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Special Features
- "Mad Men Series Commentary," audio commentaries on all 13 episodes
- "Establishing Mad Men, " featurette exploring the world of Mad Men
- "The Desire of the American Dream," featuring the 1960's creative revolution in media
- "Pictures of Elegance," photo gallery with commentaries from the costume, hair and production designers
- "Scoring Mad Men" featurette
- Mad Men Music Sampler
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| Mad Men Season 1 | - Available Formats |
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Welcome to a world where Monday has a three drink minimum. Mad Men exists here and it's a fabulous place to visit, back before Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique really made much of an impact and before the Surgeon General put warning labels on cigarettes. It was an America on the brink of social explosion and Mad Men, which tells the story of a group of Madison Avenue advertising executives in the early 1960s, captures that surface stillness perfectly, complete with the growing tension barely contained below the surface.
The show succeeds on every level. HBO famously passed on Mad Men, created by former Sopranos executive producer and writer Matthew Weiner. AMC picked it up, and thank goodness they did. From the first episode, Season One becomes an essential, utterly addictive television- watching experience. Beautifully filmed and masterfully written, the show manages to present the period honestly but with little nostalgia, and as soon as you get over the constant smoking, drinking and treatment of women as little more than "girls" who get coffee and answer the phone, the complexity of these characters (especially the dashing Jon Hamm as Creative Director Don Draper) will leave you completely captivated. Season One features clandestine office romances, shadowy pasts, a ton of adultery, closeted homosexuality and a lot more drama that seems risqué even for 2008. But again, one of the most impressive things about Mad Men is that everything is executed with absolute class, style and elegance. And bonus for the DVD viewer: Like The Sopranos, Mad Men has a ton of little moments and hints leading up to character revelations and plot twists that make watching the episodes over and over continually rewarding. –-Kira Canny
Stills from Mad Men (click for larger image)
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Product Description
Includes 13 episodes on 4 DVDs. 2007/color/10 hrs., 16 min/NR/widescreen.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
229 of 236 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
It would be hard to imagine a more absorbingly intelligent American TV series--in terms of writing, acting, and visuals--than MAD MEN. Just before the final season of THE SOPRANOS began in late 2007, AMC presented us in the summer with the thirteen episodes of this marvelously atmospheric series created by one of the main writers of the series, Matt Weiner, that HBO insanely took a pass on. Ostensibly the series is about a group of advertising agency working for Madison Avenue advertising agency, the fictitious Sterling-Cooper, in 1960, during the Nixon-Kennedy presidential contest; yet on a deeper level the show wrestles with much larger questions about the meaning of obsession with having (and marketing) happiness in mid-20th-century America. The series centers primarily around four characters whose lives are inextricably linked with one another: Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a handsome advertising executive at Sterling-Cooper of few words but enormous creative gifts who hides a mysterious past; his beautiful but childlike wife Betty (January Jones), whom he keeps entirely separate in the suburbs from his work life and his mistresses in the city; Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), Don's new secretary, whose naive affect and kind heart belie her tremendous ambition; and Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), the smarmy account executive who trades on his ties to the Old New York "Knickerbocracy" to get him ahead. The four central actors are absolutely first-rate, as are several within their near orbits: John Slattery as Roger Sterling, the roguish partner who is both Don's friend and his competitor; the gifted Christina Hendricks, as the firm's femme fatale head secretary; and Robert Morse, as the firm's wily and eccentric senior partner.
Morse's presence ties the series to his famous work in both the Broadway and Hollywood production of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, and the episodes make intelligent reference also to any number of important American fictional works about the NYC business and suburban domestic worlds of the post-War era, including THE APARTMENT and THE BEST OF EVERYTHING. (Richard Yates's REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and the films of Douglas Sirk are also repeatedly evoked too, if in less direct ways.) One of the pleasures of this fine DVD set are the superb extras which allow us to see the especially thoughtful work done by the series' set designers, hairstylists, and (particularly) its head costume designer. The commentaries are generally excellent, and it will come as no surprise to fans of the series that not only the series creator, Matt Weiner, and its writers are especially eloquent but so too are its actors, especially Hamm and Kartheiser. The eye-catching design of this DVD package (fashioned to look and open, naturally, like a classic American manufacturer's product: a Zippo lighter) has been rightly praised for its innovation but also rightly criticized for its unwieldiness.
