This is a new category...or a least a modification of a category, as I realized that I get a lot of non-movies from Netflix too. I watched all seasons of the Sopranos and the even better Six Feet Under. I would have watched Sex and the City, but I bought those before I was a Netflix member. So TV on Netflix is very apt.
The newest series I am watching is Mad Men. I had heard a lot about this show from the TV columns I read, especially Matt Roush on TVGuide.com (very good TV critic), and had been wanting to catch it. Then it won the Emmy for best dramatic series, followed quickly by an e-mail from Sharon saying she and Alex had watched it and it was great. So we caught a season 2 show and it was great---but, I wanted to go back and see the beginning, so, Netflix came through!
This show is set in 1960 on Madison Avenue in an advertising firm. The time was world's away from today...smoking wherever one wanted, everyone had a wet bar in their office and used it liberally, the secretarial pool was also the affair pool, and the bosses regularly sexually harassed the secretaries and cheated on their wives. On top of all this is Don Draper, creative director for his firm, with a beautiful wife and two kids, a mistress or two...he has the life! he even becomes a partner in the firm in this season. But...all is not perfectly well in Don's life...there is something...missing maybe, something essential that he is reaching for, but can't seem to find, can't even seem to name.
This is the world of Mad Men. And it is wonderfully created. The sets and props that recreate this world are amazing. the acting is amazing too, subtle and nuanced. The writing is the best. And in tone, is much like the Sopranos...for everything that is said, there is much unsaid...and that says more than what is said, if you follow my meaning.
I think the supporting cast in the show is about the best there is. The junior executives that work in the firm, trying to emulate Draper, form a cadre of young men, hungry for success as they define it...just starting to see the pitfalls of that success.
This is a fantastic show, and I look forward to season 2.
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