Okay, okay, we get it. Mad Men is great. The AMC period drama has been racking up awards since it first came on the air four years ago, and it shows no signs of stopping. The fourth season of the show recently nabbed the top prize at the first Critics' Choice TV Awards. Now, while I watch and enjoy Mad Men immensely and appreciate just how great it is, there's just one problem: seeing it win all these awards is getting boring. It's also getting slightly frustrating for those of us who have other dogs we love in the fight. For example, Game of Thrones is a brave new contender, but even with its near-perfect season, it probably doesn't matter so long as Mad Men's on the table; the reigning champ's going to win the top drama award everywhere it goes. And every year that it does, however much it might deserve it, it gets a little tougher for shows that are just as good to get the recognition they deserve.
So I propose having a change to all television awards shows. This addition could take one of two forms, and either would be sufficient. Let's put them in the context of the Emmys, for example:
Option #1
For option number one, we have a very simple solution. When we come down to the final award, for Best Drama, they'll open up the card and announce the inevitable winner, Mad Men. Everyone will cheer mildly as Matt Weiner comes to the stage and accepts the award with a speech that's slightly smugger than the previous years.
Then, as he and the entire cast return to their seats, the presenters will return to the microphone. Let's assume, for the sake of the hypothetical, that the presenters are Joshua Jackson and Melissa McCarthy, who will be announcing the Emmy nominations on July 14.
Joshua: Congratulations once again to Mad Men, for its fourth win in a row!
(mild applause)
Melissa: Yes, it really is hard to believe, isn't it Josh?
Joshua: Not really, no.
(mild applause)
Melissa: Who would have won if Mad Men hadn't?
(Joshua reaches into his jacket pocket, and pulls out... another card!)
Joshua: And your Best Drama runner-up is...
If you're feeling classy, you can even name the award "First Alternate," and give the executive producer of the show a sash, beauty pageant style. Both "Runner-up Best Drama" and "Best Drama - First Alternate" would great stickers for DVD packaging, and could give any of the shows a glimpse recognition that Mad Men would have otherwise entirely eclipsed.
Option #2
At the beginning of the ceremony, even before the cute little opening video that Jimmy Fallon or whoever is doing, have us cut to the center of the stage, where a presenter is already standing, holding a small card. Without any introduction, he loudly and clearly speaks. "And the Mad Men Award for Best Drama Goes to...," he says, and then pauses to open the card. "Mad Men!" he excitedly shouts feigning surprise. Weiner and the rest of the cast, flattered, come up to the stage as Weiner delivers a speech that is on roughly the same level of smugness as his speech the previous year.
Then, we play through the entire ceremony without any further mention of Mad Men. The Best Drama category doesn't include the show, and a new show is crowned Best Drama. Maybe it'll be Boardwalk Empire, The Good Wife, or The Walking Dead, or Fringe. Viewers get a break from the anticlimax of the past three years of Emmys, and the voters at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences can live with themselves knowing that they once again gave Mad Men the glory it deserves.
If a show deserves it, it should win. And, frankly, Mad Men has always deserved it. I watch every major show under the sun and I even like shows such as Fringe more than Mad Men. However, Mad Men is undeniably the best show on tv. Regardless if it is boring, it deserves it.
Mad Men is unquestionably great. This article's really about the futility of having a competition when Mad Men will so doubtlessly win.
The question is, is Mad Men the best dramaseries made in the USA?
Art is always a matter of taste, Mad Men does not cross a finishline faster then their competitors.
If another 3 seasons of Mad Men are on the way, and voting on it is out of habit, then the only solution is the above. But it would suggest that if it is not Mad Men, it is second rate.
Last year in my part of the world Boardwalk Empire got massive attention, because it was HBO, so must see TV. I did not like it at all, but still it appears on all the experts lists, out of habit or because something hyped so much you cannot dump.
Same goes for Walking Dead: I did not see it just read that after the pilot, things went downhill. It has zombies I believe, no idea why this is viewed as credible where a series as Fringe, on network tv, still does not get the recognition,
I will here only point to the writing of Fringe, especially the episodes written by the ladies Schapker/Breen, that is highclass drama, it has a different setting.
Game of Thrones, HBO, is a form of fantasy, set in the past, Fringe is Fantasy, set in scifi wich just as well could turn out to be a trip in the human mind . Watch Marionette, the most beautiful written episode with the central theme am I just a skin/eyes are the windows of the soul.(So beautifully played by Anna Torv).
On Mad Men: I wonder if the series will stand the test of time, I tried to follow it when it started, but by chance saw a late 50's film Grey Flannel Suit (I hope I rembered the title correctly)and thought how original is Mad Men?