Hamm On Wry

Mad Men seems to have replaced Six Feet Under as my all-time favorite TV series. I pretty much love every element of the show, but what holds the thing together for me is Jon Hamm’s work as mercurial advertising exec, Don Draper, with his gallant good looks, world weary wit, shadowy past, & slow stewing swirl of esoteric existential tumult. Mad Men is set in early 1960s-before the revolutions of feminism, civil rights, & sexual liberation. Draper is the embodiment of that mid-century American Dream. He looks the way movie stars used to look, smokes the way people used to smoke, contemplates life the way men used to contemplate it, & Mad Men feels like nothing else I have ever seen on TV.

Hamm was born in Missouri 40 years ago today. Before Mad Men he enjoyed a decade's worth of walk-ons, pilots, & multi-episode arcs.


I found season 4 to be the best & the most compelling so far. I am looking forward to pouring a whiskey & settling in for Season 5 this summer. The things I can count on with certainty is that cigarettes will be smoked, office sex will be had, cocktails will be drunk, & changing social mores will be unpeeled. Until then, I will close my eyes & imagine what it would be like to be Jon Hamm.