Emmy Watch: Mad Men

The New York Times Magazine spends three days on the set of “Mad Men” with creator/producer/writer Matthew Weiner, and this weekend publishes an 8000-word love letter to the best-written series on television.

Weiner‚Äôs achievements with ‚ÄúMad Men,‚Äù which is produced by Lionsgate, are plentiful, starting with the storytelling. Setting it in the early 1960s, on the cusp between the repression and conformity of the cold war and McCarthy-era 1950s and the yet-to-unfold social and cultural upheavals of the 60s, allows Weiner an arc of character growth that is staggering in its possibilities. It also gives him the opportunity to mine the Rat Pack romance of that period, when the wreaths of cigarette smoke, the fog of too many martinis ‚Äî whether exhilarating or nauseating ‚Äî and the silhouettes specific to bullet bras only heightened the headiness of the dream that all men might one day become James Bond or, at the very least, key holders to the local Playboy Club…

In an e-mail message, Ed Carroll, president of AMC Networks, said: “The network was looking for distinction in launching its first original series, and we took a bet that quality would win out over formulaic mass appeal. In our view, there’s no doubt it paid off.”

No doubt at all. If you’ve seen Mad Men you know how brilliant it is. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, the Season One DVD is released July 1st, so you can look forward to watching the best epic 10-hour Billy Wilder movie that Billy Wilder never made.