Missing Men

The fifth season of Mad Men premiered last night and the critics like what they see.  Unfortunately, I was interrupted a few times during the first hour so I didn't even watch the second. I'll catch up later this week.  In the past, I've given (the rare honor of) day-after, beat-by-beat reviews of the latest, but we'll see this season.  Even when it's back to one hour, there are a bunch of other things I watch Sunday so I don't know if I'll have the time.

I'm prettty excited about new Mad Men, though perhaps Breaking Bad has passed it as my favorite hour, and I'm also looking forward to new Game Of Thrones (to add to my overcrowded Sunday schedule).

As I've stated before, Mad Men starts with handicap.  So many critically favored drama of the past decade--The Sopranos, The Wire, Lost, Boardwalk Empire, BB, GOT--have lots of violence to keep things moving.  MM has to find other ways to keep the viewer interested.  For that matter, though it does have plenty of sexual activity, it's not a particularly sexy show.  It's more often downbeat.

When Matthew Weiner wrote for The Sopranos, if things went slow he could always whack someone. Now he's created a show about very imperfect people with subtle interactions and a backdrop of changing times.  When it works, as it often does, small things register, and losing a job or getting a divorce is like an earthquake.

PS  Last week's Newsweek was a tribute to Mad Men, published in 1960s style.  The first reason to read the magazine in years.