FAQ

In several interviews, Jon Hamm (who plays Donald Draper) has stated that, on the set of Mad Men, they smoke Ecstacy herbal cigarettes - which don't contain the addictive ingredients, such as nicotine, tar or tobacco. But they are certainly still inhaling smoke in to their lungs.

Season 1 opens in March 1960 and finishes Thanksgiving Day, 24th November 1960. Season 2 picks up on Valentine's Day, 14th February 1962 and ends in October 1962 with the peaceful resolution of the Cuban missile crisis. Season 3 starts somewhere during Spring 1963 with Betty Draper (January Jones) being approximately six months pregnant and ends on the evening of 16th December 1963. Season 4 begins around Thanksgiving in November 1964 and ends in October 1965. Season 5 begins on Memorial Day weekend in May 1966 and ends in March 1967. Season 6 begins at Christmastime in December 1967 and ends on Thanksgiving Day, 28th November 1968. Season 7 begins in January 1969, around the inauguration of President Richard Nixon and ends mid-season on the morning of 22nd July 1969, two days after the successful moon landing of Apollo 11. The second half of season 7 jumps to 1970 with the final episode playing in October 1970.

The first season ended on Thanksgiving Day 1960, with Don's marriage in tatters and the soundtrack blaring Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", a song that didn't come out until 1963. "I didn't know if the show would be picked up," Matthew Weiner explained. "I was saying: 'Here's this song. This is what's coming.'" Source: The New York Times.

John Cheever's short stories about midcentury suburbia were a major inspiration, but not Richard Yates's 1961 novel, "Revolutionary Road," to which the series is often compared. But don't watch the movie by the same name expecting to see a full length movie version of Mad Men, all it may share is the approximate time period and it's about a couple's relationship.

Mr. Weiner had never heard of Yates when he wrote the "Mad Men" pilot in 2000. "'Revolutionary Road' was given to me three years after I wrote the pilot," he said. He says if he had read the book before, he wouldn't have had the nerve to write the show: "Yates was there. This is what he was writing about."Source: The New York Times

They share the same father, Archibald Whitman. Dick's mother was a prostitute named Evangeline who died in childbirth; Adam's mother was Archibald's wife, Abigail. Dick's stepfather, Uncle Mack (Morgan Rusler) can be heard saying "You have the same father", when Dick (who later changed identities with Don Draper) says "He is not my brother..." in reaction to his stepmother Abigail Whitman (Brynn Horrocks) showing him her new-born baby named Adam.

Matthew Weiner and the rest of the production staff strive for accuracy in terms of props, language and themes. The issue of whether the "frat boy" atmosphere and the casual racism and sexism of Sterling Cooper is an accurate representation of 1960s advertising is apparently a contentious one. Some people who have worked in advertising at the time have taken issue with the inappropriate conduct depicted on the show (one interviewee mentioning that they had several female copywriters at his agency), while others have claimed that this behavior is accurate. On the show itself it's indicated that different agencies may behave differently (at one point for example Paul Kinsey comments that while Sterling Cooper drinks lots of booze, his friend works at an agency where they smoke more marijuana). It is possible that Sterling Cooper is an accurate portrayal of SOME agencies at the time and an inaccurate portrayal of others.

Some critics also feel that Mad Men misunderstands the racism and sexism of the time and portrays the ad industry as more white and male than it really was. Critics have pointed out that while Peggy is the only female copywriter at Sterling Cooper, Helen Gurley Brown had been one of the highest paid copywriters in the industry in the 1950s. Also noted is a scene where Roger comments, somewhat amazed, that rival ad firm BBDO "hired a colored kid." Critics have noted that at the time the art director for BBDO was African American. Keep in mind, this may also be ignorance on the character's part. Roger being amazed another agency would "hire a colored kid" just showcases Roger's racism. A man who also does blackface to make his guests laugh.

In the season one episode "Red in the Face", Roger makes a drunken pass at Betty after a dinner party. As revenge, Don arranges to humiliate Roger. Before a meeting with Nixon's people, Don and Roger go to lunch where they down copious amounts of alcohol and eat equally heroic amounts of shellfish. When they get back to the office, the elevator operator, Hollis, says that the elevator is out of order (as per Don's arrangement), forcing them to climb the 23 flights of stairs to the Sterling Cooper offices. The combination of oysters, booze, and vigorous labor make Roger sick and he vomits on the floor in front of the Nixon team.