I have never seen quite so much alcohol in any one television show as I have seen watching Mad Men’s third season, a box set of which Lions Gate sent for me to review.  Just watching this got me buzzed.  And considering that the cover art features a highball glass (at least I think it’s a highball glass), it underscores the theme of Mad Men nicely.

But it’s not just the epic quantities of hooch that’ll make your head swim here–it’s the sheer density of the plot.  We’re in the middle of an advertising agency (Sterling Cooper, later Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, on Madison Avenue, no less, hence the name Mad Men), and as such, there’s loads of infighting and backbiting going on here.  Positions are gained, power is traded, cigarettes are chain smoked like a wildfire in a tobacco field and, again, massive amounts of booze are quaffed.

Folks, speaking as someone who has a bachelor’s degree in marketing, I can say that what these guys actually know about advertising is pretty slim.  But then, we’re not here to learn how to get to Broca’s spot or land a Clio–we’re here to watch a bunch of guys in suits get hammered and hit on the secretaries while jockeying for position and going for the throat.  It’s a weird kind of post-modern soap opera, with a whomping huge note of authenticity, and yes, there is indeed enough firewater to float the Bolivian Navy home.  If this isn’t already a drinking game (if they take a drink, take a drink.  If they make a point of drinking before noon, empty the bottle.) I’d be downright amazed.

And it’s not just about the advertising, either–there are issues of marriages and weddings, divorces and infidelity, and everything in between.  Indeed, if you’re into the drama, then Mad Men is definitely going to be the drama for you.  That and I could count on one hand the number of period dramas that are set in the fifties offhand, so it definitely gets a whacking huge bonus for originality.  It’s not personally my cup of tea but I can definitely see where people would eat this up.

The Screenhead Ten Scale shares my respect, if not enjoyment, for Mad Men and thus hands it a seven out of ten for being a solid and thoroughly passable drama, even for those who really don’t favor the drama.