Mad Men

:

Season 1
  • Network: AMC
  • Series Premiere Date: Jul 19, 2007
Season #: 7.5, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 650 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 592 out of 650
  2. Mixed: 33 out of 650
  3. Negative: 25 out of 650
Watch Now

Where To Watch

Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Review this tv show

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling

User Reviews

view
per page
  1. Gamer147
    Aug 19, 2013
    7
    I wasn't sure about the score. Truth is, this show's somewhere in between seven and eight. I watched the whole thing, and it really has you connecting with some damn real characters and background. But there wasn't enough things going on for me. The events in season one were mostly, too expected.

    I might give season two a shot, not sure yet.
  2. Ivanski
    Sep 14, 2015
    7
    I for the best feature of the series is it's subtle and unsentimental critique of the manipulating enterprise known as advertising. The weaknesses of the series lie in the actors. Jon Hamm seems as if he's made of stone, inexpressive to the point of being entered. On the other hand Betty Draper just needs to take some acting lessons. Her timing is off by about one third the second, andI for the best feature of the series is it's subtle and unsentimental critique of the manipulating enterprise known as advertising. The weaknesses of the series lie in the actors. Jon Hamm seems as if he's made of stone, inexpressive to the point of being entered. On the other hand Betty Draper just needs to take some acting lessons. Her timing is off by about one third the second, and it kills every line sheet of hers. It is a joy to watch Christina Hendricks being framed in all sorts of interesting Color contrasting settings. But I wish they would resist the predictable butt shot as she leaves rooms. It is a thing of beauty to watch, but overdone. The other weakness as well as a potential strength is the understatement, the refusal to explain, and the reliance upon short intense visuals to convey emotions – mostly on the faces of women stunned by the great task behavior of their male counterparts. I know there must be something obvious in it then I missing, but I do not quite understand all the gratuitous sex, unless it is to keep the audience titillated, and the ratings up.… Expand
  3. BigShooter
    Jan 19, 2008
    6
    Have only watched 2 episodes so far, and, it's losing me... ...hopefully it picks up a bit.
  4. JoyceC
    Jul 18, 2007
    6
    Drama shows I adore, but it's hard to follow a series that has no pulse.
  5. MikeN.
    Jul 28, 2007
    6
    If you are going to make a character driven series, Step 1 is to make the characters interesting. And, unfortunately, there just are not any interesting characters here. Don Draper, the central figure, is so underplayed that he might as well be a prop. He sits, he muses, he smokes, he looks off into space. Occasionally, very occasionally, he will say something. Something supposed to be If you are going to make a character driven series, Step 1 is to make the characters interesting. And, unfortunately, there just are not any interesting characters here. Don Draper, the central figure, is so underplayed that he might as well be a prop. He sits, he muses, he smokes, he looks off into space. Occasionally, very occasionally, he will say something. Something supposed to be witty, or cutting or profound, but which is usually none of those things. The rest of the cast plays an assortment of characters based on 50's stereotypes. Which shows up the show's basically flawed premise: it is stupid to try to seriously explore the prejudices and follies of the early 1960s advertising men. I mean, who cares what their stupid opinions were? Does anybody really look back at the Rat Pack era as some sort of Golden Age? The ironic take used simply has no worthwhile target. It is like watching a guy beat up a drunk in an alleyway.… Expand
  6. NathanS
    Dec 1, 2008
    6
    This show was fun at first, but the twists and turns are predictable and boring at times. I just watched the first seasons and will not be tuning in for the second. How did this get such rave reviews from the masses? The masses are distracted by pretty clothing, this show is junk. My friend Alison Murphy recommended this show to me and I will never take her advice again.
  7. filmtrashreview
    Jun 8, 2011
    6
    Season One: The Show is pretty good however the show lacks actual motive, structure and even plot but somehow the season is still entertaining which in itself is very impressive.
  8. AaronS.
    Sep 21, 2008
    5
    Fine production values and sharp casting. But for some odd reason the show just left me cold. Ultimately I found it to be very overrated.
  9. DaveB
    Jul 20, 2007
    5
    Makes the mistake of thinking the era will be interesting enough on it's own. Also, the lead isn't great... and his character is written in a muddled fashion. Would be much better to see him ruthless and conflicted... maybe that's where he's headed but right now he's too nice of a guy to be interesting.
  10. JaredC
    Jul 18, 2007
    5
