they worked. Holy cow these were some smoking fools! The characters are smoking so much, it wouldn’t surprise me if the actors were totally addicted by the end of season one.

Anyone else out there watching this show? What are your thoughts? I’d reccommend watching it if you have it available On Demand. I was almost ready to give up by show #3 but I gave it a chance and now I think I’m going to continue on with Season 2because I can’t seem to look away. Maybe it’s the cigarettes. I iz addicted to ur virtual smokin.