It’s Friday and I really wanted to write this post on Monday when a poor night’s sleep the night before caused me a full day of misery, but didn’t get to it, so I will have my say today. It’s Friday.
My friend, Queen Bee, when deeply moved one way or another, precedes a salient point with the phrase: “Can I just say…?” What follows can fall anywhere on the continuum of easy-to-hard-to-hear messages. I don’t expect what I have to say is particularly moving to anyone, so I’m going to borrow from QB and say as she so successfully does: Can I just say… that I find the popular television show, Mad Men annoyingly unconscionable? Of course the appropriate question is why do I watch it? It is one of the very few well written, well acted programs on that vast expanse of sandy desert called television entertainment. That is why I started watching in its first season. This season I realized that the rank immorality of the entire cast of characters was giving me nightmares, so I began recording the shows to watch during the day when I would not only have time to recover, but could fast-fast forward through whatever I wished. Believe me (if you like), there are scenes one can intuit without any sound at all. This gives me a modicum of control, while still being able to enjoy the several pluses of the show.
Last Sunday was a lovely day and I felt like watching a good show before bedtime. I thought I could handle the mad men and women of Madison Avenue and gave it a shot. It is amazing how little movement toward integrity, and human decency there is in this series. No one moves off dead-center of negativity for any length of time. Each episodes ends with another installment of the tragic, human comedy. I do not find any characters to cheer for. None are particularly likable. All are filled with shadow and longing for a light they cannot see. The majority of them are chain smokers, alcoholics and workaholics with untameable sexual proclivities…a desperate lot. It is a cautionary tale.
I remember the 60’s. I was not working on Madison Avenue, but I was alive and an adult member of society. I do not recall any of this excess. I do recall a general use of Valium, however. People drank and smoked, but if to this extent, I must have been comatose to it. So, what do we have here? Let’s get the details and the credits down before I continue on my rant.
Mad Men, created by Matthew Weiner, is an AMC production airing Sunday nights at 9 central/10 east coast. Jon Hamm, as the star, plays Don Draper, a handsome hunk of a leading man with a shadowy past and a sordid present. He is professionally successful, but personally without moral compass. This year the writers are throwing in little fish hooks of hope here and there, but the episodes all end in moral calamity nonetheless. This is not entertainment—at least not for me. But the show is immensely popular and has a website, blog and a faithful set of followers. I do not venture onto this website or this blog. I am concerned that I may find even more to rant about. I do not need to take on the angst of the populace. I have enough of my own.
Last Sunday I watched and had a very difficult night of painful dreaming. The next day was a loss in many ways. I slept poorly and that never goes down well for me and my disposition. So this week I will return to my plan of letting the DVR record for discriminant viewing on a day, and at a time when I am ready for Mr. Weiner’s view of life in the 60’s on Madison Avenue. I do wish he would get on with it.
Called By Name 
can i just say…..
Tags: anxiety, TV-Movies-Etc.
It’s Friday and I really wanted to write this post on Monday when a poor night’s sleep the night before caused me a full day of misery, but didn’t get to it, so I will have my say today. It’s Friday.
My friend, Queen Bee, when deeply moved one way or another, precedes a salient point with the phrase: “Can I just say…?” What follows can fall anywhere on the continuum of easy-to-hard-to-hear messages. I don’t expect what I have to say is particularly moving to anyone, so I’m going to borrow from QB and say as she so successfully does: Can I just say… that I find the popular television show, Mad Men annoyingly unconscionable? Of course the appropriate question is why do I watch it? It is one of the very few well written, well acted programs on that vast expanse of sandy desert called television entertainment. That is why I started watching in its first season. This season I realized that the rank immorality of the entire cast of characters was giving me nightmares, so I began recording the shows to watch during the day when I would not only have time to recover, but could fast-fast forward through whatever I wished. Believe me (if you like), there are scenes one can intuit without any sound at all. This gives me a modicum of control, while still being able to enjoy the several pluses of the show.
Last Sunday was a lovely day and I felt like watching a good show before bedtime. I thought I could handle the mad men and women of Madison Avenue and gave it a shot. It is amazing how little movement toward integrity, and human decency there is in this series. No one moves off dead-center of negativity for any length of time. Each episodes ends with another installment of the tragic, human comedy. I do not find any characters to cheer for. None are particularly likable. All are filled with shadow and longing for a light they cannot see. The majority of them are chain smokers, alcoholics and workaholics with untameable sexual proclivities…a desperate lot. It is a cautionary tale.
I remember the 60’s. I was not working on Madison Avenue, but I was alive and an adult member of society. I do not recall any of this excess. I do recall a general use of Valium, however. People drank and smoked, but if to this extent, I must have been comatose to it. So, what do we have here? Let’s get the details and the credits down before I continue on my rant.
Mad Men, created by Matthew Weiner, is an AMC production airing Sunday nights at 9 central/10 east coast. Jon Hamm, as the star, plays Don Draper, a handsome hunk of a leading man with a shadowy past and a sordid present. He is professionally successful, but personally without moral compass. This year the writers are throwing in little fish hooks of hope here and there, but the episodes all end in moral calamity nonetheless. This is not entertainment—at least not for me. But the show is immensely popular and has a website, blog and a faithful set of followers. I do not venture onto this website or this blog. I am concerned that I may find even more to rant about. I do not need to take on the angst of the populace. I have enough of my own.
Last Sunday I watched and had a very difficult night of painful dreaming. The next day was a loss in many ways. I slept poorly and that never goes down well for me and my disposition. So this week I will return to my plan of letting the DVR record for discriminant viewing on a day, and at a time when I am ready for Mr. Weiner’s view of life in the 60’s on Madison Avenue. I do wish he would get on with it.