Have you ever watched Mad Men on AMC? Mad Men is currently in its 7th season. Actually, the latest episode was sort of the “Mid Season Finale”. You see AMC decided to break the 7th, and final season into two different years. So, this past episode was the “mid-season finale” and the final season will resume in 2015. Not the way I would do it, but I digress.
I have been watching Mad Men since the very first episode. Over the years, I have been Mad about Mad Men, and I have also been Mad AT Mad Men. For probably the first 4 or 5 seasons, I was mad about the show. I loved it. For the past 2 or 3 years, I have been disappointed in the show. This mid-season finale that I just watched, though, has me back on the “mad about” bandwagon.
In my opinion, Mad Men peaked in its quality at the very end of Season 1 – Episode 13. Yes, even though it peaked way back then, there were still a number of years that were excellent. Don Draper, the star character of the show (played by Jon Hamm) was giving a pitch to Kodak for an advertising campaign that would name the Kodak Slide machine as the “Carousel”. According to the TV show, Kodak originally wanted to call it the “Wheel” but Don, as he often does, had an Epiphany and the Carousel was born. Watch the scene that I am talking about, and perhaps you will agree with me that this was the quintessential Don.
Amazing scene, don’t you think? It has stuck with me for many years.
Why have I enjoyed Mad Men so much?
Well, being a businessman and an entrepreneur is a major part of my life. It is who I am. Because of this part of me, I can identify with so much of what goes on in Mad Men. Unfortunately, over the past couple of years, I feel that Mad Men had lost much of it’s “business side” of the show, and focused too much on the soap opera aspect instead. It really lost my interest. I kept watching, though, because I hoped that the show would find its way once again. Now, in this latest episode, I feel that it did.
Many people probably have yet to see the latest episode, so I am not going to spoil it. Perhaps in a week or so I will write a follow up to this article, in which I will further explore the current episode. For now, let me just say:
Today, Peggy became the new Don.
Roger became the new Bert.
Don became the old Don, or at least he has been given an opportunity to do so.
And, it would seem that all of the politics and drama has been put behind us and we can all come back again next year and watch the beauty of Don et al simply making brilliant business moves again.
Bravo.
Great article about something you obviously care about deeply and from different angles.. I look forward to the “follow up” I like how you characterize the show in terms of business, when it might just as easily be characterized as salesmanship. My view of you is businessman first and salesman, a close second. The tension between business and selling can be unsettling. It makes for good drama. So I understand your approach to the show in terms of Business. Your gift for business shines through everything you do. It is enjoyable to follow your blogs and your interests. Thanks for sharing your talent and your perspectives.
HI Roy – Thank you, I enjoyed what you said. I had never really considered the difference on the show possibly being about business vs. salesmanship. That is an interesting observation. I would say that salesmanship is part of business, and the show is really about both upon consideration. But, you are correct, it is probably more toward salesmanship. It is a show that I have certainly enjoyed a lot over the years, and I look forward to seeing how it all winds up next year.
Thank you for stopping by, Roy, I enjoyed hearing from you.