MAIN Art &... Pop Culture Television Mad Men

Already with a Golden Globe under its belt for best new television series in its first season, the show led the pack with 16 Emmy Award nominations in its second season.

Mad Men, the critically acclaimed drama on AMC, is a deep look at American corporate culture telling the story of dynamic ad man Don Draper, (Jon Hamm) his dutiful wife Betty, (January Jones) his nemesis Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) and various other characters that make the work-a-day world of seem just like.... well, if not TODAY, then pretty darned close.

That is, except for all the smoking and drinking, the womanizing and the sexual harassment that harks back to a time when equal rights were only a glint in your mother's eye.

There are hints of what's to come later on in the decade, however — with the cast rounded out by a weed smoking beatnik illustrator, a closeted gay art director, and the mousy new girl Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss) who we're pretty sure, given time, will take over the place.

Although known for its period detail and pop references to the decade, the intriguing part of Mad Men is how it holds its audience week after week with fleshed-out characters and intelligent scripts. It's a slice of life that would have audiences glued to the set no matter what era it depicted, but the visual style is all vintage 60's Hitchcock with dizzying plots to match.

It may be set in the 1960's ...but this ain't I Love Lucy.

Tune in on Sunday nights at 10 PM ET on AMC.

More about Mad Men around the Web:

AMC - Mad Men - The official site with complete cast bios, episode guides, fun facts and trivia about the early 60's, photos, video, downloadable wallpapers and fan rants and raves in the community forum.

Mad Men - Wikipedia overview with profiles of all the cast of characters, background production details, complete episode summaries, quotes, awards list, with related references and resources.

Mad Men Spoilers, Episode Guides, Message Boards - Join the fray with the latest news and rumors, photo gallery and plot summaries at TVGuide.com.

Mad Men - Buddy TV - More news, rumors, facts & information including profiles, photos, videos, podcasts, trivia, fan forums.

also see -> Advertising & Pop Culture | 1960's