Mad Men

I get Mad Men.  But, I don't like it.  Sue me.

The critically-acclaimed show has the awards, the smart writing (have you heard, it's the 'smartest show on TV'! ask AMC -- they'll tell you!), the beautiful actors, the drama, and the uncomfortably-loyal following of fans who worship the show.  I watched the show when in season 1, making it through about 10 episodes.  It was well-written, which is something I admire.  But after every episode, I realized I felt, well, down.

The show is about an advertising firm in the early 60's, and how people lived back then, seen through an uncompromising lens.  It's shocking to see the things that people used to do and take for granted, given the many changes in our culture.  Weaved into the background behavior is the foreground behavior of the characters -- uninformly naughty, head-shaking, reprehensible, awful.  Interesting, no doubt, part of the genius of the writing, but just nauseating.  Literally.

So, every show that was a testament to writing and acting (or so the media and fan zealots will have you believe by repeating it as often as possible) left me with an icky feeling.  (I don't even consider the writing to be all that great, frankly.)  Ultimately, I just stopped watching because I was over it.  Akin to watching a film that was "great" but super-depressing, I'm just not that interested in entertainment when I react to it with melancholy.

Now it's just putting up with a summer of the annoying advertisements about an annoying advertisement show.  Sigh.

PS.  It is not enough to feature the hottest girl on planet Earth every week, Christina Hendricks.  Close, but not enough.  If she wasn't hot enough, I love her just for this comment: "No man should be on Facebook. It's an invasion of everyone's privacy. I really cannot stand it."  We have so much in common, Christina, but this is just a bold attempt to gain my attention.  Remember, we are both married.  Let's try to keep that in mind.