Mad Men
If you have AMC and you're not watching Mad Men, what the hell is wrong with you?
It's a stylish new drama largely centered on Don Draper, an enigmatic executive at a Madison Avenue ad agency in 1960. The show is incredibly stylish; the set design and costume design is impeccable, and gives me a huge craving for the sleek modernity of the New Frontier.
Three episodes in, the show's basic characters are still being defined, but what we've learned so far is that in the 1960s, everyone chain-smoked, offices were hideous places for single women to work, all men were clean shaven, used Brylcreem unless they were psychiatrists, and kept bottles of Canadian Club in their desks, and if they were desperately unhappy, housewives kept it to themselves, at least until the anxiety made them lose control of the station wagon and smash it into the neighbor's birdbath.
It's set for a 13-episode run, and I'm already desperately hoping that it'll be renewed for next year, because it's a real treat. I wasn't sure about it, because the first episode painted such a perfect veneer on the era, but now we're seeing the cracks in the facade.
The show's bona fides are impeccable, too -- the show's creator was an executive producer and writer on The Sopranos, and you'll recognize some of the cast, too.
Anyway, Thursdays at 10 -- make sure to check it out.