Why I'm hooked on Mad Men

If you only watch one thing this year, watch this.

By Mark Watson Published 09 November 2010 16:01

Cambridge. Grimsby. Hull. High Wycombe. Yep, this week has been like a pretty badly-planned caravan holiday. The final and probably best-attended of the four stop-offs is tonight and I will be setting off shortly. I don't know if there'll be an opportunity to blog, so just in case, here's this.

Just started watching Mad Men. People have been recommending it to me for about the last hundred years, same as The West Wing and all these other well-made American dramas with 1,200 episodes per season. Since I'm so far behind already, I've not had the courage to make a start, especially what with my TV-watching time ration being about an hour a week maximum, and me being addicted to The Apprentice and all, and also having football to keep up with, etc.

But anyway, Mad Men is really good. Everyone was right.

So is there anything else I should DEFINITELY be watching? Assume I've got space for, maybe, one more big heavy American (or for that matter British) series in my life. The Wire? Everyone seems to love it. Or should I go back and finish the Sopranos (only saw about half of it at the time)? Or something else? Or can I safely miss everything because it's only telly? You tell me. As I say, time is very tight. So I'm talking essentials, here.

(And yes I know The Apprentice is a reality show and probably not essential, but I do love it. Sorry.)

This post originally appeared on Mark Watson's blog.

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31 comments

Tue, 2010-11-09 21:41 — Aaron Gnome (not verified)

You could try Terriers when it (finally) comes out on FX.

Tue, 2010-11-09 21:47 — giscone (not verified)

Watch Dexter, Californication. Each from the beginning. The Apprentice? Really?

Tue, 2010-11-09 22:25 — Hans Castorp (not verified)

Bloody hell Mark, catch up. Or is this another slow week.

Tue, 2010-11-09 22:31 — thinkov

oh yeah he wants a recommendation

well mines HEIMAT

it's awesomely awesome awesomeosity

one from the old days : Fairly Secret Army

"Tremes" supposed to be good to

Sat, 2010-11-20 10:51 — tomjoad

Mad Men going to Sky?
Sh*t!
Slowly but surely Australian,British and now American citizen Murdoch is strangling all other media outlets.A nasty right wing egomaniac who foams at the mouth at the idea of centralised power is craftily doing just that in the world of TV and media where he can peddle obnoxious garbage like Fox News.
Even governments lick his boots to keep on his good side,is there anyone out there with the cojones to stop his sly,insidious attacks on anything or anyone who hasn't got the same ideals as Sarah Palin?
Nah! Didn't think so.

Thu, 2010-12-16 16:17 — Adam (not verified)

The thing about Sopranos is it takes weeks to watch the whole thing.

The Wire is very good. David Simon also did the incredible Generation Kill, a miniseries on HBO about the first Marines going into Iraq. I didn't think much of Treme.

Sons of Anarchy is decent, although season 3 has been a bit of a tangent

Tue, 2010-11-30 09:50 — Anon (not verified)

Should definitely check out Deadwood.

Mon, 2010-11-15 06:47 — mohip (not verified)

Hmmm, Mad Men and The Apprentice, the same 2 shows I'm addicted to at the moment also... From looking at my shelf, I'd say Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Watch episode one and tell me its not amazing TV. Curb Your Enthusiasm as already said, and maybe a bit of True Blood too... any of these should get you through a few weeks in hotels!

Wed, 2010-11-17 07:38 — Adam (not verified)

The good wife, made by ridley scott, is a outstanding show

Thu, 2010-11-11 15:30 — thinkov

you really don't watch it do you!

it's addictive and shakespearian so there!

@ chris still haven't paid attention!

ok John Adams is Pretty good

Fri, 2010-11-19 14:14 — changsta

AMC are producing some great shows. You should check out "Breaking bad". Its about a chemistry teacher who discovers they have cancer so starts cooking Crystal Meth to support his family. Amazingly dark and funny.

Fri, 2010-11-12 01:10 — Wired (not verified)

Definitely The Wire ... there are other good tv shows out there but none quite pull it off like The Wire.

Fri, 2010-11-12 01:25 — Hegloid (not verified)

Twin Peaks..

Wed, 2010-11-10 12:47 — Chris (not verified)

"Why I'm hooked on Mad Men". Answer: "Mad Men is really good." I think we expected a slightly more in-depth answer than that.

It's hard to believe that a country that produces junk like Two and a half Men can come up with something as good as Mad Men.

@thinkov: Heimat is great. Not American though!

Twin Peaks is another golden oldie that I'd highly recommended.

Fri, 2010-11-12 05:12 — Kulturtrager (not verified)

The Wire is, for drama, above and beyond anything that has been made in the States the last ten years.
So you should most definitely attend to that.

What is it with the adoration of the very mundane mad Men?

Anyhoo, for comedy, dive into Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Boardwalk Empire, Treme and from Britain, the quite intriguing Luther are all well worth switching on a tv for.

Tue, 2010-11-09 16:43 — Sylvia (not verified)

Mad Men is one of the best US dramas of all time, but some of us won't be watching it next season. The cash-strapped BBC, with its frozen licence fee, was outbid by profitable Sky. And this is just one of several high quality programmes which will be crossing that bridge.

All's fair in the market place, you might say, but, apart from the cost, a lot of people won't subscribe to a Murdoch TV station on principle. He already owns a large chunk of BSkyB and, by this time next year, he could own the whole of it.

The Murdoch empire is growing, while public broadcasting suffers. Everyone worried about this should support the online campaigns of 38 Degrees (campaigning against the BSkyB takeover) and our own DemocracyFail, campaigning for long needed changes in the rules on media ownership. http://democracyfail.wordpress.com

If you could support us on Twitter, Mark, that would be brilliant!

Tue, 2010-11-09 17:12 — thinkov

FANTASTIC SHOW

i'll be asking the landlord to stick it on come season 5

Mon, 2010-11-15 15:06 — Sophie (not verified)

The WIRE. WATCH IT! TV has never been so good, and about 200 times better than Mad Men

Fri, 2010-12-10 08:50 — David Crawford (not verified)

About the only cop show worth watching in the U.S. right now is the great "Justified"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpUutE75Tcw

That is Timothy Olyphant from "Deadwood".

Thu, 2010-11-11 10:02 — swatantra nandanwar

I do not watch Mad Men. Neither did I watch Sopranos. Who wants to watch the lives of nasty vicious violent thugs and their families? usually upto no good.