Mad World: Sex, Politics, Style and the 1960s

04/15/2016

http://politicsslashletters.org/2016/04/divide-and-rule-on-watching-denmarks-borgen/

Toward the end of the first season of Borgen (2010-13), Bent Sejrø, the aging mentor to Birgitte Nyborg, who is Denmark’s prime minister, advises her to “divide and rule.” He has in mind the ancient Roman practice of diffusing authority so as to strengthen one’s government over the whole. Earlier…

02/16/2016

http://politicsslashletters.com/divide-and-rule-on-watching-denmarks-borgen-2/

By Lauren M. E. Goodlad Toward the end of the first season of Borgen (2010-13), Bent Sejrø, the aging mentor to Birgitte Nyborg, who is Denmark’s prime minister, advises her to “divide and rule.” He has in mind the ancient Roman practice of diffusing authority so as to strengthen one’s government ov…

09/28/2015

Another great piece from Bruce Robbins, this time with a wide-ranging discussion of other shows: http://aeon.co/magazine/culture/how-tv-sustains-the-work-ethic/

The golden age of TV drama raises some big questions about work and the meaning of life

07/30/2015

Not to be missed!

The finales of beloved television series have long been hyped as heralding “the end of an era.” Such claims are hardly just the conceit of marketers eager to turn the last episodes into mega-audience cultural events. Far beyond fodder for cohort nostalgia, television programs can be significant mark…

05/23/2015

http://www.publicbooks.org/blog/its-the-real-thing

Let me start at the finish, and, like one of my favorite episodes of Mad Men, with a kind of montage. Don on a hilltop that takes us back to “The Mountain King” in Season 2. Peggy, well on her way to becoming the woman people will brag they have worked with. Pete learning—as Duck had predicted in Se…

05/10/2015

If you've not already looked at Sharon Marcus's wonderful blog on last week's episode, please do so now! Tonight's episode wlll be blogged on by Lilya Kaganovsky.

“You don’t have character -- you're just handsome.” When Mathis lobbed this home truth at Don Draper a couple of weeks ago, he could have been talking about the show itself. Does Mad Men have characters, or does it just look good?Until last night, the last half of the show’s final season has left ma…

04/28/2015

Sean O'Sullivan on the latest episode of *Mad Men*'s season 7

This is all so unnecessary. By “unnecessary,” I don’t mean pointless, or a waste of time (or life). Rather, I mean untethered from an obligation to do anything, or to arrive anywhere, in particular. That has always been the secret ingredient of Mad Men, perhaps the signal distinction from many of it…

04/23/2015

Here again is Eleanor Courtemanche's terrific blog on last Sunday's Season 7 *Mad Men* episode. Our next blogger for the series is Sean O'Sullivan.

http://www.publicbooks.org/blog/going-to-playland

The third in our series of blog posts on the seventh and last season of AMC’s Mad Men is by Eleanor Courtemanche. Bruce Robbins’s post on episode 8 is here and Corey Creekmur’s post on episode 9 is here. This multi-authored series of posts on Mad Men began under the auspices of the Unit for Criticis…

04/18/2015

Last week Corey Creekmur gave us this great piece on last Sunday's Season 7 *Mad Men* episode. Next up for tomorrow night's episode is Eleanor Courtemanche.

http://www.publicbooks.org/blog/none-of-your-business

In the office Fainy found a man sitting at the second rolltop desk. “Well, what’s your business?” he yelled out in a rasping voice. John Dos Passos, U.S.A.: The 42nd ParallelFollowing an episode titled “Severance” – a title that threatens our own impending separation from Mad Men after seven season…

04/12/2015

Corey Creekmur is next up on our series of blogs on Season 7's concluding episodes of *Mad Men*. If you haven't yet read it, here is Bruce Robbins's blog on the mid-season opener.

“Is That All There Is?” became a hit for Peggy Lee in August 1969, the month that followed the July 29 moon landing featured so prominently at the end of the first half of Season 7. Though not much time has gone by, the televised Nixon speech that comes later in the episode dates it at April 1970—ju…

04/02/2015

I'm truly delighted to announce that, this demi-season, the Mad World blogging team has moved to Public Books.
As he has done in the past, the inimitable Bruce Robbins launches us with a post on the demi-season opener which airs this Sunday 4/5. Also in the line-up are Eleanor Courtemanche, Corey Creekmur, Sharon Marcus, Lilya Kaganovsky, and me. Please help us to spread the word that Mad World is on Public Books by sharing this post with your Mad Men-watching fbs. Thanks! http://www.publicbooks.org/

A curated monthly review devoted to spirited debate about books and the arts, created by and for a transnational community of writers, artists, and activists

07/03/2013

Mad Men, Mad World now moving into production for a second printing!

Since the show's debut in 2007, Mad Men has invited viewers to immerse themselves in the lush period settings, ruthless Madison Avenue advertising culture, and arresting characters at the center of its 1960s fictional world. Mad Men, Mad World is a comprehensive analysis of this groundbreaking TV...

06/24/2013

06/17/2013

New on Kritik! Jeremy Varon on last night's Mad Men episode!

06/10/2013

06/07/2013

A new history of the party is too close to its subject, and misses the human drama.