re: Mad Men vs other shows

The reasons shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad get such good reviews is because they appeal to the masses. You can watch them on a basic level and just care about the main plot line but a friend of mine who is a psychologist deeply inspects the character study of characters in the shows such as Betty Draper from Mad Men and Gus from Breaking Bad. They make you care about characters that you'd never think you'd care about. You wouldn't think you'd care about a cheating husband like Don Draper or a meth dealer like Walt White, but a lot of people do.