Mad Men '15

[Steak Snabler]

Yeah, on a lesser show, Joan's boyfriend would have had an immediate heart attack after his second snort.

 

[DanOregon]

And now, a very special episode of Mad Men...watch it with your kids.

 

[heyabbott]

In Mad Men, The Movie, Don does coke with Forrest Gump's Jenny

 

[Baron Scicluna]

In Mad Men, The Movie, Don does coke with Forrest Gump's Jenny

Or, Don sees Forrest drinking a Coke after his ping-pong tournament.

 

[Cosmo]

I don't know if America has the attention span any more to support another seven-season, 90-plus episode longform show like Mad Men, which really could have gone on forever. TV viewers nowadays demand resolution and demand it quickly. Mad Men was very much a slice of life show, along with other faves of mine like Treme, where I fell in love with the characters and didn't care so much that there weren't explosive plot movements.

Someone I know on Twitter tried to argue Justified was better than Mad Men, which is an odd point, considering how different the shows were. They're two of my favorites, but I wouldn't dare compare the two. They were both excellent in their own ways. I think we'll get more shows like True Detective, that resolve issues in eight/10-issue packages and move on to another story line. Game of Thrones may be the last, sprawling, epic long series that we have. I thought The Bridge on FX had some potential, but it moved so slowly and was so complicated at times that it felt like homework. Not surprised it didn't make it. The characters weren't enough to make up for slog of a pace. The Americans is incredible across the board, from the acting, the pacing, the storytelling (though they try to pack a few too many storylines in certain episodes at times, leading to some jumbles), and the use of music.

Strangely enough, I'm kind of looking forward to the Walking Dead spinoff, which I've heard decent things about.

 

[HC]

I thought The Bridge on FX had some potential, but it moved so slowly and was so complicated at times that it felt like homework. Not surprised it didn't make it. The characters weren't enough to make up for slog of a pace.

I highly recommend the original Danish/Swedish production of "The Bridge". It's 10 episodes move really well and the characters are really compelling. It was on Netflix in Canada but don't know if the US has it. Don't let the subtitles stop you - it's a really great show.

 

[poindexter]

I don't know if America has the attention span any more to support another seven-season, 90-plus episode longform show like Mad Men, which really could have gone on forever. TV viewers nowadays demand resolution and demand it quickly. Mad Men was very much a slice of life show, along with other faves of mine like Treme, where I fell in love with the characters and didn't care so much that there weren't explosive plot movements.

The finale had something like 3 million viewers, out of a country of 330 million. I don't know exactly what's changed in America in the seven or eight years since Mad Men debuted, by I imagine if another quality show came along like it, we'd find a way to support it.

 

[Double Down]

Viewing audiences are so fractured now, I definitely think there will be more attempts to find a Breaking Bad or a Mad Men or The Wire.

Netflix's and Amazon Prime's original programing, I think, is really the wave of the future. They're going to be able to throw around stupid money, and they don't need ads to justify continuing a show, and they don't release ratings, so there is less of an obsession with who is watching and who isn't. I think the key is discovering the next Matt Weiner or Vince Gilligan or David Simon and David Chase, all of whom were talented TV writers prior to making their signature show, but not the kind of people who demanded huge sums of money based on past successes. Also, if you look at all those projects, the other thing they all have in common is they didn't cast a big name as the lead, the simply had to rely on great storytelling. (One of House of Cards' many flaws is that the opposite is true.)

 

[Craig Sagers Tailor]

The finale had something like 3 million viewers, out of a country of 330 million. I don't know exactly what's changed in America in the seven or eight years since Mad Men debuted, by I imagine if another quality show came along like it, we'd find a way to support it.

I saw on twitter where the final episode of Mad Men garnered the same amount of viewers as the Bitcoin Bowl.

 

[Double Down]

I love MM, but no show in history has ever received more media coverage, relative to its ratings, in history. At least while it was on, anyway. GIRLS might be a distant second. The Wire didn't receive the bulk of its fawning press until after it was off the air.

 

[poindexter]

I saw on twitter where the final episode of Mad Men garnered the same amount of viewers as the Bitcoin Bowl.

I will give you another one: Walking Dead (same network) had almost 6x the viewers for its season finale.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I love MM, but no show in history has ever received more media coverage, relative to its ratings, in history. At least while it was on, anyway. GIRLS might be a distant second. The Wire didn't receive the bulk of its fawning press until after it was off the air.

Look at the cultural impact, though. The show has practically single-handedly changed how people dress and drink, especially in big cities.