Talk:Mad Men

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[edit] themes

excuse me, but alcohol is still an accepted part of society.

You should sign your comments, if only so readers can tell where one person's comments end and another's begin. Otherwise, yes, of course you're right. And this statement:

Engagement and marriage, for men, did not preclude relationships with other women;

I agree. There are times where i'll often wear my wifes underwear and tights when she's out at Tescos and Ill parade around wearing just these articles of clothing, dusting the mantlepiece, baking apple pies and flirting with the milkman. My only outlet is Springwatch - Bill Oddie is such a brilliant man it makes me weep. I thought about taking my life today. Stood by on the side of the M25 by Juction 12 for hours, eating packets of cheese & onion Walkers, listening to Simply Red on my iPod and dribbling. Sat in my car for 4 hours in the garage last week hoping to end it all peacefully; realised i'd forgotten to switch the engine on when it got to the 5 hour mark so went in the house and watched The Weakest Link.

is pretty silly, too. Is the writer claiming that adultery has vanished in our more enlightened time? Or that adultery was socially acceptable in 1960? It should go without saying that neither is true, but apparently it has to be said. 68.80.50.49 03:17, 4 August 2007 (UTC)essex9999

Of course drinking is still accepted, but not in many of situations portrayed in the show as "normal" - drinking by pregnant women, the three Martini lunch, and driving while clearly impaired are all far less acceptable in today's society. It is a matter of degree Seaphoto 17:11, 31 August 2007 (UTC)


Lawteacheredstudent deleted excessive references to smoking. Original post had definite anti-smoking bias that was unnecessary. Smoking is not a theme in the show, only something the characters did. No one ever says clothing is a theme of a show because everyone wore clothes, right? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lawteacheredstudent (talk • contribs) 00:45, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Pretty much every show on television has people wearing clothes. Not many have that much smoking. Whether you or I think it's unusual is immaterial -- the amount of smoking on the show is usually commented on in the media, and Weiner often mentions it in interviews. And smoking is a recurring plot point because of the agency's work for Lucky Strike cigarettes. I think the Themes section needs improvement -- obviously the show isn't only about smoking, drinking and having sex with secretaries -- but the stuff in there now should stay. Greyfedora 16:13, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cast and characters

I made a tentative list of the cast and main characters, which will be later added to with info on each character. The section will also be turned into prose instead of a bullet-pointed list. Articles for each character are not necessary and wouldn't pass Wikipedia guidelines on notability. Cliff smith 05:54, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

I made the section prose, with info on each character. The info may be added to and/or changed as the season plays out, of course. Cliff smith 06:46, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

I wanted to place a spoiler warning in this section because the unveiling of the character details are part of the story line. The details of Drapers character spoiled an on-demand episode for me. Avermillion 18:25, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

I edited the spoiler warning to fit the proper format. I also read the spolier warning page guidelines - and I think a spoiler warning is appropriate for this page because it is a topic that concerns a TV show in production with new shows coming out weekly - and previous shows available on demand. Avermillion 18:31, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

I added some characters last names and updated info, based on AMC's website. please rewrite if you can do it better. 38.112.225.84 22:13, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

I tried to add a spoiler warning after myself having a plot ruined. Why was this removed? What justification is there to not warn readers that the characters section has multiple spoilers on every character? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 149.159.81.113 (talk) 01:28, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Reception

This was the first sentence of "Reception":

On June 20, 2007, a consumer activist group called Commercial Alert filed a complaint with the United States Distilled Spirits Council alleging that Mad Men sponsor Jack Daniel's whiskey was violating liquor advertising standards since the show features "depictions of overt sexual activity" as well as irresponsible intoxication.[1]

No objection to mentioning this, but seemed an odd place to lead off the section; doesn't seem like the most notable or important response to the show, however you judge that. And that's of a different character to the rest of the information in the section, which focused on critics' opinion of its artistic merit, so seems like the complaint should be placed in its own paragraph.

[edit] Episode listing

The episode listing has been moved here until the season ends after the 13th episode. The info will then be moved back into the LOE and the general plot of the first season will be summarized here. Cliff smith 20:09, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Historical Accuracy

The lead paragraph for this article says that show has been "praise for its historical accuracy." In the first episode they claim that Lucky Strike started using the slogan "It's Toasted" in 1960, the year the show is set, when Wikipedia's own article on Lucky Strike says the company has been using that slogan since 1917! The IBM Selectric typewriter also featured in the first episode didn't come out until 1961. — Steven Andrew Miller (talk) 08:21, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

I wasn't aware of those facts. It appears that they took poetic license on the slogan. The anachronism with the typewriter, however, is fairly arcane, and rather minor, especially since they were only a year off. I think the main thing about the critics citing historical accuracy was with the more obivous facets of the show, like furniture, clothing, hairstyles, architecture, etc. Cliff smith 21:12, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The lead

The single review of the show from Metacritic doesn't belong in the lead. The lead is supposed to summarize the article. Cliff smith 19:28, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Referencing

The quote from Draper is good, but I can't remember which episode he said this in. It should be cited. Cliff smith 19:29, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Music

Could someone list name of the music and music artists played throught the series categorized by episode? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.6.110.62 (talk) 18:09, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure that should be in the article; it might be a little bit too detailed for Wikipedia's purposes. But AMC lists the music used in each episode at [1]. Greyfedora 23:15, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
Yes, a music list like that would get rather trivial, and would probably fall under something in WP:NOT. Good link, Greyfedora. Cliff smith 02:44, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

I added the song that plays in the titles, RJD2's "A Beautiful Mine" - didn't think I could source youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHS-0xMmlFk - Leland —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.65.147.248 (talk) 06:04, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Madmen.jpg

Image:Madmen.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 21:28, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Episode List

While I heartily approve of setting up a seperate Episode List article for Mad Men, I think the identical list in this article should be removed. The wiki cops don't seem to approve of the redundancy. Cranston Lamont 23:22, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Specious title trivia

It's been claimed that:

The title Mad Men is a portmanteau of Mad Ad Men.
Can also be spelled as "MAd Men" although that capitalization is only implied in the title.

But are either of these interpretations of the title actually claimed by the creators of the program? It appears to me that the main allusion of "Mad" is "Madison Avenue"--the iconic street of US advertising in the '60s--along with the implication that these men are crazy-mad and sometimes angry-mad. I'll delete these unsourced speculations unless someone can provide a citation supporting them. --Jeremy Butler 12:49, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

  • To me there is a strong sense of "mad" = "crazy" because most of the characters seem to be treading a fine line between sanity and insanity. I'm surprised more isn't made of this in the article. It's really a very dark drama, where everyone seems on the brink of going completely off the edge. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.129.128.199 (talk) 02:13, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Dubious

Roger Sterling (John Slattery) ... makes a sexual advance on Draper's wife (while intoxicated), which Don never knows about ...

I think he did know something of this nature had happened. He walked in on them in the kitchen and it was clear something had been going on. Then Draper took his revenge by arranging it so Sterling would throw up in front of their visitors. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.129.128.199 (talk) 02:20, 8 June 2008 (UTC)