Mad Men, Season One, Blu-ray 3-Disc Set (2008)
Starring: Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, John Slattery, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks
Director: Matthew Weiner, Alan Taylor, Tim Hunter
Studio: Lions Gate
Video: 1.78:1 widescreen, enhanced for 16:9, 1080p HD
Audio: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Extras: Deleted Scenes, Commentaries, Featurettes, Music Sampler
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Length: 616 minutes
Rating: *****
Lions Gate Studios hits a veritable home run with its three disc Blu-ray release of the Golden Globe and Peabody award-winning AMC television series, Mad Men, Season One. Featuring all thirteen episodes of the stylish show’s first season, the three disc set offers a very entertaining and technically excellent collection that’s a model of what good high definition programming should be all about. The set features an extensive array of audio commentaries, not only with the creators and directors, but also with many of the actors involved in each specific episode, and offers an enlightening degree of illumination on the creative process behind Mad Men. The show also has produced one of the most charismatic (and enigmatic) lead men of recent memory, played to absolute perfection by Jon Hamm, who also won the Golden Globe for his portrayal of the complicated and mysterious Don Draper.
In the show’s opening episode we’re given the nature of the series’ title; the mad men are advertising men working on 1960’s Madison Avenue, hence, Mad Men. Much of the goings on in the fictitious Sterling Cooper Agency today would seem totally politically incorrect, with an over-the-top mixture of boozing, womanizing, racial and sexual insensitivity and just overall excess that typified the big business world of the period. Jon Hamm’s portrayal of Donald Draper is spot-on, and he’s the epitome of the ultra-successful, dashingly handsome and irresistibly sexy leading man who has it all, including a Barbie Doll wife (played superbly by January Jones) and adoring family, a legion of admiring subordinates and an endless supply of waiting mistresses. But as the season progresses, the audience begins to learn that there are numerous cracks in Draper’s seemingly perfect existence, and as the plot lines shift, it becomes clearly obvious that he’s a much more complicated person than the confident ad man he presents to his family, friends and co-workers. And a few skeletons emerge from his closet as well, deepening the mystery and drawing us further into creator Matthew Weiner’s complex web.
In terms of entertainment value, Mad Men is the total package, and offers an incredibly genuine recreation of 1960’s Madison Avenue. Not only is the acting beyond superb, especially considering that most of the cast are relative newcomers, but the most miniscule details in costuming and set design are uber-realistic – it’s a truly seductive mixture of style and believable substance. AMC is to be commended for such a novel and totally compelling series – this is the sort of programming you’d expect to see on HBO or Showtime, not from a channel that mostly focuses on a schedule filled with classic movies.
From a technical standpoint, the presentation is just about flawless. Image quality is superb, and the chosen color palette vividly creates an almost utopian and nostalgic vision of the Sixties. The DTS HD Master Audio track (the only available audio option) is also sheer perfection, and never fails to present an immersive listening experience. There may not be any bombs or explosions in this mostly dialogue-driven series, but the soundtrack abounds with details that fill the surrounds and provide an exceptionally believable sense of envelopment. And David Carbonara’s original score and period accurate musical choices as diverse as Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Bobby Vinton help to cement the already realistic mood created by an exceptionally strong script.
My local Comcast provider just upgraded their HD channel offerings to include AMC; this is an exciting development, indeed, because the second season of Mad Men begins on July 27, and I’ll now get to watch it in high def! Five Stars – I can’t recommend this impressive Blu-ray release from Lions Gate highly enough!
— Tom Gibbs
