I have some crazy ass, long worded notes scribbled onto a page in my memo pad, meant to be the seeds of a brilliant post that would challenge people to participate and indulge in some sesquipedalian madness. That, and I had several often quoted movies in mind for the next Familiar Unfamiliar post. Great fun for everyone!

But honestly, I just have way too many shows stacked up on my DVR, and I’m behind on all of them—I’d like to watch them all before the week starts up again. If I sit here putting words together in anything more complicated than what you see here, I’m not sitting in the other room catching up on the latest episodes of Big Love, Rescue Me, and Mad Men, a new show that gives me mixed feelings when I watch it.

What I like about Mad Men: it’s set in the ’50s-’60s. Growing up in the ’80s, I always had a fascination with that era—its music, its clothes, and its culture. The show is wonderfully true in costume and setting and has succeeded in reawakening my old fascination for the time. Another thing I like about Mad Men: it’s about an advertising agency. H.E. used to work for one and has always thought I’d do well working for one too, so it’s nice to sort of see the dynamics of such a company work just as H.E. has described, between the ad executives (sales) and the creative teams.

What I don’t like about Mad Men: it’s set in the ’50s-’60s. It’s a chauvinistic world full of smoking and booze, and very few women get to do anything outside of secretarial work and homemaking. People can’t seem to truly connect with one another, and everything is all about appearance. It’s depressing! Another thing I don’t like about Mad Men: it’s about an advertising agency. People working in ad agencies seemed to have suffered everything five times more than the average bear. Meetings had more of that smoking and booze, which is part of that appearance thing, and they kept the men long after hours, meaning they connected even less with their wives, which makes it doubly depressing!

So do I mean crazy or angry when I say mad? I don’t know. But I’m mad about Mad Men. I love watching it, and I’m about to do so now.

As soon as I hit Publish.

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