2007: THE SUMMER OF THE "MAD MEN"

AMC has given the green-light to a TV series created by Matthew Weiner. who worked on 'The Sopranos',.'Becker', 'The Naked Truth', and 'Andy Richter Controls The Universe'. 'Mad Men' is about the lives of New York advertising executives, both at home and at work, around 1960.

I get this image of the type of white collar workers found in 'The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit' and 'Executive Suite'. But these men in their white shirts and ties a la 'Twelve Angry Men' will probably have more in common with 'nip/tuck' than with Darrin Stephens at McMann & Tate in 'Bewitched'.

The series will star Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser and Christina Hendricks, with John Slattery slated as guest star. Hamm's character is Don Draper, who's an up-and-coming creative director with a lot of secrets. (That description of him gave me the 'nip/tuck' vibe.)

As is usual with TV series from cable networks, like 'The Closer' and 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia', 'Mad Men' won't debut until next summer. But it sounds just different enough for me to check it out and welcome it into the Toobworld universe.

What especially excites me, in regards to TV series set in the past, is the possibility to find new links to those shows set in their "future". For instance, the mention of a name of a product or a company (which seems likely in a show about a Madison Avenue ad agency) which can then be theorized to be the foundation of some other product or business found in a show set during the present day.

And because history is already set in stone (at least history in the Real World), I'd like to see this show's viewpoint on the current events of that day - the new Kennedy administration, for example.

So I'm thinking 'Mad Men' will prove especially fertile for Toobworld, even if their line of work will more than likely create plenty of Zonks with mentions of actual TV shows AS TV shows.

I'll worry about that once 'Made Men' premieres......

BCnU!
Tele-Toby