Maddening

I am always late to the party when it comes to television series. I finally tuned into the Sopranos during the last months of its final season. Spent 10 minutes once in my sister's living room watching American Idol. Three years after launch, I watched my first episode of Sex & the City.

Maybe that's why I am such a bore at cocktail parties. Or am clueless about the cover subjects on People magazine.

True to form, I decided to take a first look at Mad Men, now in its third (??) season. But I didn't watch the current episodes. Decided to start from the beginning and work my way through, kind of like a foreign language course. So I am renting the first season DVD's thru Netflix and watched episode 1 last night. I think I'm going to get hooked on style over substance. Booze, broads, cigarettes, office rivalries, all good so far!! And the very handsome Don Draper reminds me of many characters I knew from Time Inc central casting. I already picked out the agency guy I think is gay, but we will see what future episodes bring. (Don't spoil this for me!)

The treatment of women depicted here is appalling but I think on the mark for the era. And I wonder really how far have we come since then? Lyrics have changed but the tunes are still pretty familiar. Better outfits for both genders back then--at least in TV-Land.