JOSHUAJENKINSis unremarkable

By now you've probably heard of AMC's critical darling Mad Men. Actually I'm probably the only person on planet America that hadn't watched the show until last week. This is another one of those highly rated series that I'm taking way too long to get to.

This series is fantastic. I am a complete sucker for anything that takes place between 1910 and 1969 and somewhat of an architecture slash city slash New York City nerd. Mix the two together and I'd be completly satisfied if the show was just about a couple guys talking on the street for thirteen episodes.

However, this is not the case. The show is incredibly well written and the direction is great. I love that we're hitting the point where TV series feel like small movies. I think the high-definition transition has a lot to do with that, but I appreciate the level of entertainment I recieve from shows like this.

The series is about a group of men and women tied to the 1960's New York City advertising world by one string or another. The show focuses more on the awkwardness and excitement of a culture slowly breaking down from the white-man-rules-all to the people-are-people society we're close to today. A lot of touchy subjects such as sexism and racism are hit upon without any apologies and I appreciate that; it's always tastefully done.

If you have Comcast cable you probably have this on-demand for free for a couple more weeks before the new season starts (it actually starts next Sunday, but I belive the on-demand period goes one week beyond that). I'd recommend checking it out. The first season is thirteen one hour long (~45 minutes sans ads) long episodes and they're all fantastic.

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