    Really, I think they have enough TV shows out there already. They keep on adding new shows for entertainment and sometimes it's not just getting watched enough so every time there's a commercial, you see this advertisement and man alive it's annoying. It's not the best show on TV but still, I think they have enough drama shows out there that you can watch. Don't Really, I think they have enough TV shows out there already. They keep on adding new shows for entertainment and sometimes it's not just getting watched enough so every time there's a commercial, you see this advertisement and man alive it's annoying. It's not the best show on TV but still, I think they have enough drama shows out there that you can watch. Don't start ignoring CSI or The Sopranos and start watching this show, don't give up on those shows. Some of the acting is pretty good but overall it was an average TV show. I don't mind it, but sometimes it gets a little too dramatic. Just to warn you.… Expand
  11. JohnJ
    Jul 23, 2007
    5
    Puzzling, with so much hype and potential, but . . . mostly unlikable characters, from Don Draper (either an adulterous war hero or a tender, loving father), to manipulative underlings and a strangely misscast Elizabeth Moss, who is either frumpy and frigid or accessible and promiscuous but can hardly be both at once. The writing is curate's-eggish--good in parts, but uneven. The Puzzling, with so much hype and potential, but . . . mostly unlikable characters, from Don Draper (either an adulterous war hero or a tender, loving father), to manipulative underlings and a strangely misscast Elizabeth Moss, who is either frumpy and frigid or accessible and promiscuous but can hardly be both at once. The writing is curate's-eggish--good in parts, but uneven. The agency scenes don't ring true--too pat, too shallow. On the bright side, production values are excellent , the settings and costumes authentic and the videography above reproach. The above is based on one episode (maybe it will improve). If it fails to get better, we have many other choices.… Expand
  12. ChrisC
    Aug 6, 2007
    5
    Out of all the differences between current culture and 1960's culture, Mad Men puts a hard focus on the aspects that are now considered the most politically incorrect, and it's obvious they're doing it just for shock value and to be 'HBO-like'. It's obvious a lot of effort and care was put into the theme and atmosphere, but unfortunately, the script is Out of all the differences between current culture and 1960's culture, Mad Men puts a hard focus on the aspects that are now considered the most politically incorrect, and it's obvious they're doing it just for shock value and to be 'HBO-like'. It's obvious a lot of effort and care was put into the theme and atmosphere, but unfortunately, the script is dreadfully boring.… Expand
  13. Brian
    Jul 27, 2007
    5
    Meh. It was interesting at first, but I got bored early into episode 2.
  14. MikeB.
    Aug 1, 2007
    4
    A silly story wrapped in a gimmick. Actually, there hardly is a story -- mostly just the gimmick of the period costumes and the sexist, racist dialog. Well worth a miss.
  15. weirdcryo
    Sep 24, 2016
    4
    I can see the quality in production and maybe in 2007 was a good show, but right now, 2016, there are more interesting things to watch with equal quality but better dialogues and more catching plot.
  16. EricS
    Jun 16, 2009
    3
    My wife and I watched two episodes. We won't be watching a third. Mad Men is a hamfisted portrayal of a some of the more obvious biases and blindnesses of the early 60s. As if every day dawned in 1960 in order to provide white men with opportunities to manifest their sexual and racial biases and -- along with all the women and negros -- to smoke all the day through. I can only My wife and I watched two episodes. We won't be watching a third. Mad Men is a hamfisted portrayal of a some of the more obvious biases and blindnesses of the early 60s. As if every day dawned in 1960 in order to provide white men with opportunities to manifest their sexual and racial biases and -- along with all the women and negros -- to smoke all the day through. I can only explain the positive reviews of this show by surmising that the critics like to be assured -- as this show does minute by minute -- that we in the early 20th century are so much more enlightened than those Neanderthals in the mid 20th. Don't waste yout time on this one.… Expand
  17. tomw
    Jul 20, 2007
    3
    what it lacks: a gritty directorial and production style, to service a gritty, shark's den of a subject. what it has: the potential to be all it claimed it was and possibly all it could be.
  18. MarieG
    Aug 18, 2009
    3
    I anxiously awaited the second season. I was greatly disappointed in the homosexual scene. I was offended by the visual content. I felt that it crossed the line and was very inappropriate.
  19. ednrder
    Dec 13, 2010
    3
    overrated. just started watching the show. the first season was average. i should stop here. but since its "the best show on tv" i'm guessing it gets better in the second season.
  20. kelsikelsi
    Sep 5, 2011
    3
    Let me preface with this statement: I wanted to like Madmen. I really really wanted to like it. I have been in a horrible lull in television. All of my staples are off air for a while and NetFlix has been making me question its loyalty to distracting me from being stuck in rural hell. I started Madmen because I religiously check Metacritic for show ideas and it just kept coming up on greatLet me preface with this statement: I wanted to like Madmen. I really really wanted to like it. I have been in a horrible lull in television. All of my staples are off air for a while and NetFlix has been making me question its loyalty to distracting me from being stuck in rural hell. I started Madmen because I religiously check Metacritic for show ideas and it just kept coming up on great shows lists.