Morse's presence ties the series to his famous work in both the Broadway and Hollywood production of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, and the episodes make intelligent reference also to any number of important American fictional works about the NYC business and suburban domestic worlds of the post-War era, including THE APARTMENT and THE BEST OF EVERYTHING. (Richard Yates's REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and the films of Douglas Sirk are also repeatedly evoked too, if in less direct ways.) One of the pleasures of this fine DVD set are the superb extras which allow us to see the especially thoughtful work done by the series' set designers, hairstylists, and (particularly) its head costume designer. The commentaries are generally excellent, and it will come as no surprise to fans of the series that not only the series creator, Matt Weiner, and its writers are especially eloquent but so too are its actors, especially Hamm and Kartheiser. The eye-catching design of this DVD package (fashioned to look and open, naturally, like a classic American manufacturer's product: a Zippo lighter) has been rightly praised for its innovation but also rightly criticized for its unwieldiness.
107 of 114 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Mad Men is one of those very rare TV shows that is both superb and popular. Sometimes there really is a TV god. Unlike great shows like Friday Night Lights, people are watching and the awards are rolling in - 16 Emmy nominations, more than any other drama this year.
It's 1960 in a Manhattan based advertising agency. The men have slicked back hair, crisp white shirts and perfect suits. What comes out of their mouths would get them slapped or sued if it happened today. Toots, babe, honey. Women are sex objects and they have less brain power - as one character says, "It was like watching a dog play the piano" when a certain female character with professional drive and passion exceeds the lowly expectations of the men.
The women are no better. The head secretary tells another female that they (the men) designed the technology so simple that even a woman can use it. A mother smokes and drinks while pregnant and ignores the danger of a nearby child playing make believe with a plastic drying cleaning bag over her head. Some of the women act childish because that's the role that's been forced upon them. Others are starting to reject the social strait jacket and are rebelling - it's the beginning of a new era and they are the foremothers of what is about to hit this nation like a baseball bat to the head.
The wall paper in one house is plaid and the cars are big and many have tail fins. There's a cigarette in almost every scene - people cough and there's no recognition of any connection in their minds. One major character smokes, drinks and eats with abandon and almost dies of a heart attack with, again, no recognition of cause and effect.
This show, unlike any on air or cable at this time, immerses you in its era. It's authentic, real and grabs your attention. Quite simply, if you watch only one current show on TV this year it should be Mad Men.
Several reviewers have commented on the packaging. While it is a little more delicate than others, it's still cool (it's like a cigarette lighter) and you can handle the DVDs without damaging them. The DVDs are held in the case with a foam insert that doesn't scratch the surface. When you take the DVDs out you have to gently push against the top side with your (clean) fingers and gently push upward. They will come out and you won't smudge or scratch the surface. If the DVDs are getting damaged it's because people are just grabbing both sides of the disc and pulling it out. Unlike other reviewers, I have not been impressed with other boxed sets where you end up literally breaking the plastic sprockets that hold the DVDs in place. If you want really poor packaging just look at the complete West Wing. In any case, you can handle these DVDs and not damage them.
The extras here are sparse but very good nonetheless. There's an hour long behind the scenes docu that looks as all aspects of the show from character backgrounds to hair and art design to the actors feelings about their characters. It's not full of that fluffy hype stuff you find on other DVD sets where they just show you short clips from the show and present it as somehow something new. You'll actually learn something about the show. I would love to see full interviews with all the actors to talk about the characters they're playing. Maybe we'll get that in the season 2 set. As noted by others, the commentaries are minimal and a bit disappointing. Doesn't really matter in the end as it's still a superb show you simply shouldn't miss.
It's 1960 in a Manhattan based advertising agency. The men have slicked back hair, crisp white shirts and perfect suits. What comes out of their mouths would get them slapped or sued if it happened today. Toots, babe, honey. Women are sex objects and they have less brain power - as one character says, "It was like watching a dog play the piano" when a certain female character with professional drive and passion exceeds the lowly expectations of the men.
The women are no better. The head secretary tells another female that they (the men) designed the technology so simple that even a woman can use it. A mother smokes and drinks while pregnant and ignores the danger of a nearby child playing make believe with a plastic drying cleaning bag over her head. Some of the women act childish because that's the role that's been forced upon them. Others are starting to reject the social strait jacket and are rebelling - it's the beginning of a new era and they are the foremothers of what is about to hit this nation like a baseball bat to the head.
