Comments on: Mad Men: Critics Love It, Viewers Ignore It

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:49:06 +0000

K8ie, you may very well be onto something. The one thing I *did* like about the show was the setting/era, but since the first season was set in 1960, the year I was born, my memories aren't those of an adult, but of a child, high on feel, low on detail.

By: K8ie

K8ie — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:23:21 +0000

I think if you take a look at the age of the critics recommending it, you'll find precious few who are actually old enough to remember the 60s let alone having lived through the decade. I watched the first ep with my Dexter-loving, HBO-watching 64-year-old mother after hearing people rave and she was left distinctly unimpressed. We agreed the drama was all right but the period detail people talk about left her feeling like it was someone's *idea* of what the 60s looked like rather than a true representation of the period (things I don't ever want to hear about again – the height of beehives and how all the actresses hair was wrong).

So, I'm thinking, if a series set in the 60s is turning off people who know and remember the era, who *is* going to watch? Frankly, Burn Notice seems more fun and they've never throw a miracle baby plot at me.

By: Jack_Shephard

Jack_Shephard — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:19:44 +0000

Shane, well it won the Golden Globe for the Best Drama category this year.

kayarn, you are reading my mind.

Not only was it the best new show last year, I consider it to be one of the best shows in recent memory. Behind The Wire of course.

By: kayarn

kayarn — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:25:33 +0000

wait, a period piece about advertising execs in the 1960's in a runaway smash hit?

for the record, i thought it was probably the 2nd best show on tv last season, behind another critical darling that no one watches–the wire.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:49:06 +0000

By: K8ie

K8ie — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:23:21 +0000

By: Jack_Shephard

Jack_Shephard — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:19:44 +0000

Shane, well it won the Golden Globe for the Best Drama category this year.

kayarn, you are reading my mind.

Not only was it the best new show last year, I consider it to be one of the best shows in recent memory. Behind The Wire of course.

By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:12:00 +0000

Well, it is AMC.
I don’t think AMC has consistently averaged that high ratings. I mean, I know that they’ve passed 1 million on some given movie premiere, but as for consistency, not quite. I’ve never seen the program and all of the advertising frenzy won’t pull me to it, but when I see it start winning awards, I might check it out.

By: Event Horizon

Event Horizon — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:06:48 +0000

Mad Men is too cerebral for the masses. I dont love it but I can understand why many do. Look at the top 20 TV – most of it is either brain dead unscripted shows or procedural dramas or sitcoms. Maybe if it gets cancelled fans can send cigarettes to AMC? LOL ! Hey it worked for Jericho…. well not really since it got axed for good.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:49:14 +0000

Who knew Mad Men and Gossip Girl had anything in common?

By: GF

GF — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:59:00 +0000

The divide between the critics and viewers is even worse if you take into account the fact that the finale was seen by roughly half the viewers of the pilot; so not only did the viewers not tune in to the show critics raved about, but the ones who started watching didn’t stick around.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:26:10 +0000

when l look at the MLB All Star game garnering $35 million and ads and see that Mad Men spent $25 million in advertising about the only thing I can come up with is this: AMC is hoping for a consolidation frenzy where NBC Uni will confuse it with The Weather Channel. They need to sell over a million DVDs just to cover the ad spend.