Mad Men - Season 1 and 2 [Blu-ray]

This blu ray will introduce you to a most celebrated series, whose values are higher, and sometimes other, than those usually associated to this series.Often celebrated for its accuracy, its charm, the fascinating look of settings, costumes, actors.The almost algid and high-class attitude that makes it look almost irresistible and aspirational.But the true values of this series, which you will star appreciating after many episodes (each episode consists of few events, and it is mostly dialogues and atmosphere), like they are little bits of a puzzle which start revealing itself after a while (and still you can't tell much about who the characters really are and what they will be supposed to do, act and re-act), are others.Mad Men is like The Wire (the other series competing for the best ever done): it is like a long story, a book, where series are chapter and every chapter is a paragraph. After a paragraph you get something more about story and characters, and if you skip if you might lose some bits of them, that you might not notice soon, but might make you lose the train of though after a while.Mad men is a great picture of people's change among late fifties and early seventies, and it works as a perfect portray of note than an era. And you might love it if you care about those times.But you should love it even if you don't: because Mad Men is about universal values that were true then like they should now.And it's full of sharp and exact portrays of men and women types, without willing to be conservative or feminist.And still Madmen is also a great fiction, because it talks about reality through the eyes and lenses of a very refined cinematographic and literary author (not like The Wire, which is a collective tale about reality and looks like it).So you have to be patient, relaxed, focused on details and lines, and little passing moments that might tell you more about a character than an entire season.And you will end up taking side of Don or his wife, Roger or his lovers, Peggy or the rest of the world, and so on.Yes it is classy and somehow classic: not big use of music (if not on revealing and enlightening music that only appears on episodes' end credits, like to complete the sense of it), a slow tempo editing and few camera movements, essential acting and dialogues, elegant photography, etc...But it is not meant just to imitate a certain era o style, but mainly to work underneath the surface and smoothly let you flow inside the story, until you get completely captivated and caught.Caught in a world and a storytelling that is about men and women, ambition and frustration, the way people look at you and you look at yourself when you are alone, and how there is a code for each moment and phase of life and, sometimes, those codes are just a shelter to hide ourselves or a trap to escape. And it is a perfect representation of advertising as a sum-up of all those things and, above all, of contemporary world. A world where you have to understand people in order to cheat them, look after the appearance and beware of reveal yourself, have the right line at the righ time and not being too much reflective, but also where following your instincts do not always pay back. A world where cliché and rules are a way to reassure people and, if you want to break them, as in advertising, you might win it all or lose it all.Mad men is all those things and many more. Now you just begin your trip and do not ask where it will take you to. Just go with the flow and start living this series where there not enough words to really get it and define it.

I love this series but i find it hard to tell you why... perhaps it's because i am myself in advertising and i feel a certain connection to the deep and complex characters and the challenges they face in their working day. On one level it's easy to love because It's incredibly well filmed and brings the era to life in such a stylish way.It's hard to describe exactly what happens in Mad Men, because a lot of the time when you reflect back on what you have just watched, it really is nothing at all. However, you are drawn in so deeply to the characters and the overall feel that you really don't care about the plot half of the time. Unlike other series that keep up a continued story line all the way through a series, each episode of Mad Men stands out as a piece on it's own, offering fantastic views and judgements on morality, family values, ethics and beliefs of the time and it can, at times, be punishing to watch. But above all i love it because it never apologieses for being so brash and unforgiving.In summary, it makes for compulsive viewing and you'll find yourself comming back for more after every single episode, but only really you will know why. Poor a whiskey and let yourself be drawn in.

I hadn't really heard about "Mad Men" until Season 2 started. I caught a few episodes on the BBC but failed to follow the series through. I really thought I had missed out. Then with Season 3 about to start on BBC4 and also making the front cover of the Radio Times, I looked on Amazon and there was all I needed to be a part of the "Mad Men" experience. My wife and I have watched the first 10 episodes of Series 1 to date and are really loving it. I am recording Series 3 on the hard drive of my V+ (Virgin Plus) machine, so when we have finished watching Season 2 we will seamlessly seque into Season 3. I am sure in due course there will be a Seasons 1-3 compilation, but for my needs this worked a treat. As ever the prompt service form Amazaon was first class.

When Mad Men was on TV I resisted watching it - too much of a time-commitment and I thought setting a drama in an ad agency would be media navel-gazing and disappointing. But after reading a few articles I realised it was deeper and darker than I had expected. The box-set is the perfect way to immerse yourself in the series. The stories behind the characters are intriguingly plotted; sometimes resolved immediately, sometimes over several episodes or sometimes not at all, allowing the viewer to fill in their own interpretation. It feels well-researched and rooted in real-life events without being a slavish period drama. It looks gorgeous and the soundtrack is great. My only caveats are the occasional dreadful continuity errors (were the TV shows edited down for the DVD?) and the Brits are stereotype chinless twits. But that's a small gripe compared to the overall quality of this drama.

I do not usually go for a genre such as this, typically I have enjoyed dark, action packed series like Arrow, Spartacus and Game of thrones. But I decided to take a chance of this simply due to the amount of positive reviews I had heard, and literally they were spot on. Its brilliant! Set in the early 1960's, the show follows the daily events of ad men in New York, they get up to all kinds of things particularly Don Draper who has got to be one of the coolest characters I have ever seen. I am only up to Season 3 but from what I have seen its incredibly well written with various sub-storylines diving off which keep you intrigued, especially Don Draper's past. The theme music slick and really suits the show itself, would recommend to anyone who is looking for a new series to start. I can see why it has won so many awards, the acting is class and really introduces some new actors that I had otherwise never heard of before watching this. A great buy!