June 23, 2011

Mad Men: Season One

Lynn’s Druthers Marathon, part 24

Data
Title: Mad Men: Season One
Year: 2007
Network: AMC
Episodes: 13, at c. 47 minutes each
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Directors: Tim Hunter (4 episodes), Alan Taylor (3), Ed Bianchi (1), Lesli Linka Glatter (1), Andrew Bernstein (1), Phil Abraham (1), Paul Feig (1), Matthew Weiner (1)
Writers: Matthew Weiner (7 episodes), André Jacquemetton (3), Maria Jacquemetton (3), Tom Palmer (2), Lisa Albert (2), Bridget Bedard (2), Chris Provenzano (2), Robin Veith (1)
Starring: Jon Hamm
With: Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Bryan Batt, Michael Gladis, Aaron Staton, Rich Sommer, Maggie Siff, Rosemarie DeWitt, Robert Morse, Anne Dudek, Darby Stanchfield, Alison Brie, Jay Paulson
Cinematography: Phil Abraham, Steve Mason, Frank G. DeMarco, Bill Roe
Music: David Carbonara (and non-original music)
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past week
Synopsis: people in a 1960 advertising office drink a lot and try to have sex

My reaction
Concept:1/4 (Bad) It's like The Apartment without Jack Lemmon.
Story:2/4 (Indifferent) Pure soap opera. I didn't give a crap about most of the story lines - especially the "mystery."
Characters:4/4 (Great)
Dialog:4/4 (Great)
Pacing:3/4 (Good)
Cinematography:3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design:4/4 (Great)
Acting:4/4 (Great)
Music:3/4 (Good) I was pretty disappointed by the music. It's good, but it could so easily have been great.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4 (Indifferent)). It's pretty easy to get into while you're watching it, since so much is done well. But I'm not itching for more.
Objective Rating (Average):3/4 (Good)

2 comments:

  1. Some of these acclaimed American series leave me pretty cold. Yes, they're slick and well made but I find that they don't really get you on a gut level. All style and no substance?

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  2. I agree completely. I don't bother to watch modern TV series very often, but that's not surprising considering how those I do watch never live up to the hype.

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