Mad Men Season 1 (2007) - Emmy ® Winner/Golden Globe ® Winner! - Best Television Series: Drama

"...in the first episode of his remarkable series, Weiner turns on the gas, lights a match and places his characters on top of a long, slow flame.  Andrew Johnston, The House Next Door
"...the pleasures of "Mad Men" refreshingly arise almost wholly from small, impeccably detailed touches.  Brian Lowry, Variety
"...breaks new ground while making full use of some of TV's most reliably entertaining plot devices. What more can you ask?  Dan Mancini, DVD Verdict
"These ad men may not be as ruthless as "The Sopranos," but the characters are just as complex, and their lives equally fascinating.  James Plath, DVD Town
"...inhabits a world both seductive and sinister, but what sets it apart is the substance behind the shimmering exteriors.  Nathan Rabin, The Onion A.V. Club
"...a richly drawn look at the social roles, sexual identity, and disenchantment with the facade that is the American Dream.  Sean Axmaker, SeanAx.com

Editor's Note Matthew Weiner, a writer and executive producer for THE SOPRANOS, may have set this series in the picture-perfect 1960s, but his characters are just as scheming as the mobsters on his last show. MAD MEN begins in 1960 on Manhattan's Madison Avenue at the fictional ad agency of Sterling Cooper. Creative director Don Draper (Jon Hamm) rules the halls of his company and the hearts of every woman he meets, while his wife, Betty (January Jones), struggles to be the perfect mate and mother in a suburb upstate. But just as in the world of advertising, Don may not be all that he appears. In MAD MEN, the glass ceiling is dangerously low, and sexism reigns in a way that may shock modern viewers. But this isn't the prim '60s of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW; Weiner's characters seduce, smoke, and swig with abandon--often within the walls of Sterling Cooper. MAD MEN takes equal parts substance and style to create an addictive cocktail that fully earned its freshman season wins at the Golden Globes for Best Dramatic Series and Best Actor in a Drama.

	Aaron Staton
	Christina Hendricks
	Elisabeth Moss
	January Jones
	John Slattery
	Jon Hamm
	Robert Morse
	Vincent Kartheiser
	Bob Shaw - Production Designer
	Christopher Brown - Art Director
	Dan Bishop - Production Designer
	David Carbonara - Original Music By
	David Siegel, et. al. - Editor
	Frank G. DeMarco - Cinematographer
	Matthew Weiner - Executive Producer
	Matthew Weiner, et. al. - Writer
	Phil Abraham - Cinematographer
	Scott Hornbacher - Producer
	Tim Hunter, et. al. - Director

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]mpeccably played and immaculately crafted....The show has substance to support the style..." 08/01/2008 p.163

Variety 9 of 10
At a time when most programs seek to dazzle viewers with big, bold concepts, the pleasures of "Mad Men" refreshingly arise almost wholly from small, impeccably detailed touches. Set in 1960, this breezy serial about Madison Avenue ad men (hence the title) circa 1960 revels in dated images of white-collar workers boozing in the boss' office, harassing female employees, smoking incessantly and openly pondering if there's a Jew anywhere in the building. Created by "The Sopranos" alum Matthew Weiner, it's a rare period drama that niftily injects shades of gray into the black-and-white TV era, warts and all...As a serialized drama, the program's situations aren't especially stirring, even with its solid, perfectly outfitted cast. The sheer atmosphere, however, proves intoxicating -- from a doctor puffing away during a gynecological exam to snippets of Bob Newhart's comedy to the backdrop of the pending Nixon-Kennedy race for the White House (Sterling Cooper is weighing whether to represent Nixon), adding a pre-Camelot significance to the proceedings...Despite its understated approach, however, "Mad Men" actually strikes a profound chord, inasmuch part of today's so-called culture war involves sifting through the tumult of the 1960s, heralded by progressives for the freedoms won but now being decried by conservatives for the standards that were eroded. - Brian Lowry