In the past few weeks there have finally been a few shows that I can really sink my teeth into (Big Brother 8 & Hey Paula not withstanding). The two shows to watch this summer are Mad Men & Damages.
Mad Men is on AMC & it’s awesome. It’s about male ad agency employees on Madison Avenue in the 60s. On the first episode, they had to create an ad campaign for Lucky Strikes cigarettes to combat the backlash that had started against the tobacco industry. Basically, make cigarettes seem sexy & manly. During that time everyone smoked in the office, secretaries, ad men, clients, etc. When one of the characters goes to the gyno, even her doctor is smoking. Weird, right? One of my favorite scenes is while the agency is pitching to the clients, everyone starts hacking a smoker’s cough while still convincing themselves that there was nothing wrong with smoking.
The show has everything – sexism, racism, and in general, is just a reflection of what was going on at the time in US history. There was no such thing as sexual harassment – if your male boss felt like smacking your ass, fine. If you’re doctor insulted you while you were in his office, fine. And forget about racial integration. This was primarily an Anglo-Saxon ad agency. To prove to a client that they were diverse, they pulled a Jewish man out of the mailroom. I would have loved to have a business lunch in their boardroom. Forget sandwiches & sodas – they served Bloody Marys.
Damages is on FX & is my second favorite show.
Damages has Glenn Close as the super crazy Devil Wears Prada-type of boss. The series is kinda working its way backwards so that you can see how the character winds up in bloodied, running down the street in only a trench coat. I’m really curious to see how they’re going to wrap up this season.
Mad Men is on AMC & it’s awesome. It’s about male ad agency employees on Madison Avenue in the 60s. On the first episode, they had to create an ad campaign for Lucky Strikes cigarettes to combat the backlash that had started against the tobacco industry. Basically, make cigarettes seem sexy & manly. During that time everyone smoked in the office, secretaries, ad men, clients, etc. When one of the characters goes to the gyno, even her doctor is smoking. Weird, right? One of my favorite scenes is while the agency is pitching to the clients, everyone starts hacking a smoker’s cough while still convincing themselves that there was nothing wrong with smoking.
The show has everything – sexism, racism, and in general, is just a reflection of what was going on at the time in US history. There was no such thing as sexual harassment – if your male boss felt like smacking your ass, fine. If you’re doctor insulted you while you were in his office, fine. And forget about racial integration. This was primarily an Anglo-Saxon ad agency. To prove to a client that they were diverse, they pulled a Jewish man out of the mailroom. I would have loved to have a business lunch in their boardroom. Forget sandwiches & sodas – they served Bloody Marys.
Damages is on FX & is my second favorite show.
Damages has Glenn Close as the super crazy Devil Wears Prada-type of boss. The series is kinda working its way backwards so that you can see how the character winds up in bloodied, running down the street in only a trench coat. I’m really curious to see how they’re going to wrap up this season.
4 comments:
Wow, it's weird how different agency life is today. Wish I had a bar in my office. If you like "Mad Men," you'll get a good laugh out of this synopsis. I love the comment from Peggy about her bangs.
http://www.unboundedition.com/content/view/1741/50/
i love mad men. so good.
Olivia Gee, do you work for AMC? That's fine if you do, but I know "blogger relations" and I'll tell ya, word on the street is: TRANSPARENCY!
Anyway, I can only get excited about The Hills.
A.T.S - is that Amy Winehouse singing the themesong/commercial?
Post a Comment