The wall paper in one house is plaid and the cars are big and many have tail fins. There's a cigarette in almost every scene - people cough and there's no recognition of any connection in their minds. One major character smokes, drinks and eats with abandon and almost dies of a heart attack with, again, no recognition of cause and effect.
This show, unlike any on air or cable at this time, immerses you in its era. It's authentic, real and grabs your attention. Quite simply, if you watch only one current show on TV this year it should be Mad Men.
Several reviewers have commented on the packaging. While it is a little more delicate than others, it's still cool (it's like a cigarette lighter) and you can handle the DVDs without damaging them. The DVDs are held in the case with a foam insert that doesn't scratch the surface. When you take the DVDs out you have to gently push against the top side with your (clean) fingers and gently push upward. They will come out and you won't smudge or scratch the surface. If the DVDs are getting damaged it's because people are just grabbing both sides of the disc and pulling it out. Unlike other reviewers, I have not been impressed with other boxed sets where you end up literally breaking the plastic sprockets that hold the DVDs in place. If you want really poor packaging just look at the complete West Wing. In any case, you can handle these DVDs and not damage them.
The extras here are sparse but very good nonetheless. There's an hour long behind the scenes docu that looks as all aspects of the show from character backgrounds to hair and art design to the actors feelings about their characters. It's not full of that fluffy hype stuff you find on other DVD sets where they just show you short clips from the show and present it as somehow something new. You'll actually learn something about the show. I would love to see full interviews with all the actors to talk about the characters they're playing. Maybe we'll get that in the season 2 set. As noted by others, the commentaries are minimal and a bit disappointing. Doesn't really matter in the end as it's still a superb show you simply shouldn't miss.
141 of 159 people found the following review helpful
By Niel Rishoi
Format:DVD
The summer of 2007 is when Mad Men swept the nation. Why? It is anti-politically correct. It is an intelligent, thinking man's ("persons" would be too PC for *this* show)) show for adults. Not to mention the fantastic, Rod Serling-esque realism in the quality of its writing, the direction, the scope, and the dazzling work of the previously unknown cast - now all certified household names - stars, if you will (none will ever have to worry about getting future work). The best part of this casting is that there are no familiar public-entrenched "personalities" to disturb the continuity and believability of the proceedings; a "star" would have interupted the realism of the story and surroundings. And, in the process, we get to discover a whole new set of actors (their work and camaraderie is gaspingly satisfying, the most sheerly pleasurable in recent memory).
Matthew Weiner, the show's genius creator, has painstakingly ensured that we're really getting a believable early 1960s. There's not an irritatingly currently contemporary viewpoint to be found anywhere. Of course the show is depicted in a hindsight manner; but all of the dialogue, situations and characters are all breathtakingly, reassuringly of a past time. Despite the deceptively, smoothly stylized look via the posh sets and clothes, the atmosphere is constantly invaded by the smog of cigarette smoke; we're not used to seeing such flagrant puffing and inhaling on film. You can almost smell the overfilled ashtrays. No one goes outside to smoke here. This is the Martini and Rossi era, and everyone in corporate America smoked and drank as if it were part of the life and job description. Then, too, you see women used as business, sexual and marital props. They existed to serve their men (and I hope the PC feminists are in a tizzy, because they should be). To provide their dictation, their pleasure, their masculine image, their food, their offspring. Of course, we see in Joan, the foxy, knowing secretary, using the men in return to get what she wants; and we see in Don Draper's wife (brilliantly, tensely enacted by January Jones) an all-pervasive, unnameable malcontentedness. We see the glaring dichotomies of the men, looking Madison Avenue dapper, but behaving and displaying attitudes of overgrown high schoolers. Most of these men, from today's standpoint, are bastards; and no attempt is made to Ralph Nader or Alan Alda-ize them (it would be interesting to have the series run into the late 1960s, when these men are forced to run into the massive social consciousness that emerged in a shockingly short time later).
Most of all though, the tone of the show is presided over by the brilliant Jon Hamm, whose Don Draper is the most multifaceted character on television in ages. Hamm is blessedly allowed several moments in deep repose, and we can see the massively disturbed soul behind the savvily successful executive. And yet the character's troubled mien allows him to understand human nature, therefore key elements in advertising - how to emotionally ensnare the public into believing the merit of a product or slogan. He's also smart enough to see that Peggy (wonderfully played by Elizabeth Moss), the secretary, with her questioning, probing mind, has a depth unavailable to most of the male executives, to provide key insights into how to sell a product. Hamm's Don Draper is already a classic, public-entrenched persona. It is a stunningly limned portrayal.
