Wasn't really surprised myself, probably due to the fact I frequently peruse entertainment/showbiz websites and pick up these tidbits ;D

BlueEyedBrigadier | September 20, 04:21 CET

He just looked so different!

Volo | September 20, 04:31 CET

He's in the 1960s, of course he looks different. :P

I think he looks rather suave and sexy. Appropriate given the show he's on, don't you think?

Zelikman | September 20, 05:14 CET

Show was alright overall, pretty much what I expected. In some scenes I felt as though Eddie Cibrian was trying just a little too hard to imitate Don Draper, but hey, that's to be expected too.

On a tangent, so many TV shows these days subtextually or flatout encourage alcoholism. Wouldn't say The Playboy Club hit that note quite yet, but suffice to say I'm sure I wasn't the only one enjoying a drink (or three) while watching the show.

Drakath | September 20, 05:56 CET

Mad Men is feminist, full of social commentary and nearly tragic. How does this knockoff compare? I'm not even going to bother with Pan Am unless someone tells me it's good; the promos make it look like it's nostalgia and titillation.

I remember what that period was like.

janef | September 20, 06:31 CET

^It's not that it's set in the same era that it's necessarily a knock-off. It's also almost never a good idea to judge a show purely on one episode.

Mitholas | September 20, 10:53 CET

Someone really watched Playboy Club??

rehabber | September 20, 11:44 CET

janef, the pilot reviews say this is the straight cash-in, but Pan Am is absolutely going for something different and that is clear from the first episode. I'd say give this a miss and go for that. (Though, Pan Am is an ABC production, so of course it's sudsy and stuff.)

Jaymii | September 20, 12:08 CET

Forgive my ignorance but what does any of this have to do with Joss?

Squishy | September 20, 12:34 CET

Sean Maher & David Krumholtz both were in it.

madmolly | September 20, 13:33 CET

I want to cry when people say that Mad Men is a feminist show. That show has so many issues with women (and people of color, for that matter) that I don't even know where to start. I don't understand why it gets so much unearned credit.

Melisande | September 20, 13:59 CET

I enjoyed the show - its good fun for a Monday night. I honestly didn't recognize Dave at first - must have been the hair. The musical numbers were great, and Sean's subplot seems to be the most interesting part of the show. Agree with Drakath about Cibrian as the lead though - especially onerous as I don't care for Don Draper in the first place. Hopefully they'll take a different direction with that characterization as the show goes on.

F_TB | September 20, 15:19 CET

It's DOA. Will be interesting to see how many eps play before it gets pulled.

IrrationaliTV | September 20, 18:00 CET

I really enjoyed it, so far it's the best of the new shows(sorry about Ringer, but it was terrible!). Hope it lasts, but it only pulled in 5 million last night...
And the Whedon men seem to be jumping on board with some interesting roles in it, would like to see more of the show and more of them.

BlueSkies | September 20, 20:02 CET

Melisande,

Showing a thing is not the same as endorsing it. Enough time has passed since the second wave of feminism that some degree of gender equality in laws and social outlook has become the new normal which people take for granted. It's a shock to see and hear the attitudes and behavior that were equally taken for granted fifty-plus years ago. Toning down those attitudes to make them less offensive to present day viewers would make the show far less interesting.

The three principal female characters are well drawn as individuals, but they also represent three different strategies for dealing with the rigid sex roles and inequality of the era. Each of them has to settle for less than she wants, despite her best efforts, because the deck is stacked. Mad Men also shows pretty clearly that gender privilege didn't make the men very happy either. If someone wants to know what the Second Wave of the feminist movement arose to deal with, Mad Men provides illustrations.

I grew up in a white middle class family in the late Fifties-early Sixties. The material culture of the show is accurate down to fine details. The manners and customs have been slightly exaggerated for artistic impact but are basically a true depiction of the way people of those classes behaved and thought.

The treatment of the Jewish department store owner in the first season was period accurate. The depiction of the black housekeeper seemed realistic to me but I'll defer to black people of my age or older on that.

The writers pay attention to social history across the board. The moment when Dan Draper shakes out the tablecloth and leaves all the trash from the family picnic lying there reminded me of something I had forgotten, that people had to be taught that littering is wrong and in 1959, that hadn't happened yet.

janef | September 20, 23:56 CET

That's not my problem with the show even remotely, but thanks for assuming that it is.

Melisande | September 21, 12:14 CET

Well, since you went ahead and started the discussion, you could maybe explain what your problem with it is?

sumogrip | September 21, 15:16 CET

I got a theory ... it could be.....



(how in the sweet fluffy world did I beat everybody to it on a WHEDON site?)

tharpdevenport | September 21, 20:33 CET

Krumholz and Maher? I guess this means I have to watch it. Didn't reeeeeally want to get into another show.

FloralBonnet | September 21, 20:35 CET