Comments on: Not so much mad as just really pissed off

By: Mary Walker

Mary Walker — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:28:56 +0000

Hmmm...it's interesting to me that you seem to find "Mad Men" distasteful but see "The Wire" as a show that "raise[s] the standard."

Out of all the ones you mentioned, I've been most disappointed in "Sarah Connor Chronicles," alas.

By: Anoop

Anoop — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:01:26 +0000

I haven't checked "Trust Me" out yet but it reminds me of "Absolute Power" with an excellent cast including my favourite Stephen Fry. It's tag line "Spin is dead, long live PR" says it all!
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386149/

By: ignotus

ignotus — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:50:14 +0000

For those of us who lack easy access to your article that you mentioned in your original mad men post, could you maybe do a post summarizing how you see the culture of mid-century advertising? You keep alluding to how mad men gets it wrong, but I'd like to hear how it should be.

By: jkh

jkh — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:25:54 +0000

of course out of wastelands culture comes. this is what we call civilisation.

By: JohnO

JohnO — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:50:15 +0000

I agree with Sarah, I've even been able to watch the current season of CSI, only a week delayed (assuming for technical reasons to get the digital version onto their system).

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:24:17 +0000

On your comment: "if I were NetFlix I'd be nervous about the prevailing trend ..."

Why? My husband and I have a basic cable subscription to get local channels and use NetFlix quite extensively. Lately, most of our NetFlix viewing has been entire seasons of programs from premium cable channels (Mad Men and The Wire) or programs hat we missed the first time around (Heroes and 24). Each season consists of several DVDs, and in most cases, one season gets us hooked enough to watch the next; in all, we order (and watch) more DVDs over a longer period of time. There may be something I am missing, but as long as NetFlix can include television programs in its catalog, it seems like they'll be competitive.

By: Rick Liebling

Rick Liebling — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:43:34 +0000

Last night was the first episode, so I'm not going to pass judgement - it's too early and the actors have grown in to their characters.

But if this show is going to be about the give and take between the two leads, it will have failed. If this show is going to be about which of the two lead characters ends up wooing Monica Potter's character, it will have failed.

They've got to dive deeper, waaaay deeper. Become a procedural the way West Wing at its best was a political procedural. Spend an entire episode on how a creative brief is written. An entire episode inside a focus group session. Really dive in to a pitch. All that can be tied in to popular culture to make it accessible to viewers.