The great strength of this show is its quietly commanding, un-TV-like sense of pacing. You wouldn't call this a suspense show, yet the bottled-up, stealthy sense of pacing keeps us in a tantalizingly unnerved state; you always wait for that cork to explode unexpectedly. The brilliance here is that the explosion factor doesn't always come when we expect it; but the build-up leads us to believe it will. Those explosions come when the build-up has not been prepared, and happens in a swift, tightly controlled manner, never spilling over into predictably cheap shock value.
After each show, we smile, having been on the edge of our seats, engrossed, and left deeply satisfied - and impatient for next week. Thursdays at 10:00. Phone turned off, a glass of wine or spirits.
Another great asset to the overall tone is the darkly cynical humor. Never overplayed or explicitly self-conscious, it nevertheless ingeniously, deftly exposes the foibles of human nature. The most overt humor is slyly depicted by Christina Hendricks, whose eye-poppingly Kim Novak-voluptuous, leeringly confident secretary Joan is an absolute delight. Hendricks looks and acts so unerringly real of the time period, it would be a shock to see her as she really is in real life. She and John Slattery, perfectly playing the sloppily amorous boss, create genuine sexual edge in their scenes together.
Vincent Kartheiser, playing Pete Campbell, an insecure, untalented but ruthlessly ambitious business and social climber, is scarily effective; there's an element of genuine danger in this character. Campbell is so aware of his limitations, and you sense he'd stop at nothing to prove himself.
The good-time unreformed Frat-elevated-to-biz-executive contingent, played by Rich Sommer, Aaron Staton, Michael Gladis, and Bryan Batt, strike just the right notes; they're all joyfully oversexed, blithely good-time, but very real, and we get to see inside their characters.
Robert Morse, the only familiar name in this cast, is perfect as the head of Sterling Cooper, a boss who cares not what goes on as long as the money rolls in.
I hope Mad Men will be on for years to come. HBO's loss is AMC's considerable gain - and is the best-written, best acted show of our time. It will be heralded, discussed, and acclaimed for years to come, and be held as the classic show it has already become. I have never enjoyed something so much as this intriguing, wonderfully engrossing drama. Cheers and thanks to all those involved.
Matthew Weiner, the show's genius creator, has painstakingly ensured that we're really getting a believable early 1960s. There's not an irritatingly currently contemporary viewpoint to be found anywhere. Of course the show is depicted in a hindsight manner; but all of the dialogue, situations and characters are all breathtakingly, reassuringly of a past time. Despite the deceptively, smoothly stylized look via the posh sets and clothes, the atmosphere is constantly invaded by the smog of cigarette smoke; we're not used to seeing such flagrant puffing and inhaling on film. You can almost smell the overfilled ashtrays. No one goes outside to smoke here. This is the Martini and Rossi era, and everyone in corporate America smoked and drank as if it were part of the life and job description. Then, too, you see women used as business, sexual and marital props. They existed to serve their men (and I hope the PC feminists are in a tizzy, because they should be). To provide their dictation, their pleasure, their masculine image, their food, their offspring. Of course, we see in Joan, the foxy, knowing secretary, using the men in return to get what she wants; and we see in Don Draper's wife (brilliantly, tensely enacted by January Jones) an all-pervasive, unnameable malcontentedness. We see the glaring dichotomies of the men, looking Madison Avenue dapper, but behaving and displaying attitudes of overgrown high schoolers. Most of these men, from today's standpoint, are bastards; and no attempt is made to Ralph Nader or Alan Alda-ize them (it would be interesting to have the series run into the late 1960s, when these men are forced to run into the massive social consciousness that emerged in a shockingly short time later).
Most of all though, the tone of the show is presided over by the brilliant Jon Hamm, whose Don Draper is the most multifaceted character on television in ages. Hamm is blessedly allowed several moments in deep repose, and we can see the massively disturbed soul behind the savvily successful executive. And yet the character's troubled mien allows him to understand human nature, therefore key elements in advertising - how to emotionally ensnare the public into believing the merit of a product or slogan. He's also smart enough to see that Peggy (wonderfully played by Elizabeth Moss), the secretary, with her questioning, probing mind, has a depth unavailable to most of the male executives, to provide key insights into how to sell a product. Hamm's Don Draper is already a classic, public-entrenched persona. It is a stunningly limned portrayal.