    Let's begin with what I do like. I constantly mental note the fashion. Jane is a bad ass **** Jon Hamm's acting skills aren't horrendous... thinking... thinking... grasping... I've got nothing. I can honestly think of nothing more. I couldn't even finish the available episodes because I simply can't give a **** about a single character or story line. Please allow me to go further.

    I suppose Madmen writers and creators will say that the show is a bit of a satire. But it's satire like blackface is satire. It is... but you're a dick if you do it because you're not hitting your point. Shows in the 1950's/60's like Leave it to Beaver and I Love Lucy, flooded the airwaves with subservient domestic wives. The effects of this plus the push from lady's magazines caused an era of repressed, sad women that felt that their red lipstick and roasts were the only glue that kept their families together. Madmen does poke a little at this past sociological dark period, but at times I feel the glorification and glamorization of Mrs. Draper leans a little towards the promotion of the doormat wife. Madmen further punches women in the proverbial snatch by making Jon Hamm's incessant affairs so god damn acceptable all the while Mrs. Draper's perfectly reasonable reactions to her husband's affairs are portrayed in a way that make her seem difficult and nosy.

    Yes, Madmen is a period piece. Yes, the period was one of psychological and sociological repression of women, but where the show takes a wrong turn is in a further promotion of the misogynistic attitudes that should not be apparent in the 21st century. Why does the show make Mrs. Draper so **** when she kicks her cheating husband out of the house? Why is Mr. Draper shown to be such a classy, evolved man, when his behavior is modeled after Hank Moody of Californication (or the real David Duchovny for that matter.)

    I feel that in order for Madmen to pull the audience into the 1960's, they have lost integrity in their characters and their story. They have taken the fictional Leave it to Beaver Cleaver family as the reality for the 50's/60's family. When truly, by this time in American history nearly 40% of women and mothers were already in the workforce, most families were lower middle class, and many families adhered deeply to their cultural/ethnic heritage. Sociologist and TV aficionado Stephanie Coontz writes, "Contrary to popular opinion, Leave it to Beaver was not a documentary." Madmen missed that message.

