Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Anyone got a cigarette?



Anyone? Believe it or not, I have a difficult time sitting down and watching entire episodes of television shows. This probably stems from some of my painfully lame childhood watching the high end classic TV shows like Family Ties and Wheel of Fortune, sometimes while standing on my head or maybe while mowing down a freshly microwaved process cheese and wonder bread sandwitch.
And I can say, in all unbiased objectivity and free standing open mindedness, after watching nearly four episodes of the high budget, acclaimed show Mad Men (I slept through half of episode three and did a bit of a workout during episode four), I can make a series of bullet points about the show, that is, a portrayal of life in the 1950s as follows:
  • offices used to be dominated by men
  • people were still as big of assholes as they are today (or are portrayed as such)
  • hairstyles and clothes were terrible, except for mens suits which look suspiciously close to present day cuts
  • men were pimps and playas
  • women kept their mouths shut if they knew what was good for them
  • people could smoke anywhere, and its a good thing too because it was hard for them to keep those tobacco flavored tubed out of their cake holes for more than ten seconds at a time
Now people that know me know that I really don't care who smokes, how much, or why. I don't smoke because my grandparents disgusted my with constant chain smoking in their houses, and my subsequently not wanting to ever set foot in them. All I'm saying is GOOD GOD SON GIVE IT A REST. Sexy, important, famous, wealthy people all smoke cigarettes non stop. Got it.
Thats really the tip of the iceberg on this show however. I really enjoyed the first couple of episodes, with a nice mix of character development and dark humor. But unlike some sitcoms that turn into dramas after so many years the original writers have become dessicated dusty remains and the characters with their witty one liners desperately trying to continue qualifying themselves as an 'actor' and not a 'typecast version of themselves', the show went a massive two episodes without changing the formula to a full blown drama full of backbiting, lies, deception, intrigue, promiscuous sex, etc. that the average couch potato eats up but sets me adrift upon Lake Daydream in short order.
You almost had me there though Matt Weiner. Taking the popularity of the office and turning it into a 1950's cigarette commercial with an extra helping of boring, bravo.

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