It's a Mad Men's World: 'Mad Men'

THE FOUR-DVD limited edition of "Mad Men's" first season arrives in a tin box shaped like a gigantic Zippo lighter, which is a particularly apt choice of packaging. There's a cigarette in every scene of the AMC series. The characters constantly exhale thick plumes of smoke — not as a sign of rebellion, but of conformity, as common as a martini lunch or a nudging remark about a woman's backside.

Obviously, "Mad Men" is not set in the present day, but in 1960, when smoking and casual sexism were not only socially acceptable, but openly encouraged. And for the purposes of the show, Madison Avenue — specifically the offices of fictional advertising firm Sterling Cooper — is the nexus of all the bad habits of the times.

Randy account managers cavort indiscreetly with gossipy secretaries in sleek offices and smoke-filled boardrooms. Their mix of business and pleasure is overseen by SC creative director Don Draper (an impossibly handsome Jon Hamm) who, after a long day at the office, either visits his bohemian mistress in Greenwich Village or takes the train back to his gently neurotic wife (an impossibly vulnerable January Jones) in the suburbs.

Created by Matthew Weiner, formerly a supervising producer on "The Sopranos," "Mad Men" has won well-deserved acclaim for its compromised characters, layered storytelling and smart, crisp writing. What distinguishes it from all the other office comedies and dramas is its setting, which the creators treat as equally nostalgic and repulsive.

A making-of titled "Establishing Mad Men" reveals the crew's voracious research and careful attention to period minutiae, which make each episode as dense as a Merchant-Ivory film, but with none of the stuffiness. In fact, "Mad Men" plays many of the details as punchlines: "Now try not to be overwhelmed by all this technology," says one character, referring to a typewriter and intercom.

Another informative bonus feature, "Advertising the American Dream," includes interviews with advertising legends and academics who describe the early '60s as a golden age of media, when the American Dream became a commercial aspiration. Against this backdrop, "Mad Men" exposes the sordid inner lives barely disguised by social decorum and career striving. That alone is worth a clink of highball glasses.

Written by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner
Photo courtesy AMC