The great strength of this show is its quietly commanding, un-TV-like sense of pacing. You wouldn't call this a suspense show, yet the bottled-up, stealthy sense of pacing keeps us in a tantalizingly unnerved state; you always wait for that cork to explode unexpectedly. The brilliance here is that the explosion factor doesn't always come when we expect it; but the build-up leads us to believe it will. Those explosions come when the build-up has not been prepared, and happens in a swift, tightly controlled manner, never spilling over into predictably cheap shock value.
After each show, we smile, having been on the edge of our seats, engrossed, and left deeply satisfied - and impatient for next week. Thursdays at 10:00. Phone turned off, a glass of wine or spirits.
Another great asset to the overall tone is the darkly cynical humor. Never overplayed or explicitly self-conscious, it nevertheless ingeniously, deftly exposes the foibles of human nature. The most overt humor is slyly depicted by Christina Hendricks, whose eye-poppingly Kim Novak-voluptuous, leeringly confident secretary Joan is an absolute delight. Hendricks looks and acts so unerringly real of the time period, it would be a shock to see her as she really is in real life. She and John Slattery, perfectly playing the sloppily amorous boss, create genuine sexual edge in their scenes together.
Vincent Kartheiser, playing Pete Campbell, an insecure, untalented but ruthlessly ambitious business and social climber, is scarily effective; there's an element of genuine danger in this character. Campbell is so aware of his limitations, and you sense he'd stop at nothing to prove himself.
The good-time unreformed Frat-elevated-to-biz-executive contingent, played by Rich Sommer, Aaron Staton, Michael Gladis, and Bryan Batt, strike just the right notes; they're all joyfully oversexed, blithely good-time, but very real, and we get to see inside their characters.
Robert Morse, the only familiar name in this cast, is perfect as the head of Sterling Cooper, a boss who cares not what goes on as long as the money rolls in.
I hope Mad Men will be on for years to come. HBO's loss is AMC's considerable gain - and is the best-written, best acted show of our time. It will be heralded, discussed, and acclaimed for years to come, and be held as the classic show it has already become. I have never enjoyed something so much as this intriguing, wonderfully engrossing drama. Cheers and thanks to all those involved.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Is this really of any redeeming value?
This glamourization of a sex driven ad agency culture glosses over the real damagè experienced by the participants in favor of an amoral tawdriness strictly designed to... Read more
Published 1 day ago by J. A. Sindelar
5.0 out of 5 stars
RETRO COOL
Season 1 of Mad Men. Set between March and November 1960 in New York's Madison Avenue.
It's Peggy Olson's first day at the office of advertising agency Sterling Cooper. Read more
It's Peggy Olson's first day at the office of advertising agency Sterling Cooper. Read more
Published 7 days ago by John Griffin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome!
Great show! I love it so, I bought this for my grandparents for an xmas gift and they are now addicted!
Published 11 days ago by Nicole Fisher
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best drama on TV
The concept for this show is ingenious and the characters are colorful and intriguing. Weiner's matter-of-fact manner used to illustrate the rapidly evolving culture of the 1960's... Read more
Published 14 days ago by TigVI
5.0 out of 5 stars
mad man bonaza
glad I bought the whole season it was definitely well worth it. going to buy the second season as soon as I can
Published 18 days ago by Carl Ellis
5.0 out of 5 stars
This begins when I began my adult life and can totally relate.
I got hooked immediately on this. I began my job at Boeing in 62 and can totally relate to the attitudes. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Sandra Fish
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great show!
Just started watching this show and I love it! It has become one of my favorite shows. The show is extremely well written and the actors are perfect. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Cetts
3.0 out of 5 stars
A series of dubious value
I've watched just about the whole series on Netflix. It's interesting only for its nostalgic value (because I hail from that period and have worked on Madison Avenue) but oddly it... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Edward Cline
5.0 out of 5 stars
HOOKED ME!
WHEN THIS SHOW FIRST CAME ON THE AIR, I WASN'T A FAN. BUT I HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO ACTUALLY WATCH IT ONE DAY WHEN I WAS HOME SICK. IT ENTERTAINED AND HOOKED ME!!! Read more
Published 1 month ago by LULU
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mad Men - We're Hooked
This series is absolutely masterfully created. I recommend this product because it is in these episodes that the characters are 'defined'.
Published 1 month ago by rereksnake
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