Monday, May 18, 2015

A Fond Farewell To Mad Men

8 comments:

Who Am Us Anyway? said...

So ... I guess i should watch it? How would you rank Mad Men next to Breaking Bad, Twin Peaks, or (even) Lost? Is it in that ballpark?

Mythical Monkey said...

I cannot tell a lie (actually, I can, and I'm pretty good at it to, but today, I choose not to) -- we only watched the first few episodes of Breaking Bad before giving up (Walter White was at the birthday party of some rich guy who made a bundle off Walter's idea. We turned it off in the middle and never went back). The only episodes of Twin Peaks I ever saw were a couple that featured Jane Greer in a guest role. And I never laid eyes on Lost.

I'm easily put off -- we only have time to follow about four series at a time and they fall out of favor quickly.

If my pal Bellotoot stops by, maybe he can chime in. I know he watched both Mad Men and Breaking Bad and might be able to comment on their relative merits.

Who Am Us Anyway? said...

"I cannot tell a lie (actually, I can, and I'm pretty good at it to, but today, I choose not to)" So I'm reading your comment in my email notification way and not on the blog itself, and I'm thinking: "huh, I don't remember writing that, but not bad -- maybe i should drink to excess before I blog more often." And then i finished the sentence and realized that it wasn't me after all. But for a moment there I really did think your comment was mine and I was quite happy about that :-)

But well, yeah, Breaking Bad is my fave TV series of all time. I honestly think it's brilliant in the old-fashioned sense of the term AND that it got better every season, which as we know is not the usual quality arc. Then, in my limited experience I've got Twin Peaks, Lost, & Firefly, in that order. The first 3 slayed me, and I thought all 3 were better than 90 percent of the movies I've seen. Firefly was just great fun. But then again, I haven't seen that many movies. Or that much TV either -- the TV I've since I was kid has been Netflix, not live. But if we were to discuss the TV I grew up in front of, and I know we're not but if we WERE, I have to believe The Avengers with Diana Rigg would withstand the test of time. Hmmm ... if there's a dvd of that show, it's on my wish list ... You know what, I'm going to Mr. Google to check out that very possibility right now. Well, after i blab some more but then right then.

To wit, although I made a different decision than you did re "investing" (investing?) what, am I the president calling for yet more domestic spending of money we don't have?) more time in Breaking Bad, but you won't find me arguing because I completely agree, support, & respect The Working Rule I think we both have: Life is short and getting shorter. There is so very much to watch that we haven't watched yet; so very much to read that we haven't read yet, that if a book or movie puts us off, we rightly should be out of there faster than the wink of a pretty girl's eye -- you & me, Myth, we're busy men & every day we're closer to death!

Mythical Monkey said...

maybe i should drink to excess before I blog more often

That's what I aim for -- to write drunk while being stone cold sober.

Mythical Monkey said...

Breaking Bad is my fave TV series of all time. I honestly think it's brilliant in the old-fashioned sense of the term AND that it got better every season, which as we know is not the usual quality arc

That's what my pal bellotoot says, that it gets better and better as it goes along. I suspect that knowing next to nothing about it going in, I should have given it more time. I just get intensely uncomfortable watching characters being humiliated.

Loved Firefly by the way.

We really enjoyed the Battlestar Galactica reboot from about ten years ago. Streamed the whole thing off Netflix or amazon Prime or someplace in about three weeks. Same for Veronica Mars.

mister muleboy said...

Who -- WHoLoo Plus [aka Hulu Plus] offers seasons 4, 5, 6 & 7 of The Avengers.

Black and White. Diana Rigg.

Did I mention that there are four seasons of Rigg ?


A wildly entertaining show.

My bride and I could not stick with Breaking Bad as long as the Monkey and K-T-B-t-D; we bailed at the end of the first episode.


My loss, I'm sure.

Bellotoot said...

Damn good, the lyrics of "Nature Boy" added to "A Beautiful Mine." Hard to stop listening to it; scary good together.

"Breaking Bad" is also scary good. Each episode expands each character, with exceptional believability (remarkable, given the plot). I wound up identifying with just about all them, in turn. And enjoyed every moment of it. Add to that Bryan Cranston's brilliant performance - nobody has ever been better on TV. Analogy: Cranston in "Breaking Bad" is to TV drama as Don Rickles is to comedy. High praise, indeed.

mister muleboy said...

I came on here to get Who to give [gently] the MOnkey some shit, same as he's giving the Mule. Okay, not "giving some shit" -- gently urging moribund outlets to pick up their games.

But I found it funny that I was going to send a personal email to the Monkey's alter ego advising him to watch "The Avengers" on Hulu Plus -- only to find that I'd already done so.