Mad MenSeason 1Season 1

by Molly Murnaghan

AboutThe drama is about one of New York's advertising agencies Sterling and

Cooper at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most

mysterious but extremely talented advertising executives, Donald “Don”

Draper.

Season one takes place between March and November 1960

It shows the contrasting roles of woman at home and in the work place.

Characters like Peggy and Joan work in a office for the ad men characters

like Betty Draper is the epitome of a house wife of the time.

It also shows how women were very much second class citizens at that

time, the women in Sterling Cooper work for the men and are there to be

patronised and flirted with.

Facts

Created by Matthew Weiner, who is also the showrunner, head writer and the

executive producer

The first season premiered on July 19, 2007 and concluded on October 18, 2007

It consisted of thirteen episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes.

AMC broadcasted the first season on Thursdays at 10:00 pm in the United States

and it received 900,000 viewers.

Main actors Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones,

Christina Hendricks, Bryan Batt, Michael Gladis, Aaron Staton, Rich Sommer adn

Maggie Siff receive main cast billing.

The pilot episode was shot at SilverCup Studios and various locations around New

York City; subsequent episodes have been filmed at Los Angles Center Studios.

Main Characters Jon Hamm: Don Draper

Elisabeth Moss: Peggy Olson

Christina Hendricks: Joan Holloway

Vincent Kartheiser: Pete Campbell

January Jones: Betty Draper

John Slattery: Robert Sterling

CrewExecutive Producer: Matthew WeinerAssistant to M. Weiner: Gennifer HutchisonCo-Executive Producer/Writer: Tom PalmerProducer: Scott HornbacherAssistant to S. Hornbacher: Marcy PattersonProducer/Writer: Lisa AlbertProducers/Writers: Andre & Maria JacquemettonStaff Writer: Bridget BedardStaff Writer: Chris ProvenzanoWriters Assistant: Robin VeithScript Coordinator: Joanna LovingerScript Coordinator: Parul AgrawalAdvertising Consultant: Josh WeltmanMental Health Consultant: Hilary Jacobs Hendel, LCSWProducer: Todd LondonCo-Producer: Blake McCormickUnit Production Manager: Dwayne ShattuckProduction Coordinator: Ben Waesche Assistant Production Coordinator: Matthew Hadfield

Production Companies

Lionsgate Television

Weiner Bros. (in association with)

American Movie Classics (AMC)

Radical Media (Pilot only)

U.R.O.K

Costumes

One of the things the show became famous for was the glamourous costumes,

especially the females. Christina Hendricks and January Jones both appear in

constantly changing outfits including frocks, negligees, cocktail dresses and

elegantly dressed hair.

In 2012, costume designer Janie Bryant told ‘Slate’ that she always repeats one

costume of Peggy’s from the previous season during the next season’s premiere.

Bryant said that she “(loves) that tradition for Peggy because I think that that is

all is really based on reality. That’s what we would do in real life: We repeat our

clothes.”

Props

The actors do not smoke real cigarettes, they smoke Ecstacy herbal cigarettes

which are tobacco and nicotine free. On the scenes featuring smoking, Weiner

stated: "Doing this show without smoking would've been a joke. It would've been

sanitary and it would've been phony."When ask what it’s like to smoke herbal

cigarettes, Jon Hamm (who plays Don Draper) told Vulture, “Terrible. They taste

like a mixture between pot and soap.”

Worldwide Release DatesUnited States: 2007 July

United Kingdom: 2 March 2008

Sweden: 17 January 2008

Italy: 18 March 2008

Argentina: 19 April 2008

Spain: 8 May 2008

Canada: 8 June 2008

Ireland: 1 September 2008

Hungary: 7 September 2008

Finland: 29 October 2008

Australia: 16 April 2009

Netherlands: 24 June 2009

Germany: 6 July 2009

Russia: 7 June 2011

Reviews

Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reported said each episode "unfolded like a

small movie", calling it "one of the best character studies anyone has put on

television in some time -- an adult drama of introspection and the inconvenience

of modernity in a man's world."

The New York Times called it "both a drama and a comedy and all the better for

it, a series that breaks new ground by luxuriating in the not-so-distant past."

Awards

It was highly praised for its excellence in writing, acting, and art design. It was

acknowledged with numerous honours from industry awards, including the:

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, the Golden Globe Award

for Best Drama Series, and a Peabody Award.

Overall 67 Wins and 166 nominations

Favourite Female Character

Joan Holloway, played by Christina Hendricks, is the bombshell of Sterling Cooper, the advertising firm the show revolves around. Yes, she’s fun and is not looking for a husband anytime soon and is sleeping with one of the older and married partners in the firm, Roger Sterling, but she actually has a heart. Even though she is mean to Peggy, the new girl, sometimes. She always means well. She truly wants to help her.

We get to see that soft side of her especially when Roger has a heart attack. She’s weak and even more bitchy than usual. She loves him even though she doesn’t want him to know. After he has a heart attack, Roger comes to work to assure his ‘Lucky Strike’ clients that he’s okay. You can see the worry and the fear on her face when she sees him, making the audience warm to her.

Favourite Male Character

Don Draper is the lead protagonist of the show. He’s the popular creative director

at Sterling Cooper that everyone loves and respects. Well, almost everyone. Jon

Hamm plays him so well. Alternating between the cheating husband, the loving

man, and man hiding away his past, Jon Hamm pulls Don Draper off perfectly.

Don Draper is adored by every woman that knows him.

Every time Don remembered that life he once had, you could see him weak and

afraid human, and you could see the real Don Draper that he is trying to hide.

Favourite Episode

My favourite episode was episode 12 ‘Nixon Vs Kennedy’ the show tackled the

1960 presidential election between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. I would

imagine that in any other show, they would be rooting for Kennedy as we all

know that he wins, but the characters in Mad Men were rooting for Nixon

especially that Sterling Cooper was handling his campaign. The suspense build

up was incredible not because I wanted to see the reaction of the characters

when they found out that Nixon lost to Kennedy.

Another reason I enjoyed this episode is because they threw a massive office

party to celebrate

The other reason I loved this episode so much is because we got to see the

other side of Don Draper. It was in that episode that we discovered who he truly

is because Pete Campbell tries to blackmails him. The flashbacks revealed all, I

wasn’t a huge fan of the flashbacks of him when he was a kid, but I enjoyed the

his memories as an adult in the army.

Links

Don and Pete ep 12

Peggy and Joan

The End