    to read more of my reviews go to: televisionhypnotism.blogspot.com    … Expand
  21. EM
    Aug 25, 2007
    2
    All the subtlety of a campaign commercial: there's nothing but preaching to the converted here. If you don't believe that everything good and holy in this world was invented sometime in -- and by -- the Kennedy administration, you won't believe this show. I found it particularly disappointing since the advertising leading into the premiere led me to expect a naughty (but All the subtlety of a campaign commercial: there's nothing but preaching to the converted here. If you don't believe that everything good and holy in this world was invented sometime in -- and by -- the Kennedy administration, you won't believe this show. I found it particularly disappointing since the advertising leading into the premiere led me to expect a naughty (but fun) show about naughty people doing naughty things with alcohol, cigarettes and sex at work before we decided (correctly) that these were all very bad. But still fun. Except no one on this show is having any fun at all. And neither will you (unless you require endless validation on how much better you are than your parents -- or their parents).… Expand
  22. Blackops1231
    Oct 13, 2014
    2
    I know a lot of people love this show and I respect that, but I honestly find it very boring. The plot is uninteresting to me and there is almost no action. To me mad men just seems like a well-written soap opera. If you think cinematography and writing matter more than simple enjoyment, this is definitely worth watching for you. If you just want a good show that doesn't make you askI know a lot of people love this show and I respect that, but I honestly find it very boring. The plot is uninteresting to me and there is almost no action. To me mad men just seems like a well-written soap opera. If you think cinematography and writing matter more than simple enjoyment, this is definitely worth watching for you. If you just want a good show that doesn't make you ask yourself ''when is this going to be over?'' and a show that's not so slow and more exciting, than I'd highly recommend you skip it.… Expand
  23. 19joycedivision
    May 15, 2018
    1
    This is a series mainly about smoking, drinking and, well you know what. Women are easy to the point of laughable, in this show...
    Now, I love drinking and I love smoking... and who knows, I might even be tempted to the odd romp, but for a series?
    Sexist... and I feel insulting to women... Listen, I like the clothes that people are wearing... Some women are really pretty... But for me    This is a series mainly about smoking, drinking and, well you know what. Women are easy to the point of laughable, in this show...
    Now, I love drinking and I love smoking... and who knows, I might even be tempted to the odd romp, but for a series?
    Sexist... and I feel insulting to women...
    Listen, I like the clothes that people are wearing...
    Some women are really pretty...
    But for me just to easy...
    Sex sells... we know the concept well...    … Expand
  24. MarkS.
    Aug 14, 2007
    0
    I gave this an unbaised shot at first, the show proved slow, akward, boring, and seemingly uncomfortable with itself, thus I wrote it off without a negative word to be said or written. However, I get innundated with nonstop self-aggrandizing commercials, "making-of" mini-movies, and bold quotes from professional critics whom I now USED to have respect for singing the praises of this I gave this an unbaised shot at first, the show proved slow, akward, boring, and seemingly uncomfortable with itself, thus I wrote it off without a negative word to be said or written. However, I get innundated with nonstop self-aggrandizing commercials, "making-of" mini-movies, and bold quotes from professional critics whom I now USED to have respect for singing the praises of this ridicilious piece of trash, so I feel compelled to dissertate in order to create, if even in only some marginally fractional inconsequential way, some balance to this very unwarranted hype. First off all the depictions of female stupidity, weakness and superficiality, of chauvinism, bigotry, racism and antisemitism, of simplistic "bad-habits", of manipulation and philandering in business and life, of unprepared, unmotivated, simple-minded advertising agency employees and typical office-politics are regressive and totally uninteresting to begin with, let alone when they are executed with bland, amateurish acting, bad timing, bad, nonsensical, inaccurate and even utterly incorrect writing when it tags itself as so totally realistic. And secondly, since when is it such an accomplishment to dress a period-piece accurately, especially with such simple props, locations and attire? Has this not been done in TENS OF THOUSANDS of television & film productions in the "pre mad-men" era, even "gasp" going back to the 1940's and "OMG" even prior to then! WOW! I find it amazing that some big critics are wiling to put their professional reputations on the line by assigning "perfect 10's", in other words "the absolute epitome of media production", to such a totally ineffectual, inconsequential waste of time.… Expand
  25. lindab
    Jul 25, 2007
    0
    The in-your-face-over-exaggeration of sexually overcharged or weak females in the workplace as meat for carnivores in power is insulting. Gynecologists "smoking" during a naive woman's pelvic exam, then more or less saying that her wanting birth control meds makes her "easy" and if he sees she's abusing them, she'll be limited in their use??? Ridiculous...all of it. I was The in-your-face-over-exaggeration of sexually overcharged or weak females in the workplace as meat for carnivores in power is insulting. Gynecologists "smoking" during a naive woman's pelvic exam, then more or less saying that her wanting birth control meds makes her "easy" and if he sees she's abusing them, she'll be limited in their use??? Ridiculous...all of it. I was in the legal field, had few friends or co-workers who smoked and if someone of power made a suggestive remark, they were told it wasn't appreciated...and it never happened again. The sexual remarks, smoking and naivety is so exaggerated in this series it's laughable. I was very attractive, with a great body and on BC meds. So I was shocked when I saw this portrayal. As with today, you either can or can't control a situation. The one thing that's different is that in the 60's we didn't hide behind the fear of "sexual harrassment" charges to those in higher power. We simply took care of any problem ourselves...and were much stronger women for it. Feminism has not helped the female gender...and it has helped to emasculate the male. Sad.… Expand
  26. thanaton
    May 15, 2014
    0
    Mad men made this show alright. I don't know what kind of audience they are trying to target with Mad Men but I'm 20 and this show doesn't appeal to me at all, I guess they are going with the older crowd. This show has very poor dialog, very uninteresting plots nobody cares about, I like the idea of a show being set in the 1960s but couldn't they have picked anything more boring than anMad men made this show alright. I don't know what kind of audience they are trying to target with Mad Men but I'm 20 and this show doesn't appeal to me at all, I guess they are going with the older crowd. This show has very poor dialog, very uninteresting plots nobody cares about, I like the idea of a show being set in the 1960s but couldn't they have picked anything more boring than an advertising agency?

    I don't care about this show at all, it's completely boring and bad.    … Expand
  27. skeer562
    Dec 24, 2017
    0
    Tasteless, crude, and disappointing. The show is very offensive, and it doesn't seem very interesting either. If it was at least interesting maybe I could over look some of the trash in it.
next
Page:

Awards & Rankings

16
#16 Best TV Season of 2007
9
#9 Most Discussed TV Season of 2007
2
#2 Most Shared TV Season of 2007

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. Sioux City Journal
    Reviewed by: Bruce Miller
    May 29, 2013
    80
    Interestingly, a lot of nothing adds up to a big something.
    Read full review
  2. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Gloria Goodale
    83
    It's very filmic both in execution and ambition as it explores life before Betty Friedan and the Surgeon General's warnings on cigarette packs.
    Read full review
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    83
    What gives Mad Men its zing is that play is part of work, sexual banter isn't yet harassment, and America is free of self-doubt, guilt, and countercultural confusion.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »