re: Is there anyone here that doesn't think Mad Men was one of the best shows ever?

I love Mad Men, it's probably my favorite show of all time. It wasn't my favorite show my first time watching it through (though I greatly enjoyed it), but I think it's one of those shows that you get significantly more out of on subsequent viewings than you do on the first one. Once you know what happens and have the overall arc of the characters you don't have to worry about focusing on the plot and can get to the core of what the show is actually about.

Mad Men obviously is NOT a very plot oriented show (it's proably less plot oriented than any other show I can think of offhand). It's really a show about character study and in that regard I find it absolutely brilliant. Mad Men is rarely about the "what" that happens, but about the "why". Why a character did this, why a character said that. Even today if you visit the Mad Men reddit page many of the discussions center around the reasons and motivations for why the characters did the things they did. And the show doesn't exactly spoon feed it to you, it leaves a lot of things open to interpretation (which is why many state that it's not a great "binge" show; it's better when you leave some time to ruminate on things). Random example I just grabbed from reddit: the most commented thread from the last few days is a thread theorizing what Henry Francis was thinking while reading Don's "Why I'm quitting tabacco" letter.

Some criticize the characters for being unlikable, which is a fair feeling to have, they all often act very selfishly, sometimes even destructively. But I never really felt them unlikable, I felt them realistic. To me they feel like real life human beings who sometimes do things right and sometimes make mistakes and do things wrong. The fun, at least for me, isn't to concentrate on the things they do, but to think about the reasons why they do them. They all have their own hidden insecurities and past traumas that color who they are and why they act the way they do. Just like we do in real life.

I can certainly understand why the show isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I love it and it's become my favorite to revisit every few years.

I’ve enjoyed the episodes I’ve seen.

Happy to see the pro-Mad Men crowd starting to speak up. When longevity is considered, it's in my top 10 TV shows ever. Ignoring longevity (including mini-series and accidental one-offs), the likes of Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, and Firefly might push it just outside of my top 10.

Either way, it's a phenomenal show. I completely understand why people that want a plot driver show don't like it. The end of S3 (I think) when the main characters ruin the sale of the company is the only stretch of the show where there's a lot going on in terms of progressing a story. And Pete is really the only character that grows (though Joan "grows" throughout the series jajaja am I right fellas?).

Thank you for proving my point. I didn't even say either show was bad and you downvoted. Lighten up Francis.

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Far and away my favorite character on the show. He had all the best lines.

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Like when they were negotiating the Honda contract and he heard they wanted conditions. He burst into the room: "I don't want any conditions - UNCONDITIONAL!!!". LOL

And, more seriously, after his heart attack: "Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think". (Which I didn't realize until years later is a song.)