Mad Men: Season One – Blu-Ray Review

I’ve had to study my share of ad campaigns. Following a fairly long lesson about the “Golden Era” of advertising, particularly the Lucky Strike “It’s Toasted” revival campaign, a show’s name got dropped. Hardly remembering it, months later I had caught bits and pieces of AMC’s Mad Men here and there. Despite not really getting the larger picture painted from the few minutes I’d caught prior, I always wound up finishing the episode. The stylized and well-written series always received positive remarks, with Jon Hamm being nominated for numerous awards and unsurprisingly winning a Golden Globe, in addition to the shows multiple Emmys, but I always managed to have other priorities on Sunday nights. It wasn’t until about a year ago I watched the series from beginning to end.
The first episode opens to a Don Draper (Jon Hamm) sitting in a bustling club, scribbling some notes on a cocktail napkin. After a period-correct moment and a short conversation with the busser, Don writes down what he’s been trying to dial in: a pitch line. The episode concludes and series continues, and paints Don as both an Ad Man and a lady’s man, and he’s very good at both. This alone was enough to lock me in, while some may need the rest of the episode to fully fall in love with the cast.

The writing is top-notch, and captures the feel of the era very accurately. The fact that this is taking place before the Civil Rights Movement is very evident, along with prejudice, homophobia, Antisemitism, and overt sexism seeps into almost every scene. The men ooze with confidence, while the females all appear to be second-class, docile and submissive. The writing has a similar feel of a soap opera, with many twists and weaving plot lines with multiple story-lines and subplots leapfrogging episodes just to keep viewers interested. So, while using many conventions that have been run into the ground, Mad Men does a great job of making us empathize with the less-than-idyllic Don Draper and his doting wife Betty, and the secret he’s kept for so long – the secret that’s made him who he is – keeps drawing the viewer back in for more.

Along with the writing, the cinematography is just as innovative as its subject- a mix of classic and contemporary styles, with almost every episode showing both the talent of the cinematographer and director. Also, the soundtrack should be brought to attention. The music adds another shove into the era, playing everything from era classics to the era’s contemporary hits and the RJD2 theme song has been stuck in my head more times than I care to admit.

The Blu-ray:

Audio -Superb. Though sometimes a tad too tinny on the music tracks, the vast majority of all the audio sounds stunning. My compliments to DTS for being able to capture such great audio with such… accurate… accuracy.

Video – Again, just stunning. The details, which can make or break a period piece, especially such a detail-oriented show, takes the high-def in stride and every scene looks great. Of course, January Jones, Christina Hendricks and Elizabeth Moss don’t hurt either. Oh, and neither does Jon Hamm.

Audio Commentary – 23 audio commentaries. No, seriously, twenty-three. Participants range from the standard cast and crew to higher level production. Though sometimes tedious, as with all commentaries, but the sheer amount of participants makes for a enjoyable, though sometimes busy, experience and an interesting Monday-morning quarterback examination of each episode.

Establishing Mad Men – In HD. This covers the making of Mad Men, as the name would imply. This would be the 4 oz. sampler of what’s to come from the cask of commentaries.

Advertising the American Dream – In HD. This featurette focuses on the evolution of American advertising. It addresses propaganda-style advertisements to their aftershocks and ripoffs in modern culture. Pretty interesting, but for some it’d be like looking at a shop manual for their car. Still worth the watch, it’s only about 20 minutes long.

Scoring Mad Men – In HD. This little sneeze of a featurette focuses on composer David Carbonara’s pieces for the show. It covers his research for the tone, but as usual is cut short before addressing Carbonara’s musical additions to the story.

Mad Men Music Sampler – Not nearly as cool as one would think, this sampler makes iTunes’ 30-second preview look decent. However, regardless of the poor delivery, the Mad Men soundtrack is truly indelible.

Season Two Preview – In HD. It’s the 1 minute teaser commercial that aired on AMC to announce season two. There’s not even footage from season two involved, so if you’ve not seen season two yet, check it out.

Final Thoughts

Mad Men is one of the few television shows that has made me re-evaluate my evening plans. Time after time it has proven that television does have its own art form. If you own a TV and haven’t seen Mad Men, you probably need to re-evaluate your entertainment situation. The stunning cast, the classic powerful men and the radiantly beautiful women, the great writing and the beautiful composition of each scene is something that almost everyone should enjoy. I know I do.
The Show: Rating:
The Blu-ray: Rating: