Mad Men

Guest article by Sarah T:

There’s a great scene from “Reality Bites” when Winona Ryder and Janeane Garofalo’s characters are sitting in a late-night diner. Ryder is consoling her best friend, who fears she’ll be the template for a new cheesy Melrose tenant, by saying, “Melrose Place is a really great show.” My friend and I at the time thought that was the funniest line ever because we were fans, but we knew the show was dumb. We wanted to be as cool as them, but we certainly didn’t want to be them.

Fast forward a handful of years and now TV is full of Melrose clones and scripted (er, ad-libbed) reality dramas. Instead of art-influencing-life it’s life-influencing-art-influencing-life, creating what I call the Hillsian: the skinny, pin-legged girls in silky, short dresses and dangerously high strappy stilettos. You’ve seen them (you might even be one) and they’re popping up everywhere. For example, Hillsians have started hanging out at my local pub where the dress code has always been “stylish casual” [read: average jeans]. They’re annoying, but whatevs, right?

So here’s my deal—I’m starting to worry that the Hillsians are going to extend their influence in Hollywood, like the kudzu weed that’s burying the southern United States. My fears started when the news broke that Mad Men’s Matthew Weiner fired Kater Gordon earlier this month. OMG, I thought, does this portent something sinister? Will the Hillsian penchant for reality drama take root at AMC resulting in nasty contract negotiations followed by a vitriolic cancellation? I rue the day.

Seriously though, the potential threat against Mad Men is that it’s an intelligently written masterpiece. Shows like this don’t last. In the meantime, I soak it all up like it’s a great novel. I wouldn’t be surprised if some university professor is considering the show for an English Lit thesis course. Each episode is rich and every character is catastrophically flawed. My dad, who worked briefly in advertising in the early ‘60s, can’t even watch the show because it’s too real to him. I particularly love the Mad Men Facebook group, where people have been posting their shock and disdain after each new episode this season. It amazes me that some people can be so naïve. I mean, it’s a drama. None of these situations have actually occurred. It’s only a reflection of what might have been 48 years ago.

So, if you’re a fan of this excellent show, you know what must be done. We must rise up against this Hillsian insurgency. They already own a chunk of the airwaves. They sure don’t need our Mad Men! So, raise your Old-Fashioned and repeat after me: Long live curvy Joan and cool Don. May they grace our DVRs for another five seasons—Or at least until the 1970s!

Sarah lives in Toronto and is a media relations professional by day and a pop-culture enthusiast by night. She lives for Mad Men, True Blood, Big Bang Theory and the Tudors, to name a few. She lives to be right of the red velvet rope, especially during the Toronto International Film Festival.