Mad Men: Season 1
  • Network: AMC
  • Series Premiere Date: Jul 19, 2007
  • Season #: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6
Metascore
77 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
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  1. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    75
    This show, and the world it reconstructs, gets much better, and more comfortable, as it goes along.
  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    70
    As a serialized drama, the program's situations aren't especially stirring, even with its solid, perfectly outfitted cast. The sheer atmosphere, however, proves intoxicating.
  3. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    90
    "I'm living like there is no tomorrow because there isn't one." Not a pretty sentiment, to be sure, but it makes for an intriguing character in what's likely to be the best new summer series of 2007.
  4. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    90
    A really extraordinary new drama.
  5. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    90
    This sleek, sexy, smartly cynical drama about selling everything from cigarettes to Nixon also nails the era's attitudes of casual prejudice and sexual manipulation.
  6. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Robert Bianco
    100
    Mad Men is a joy to watch - the clothes, the clocks, the furniture, it's like a mid-century night's dream. But this is no mere period piece. It's a smart, complex drama that attempts to get through the facades that have always hidden the truth.
  7. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    80
    Mad Men is first and foremost an intelligently made character drama.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    100
    The acting (from a mostly unknown cast), cinematography (you can just stare at this series) and especially Weiner's writing carry the series to exceptional heights.
  9. Newark Star-Ledger
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    70
    The show does such an amazing job of evoking a world not that long-gone, and in a way that makes it equal parts alluring and appalling.
  10. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Glenn Garvin
    80
    Mad Men is a captivating experience.
  11. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Alessandra Stanley
    80
    Mad Men is both a drama and a comedy and all the better for it, a series that breaks new ground by luxuriating in the not-so-distant past.
  12. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mary McNamara
    90
    Mad Men has found a strange and lovely space between nostalgia and political correctness and filled it with interesting people, all of them armed with great powers of seduction.
  13. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Tom Shales
    40
    The costumes and sets are just ducky and highly evocative, but the people in and around them spoil the show, gum up the works and shatter veracity.
  14. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Diane Werts
    50
    To steal from the old beer slogan, (this show) looks great, (but it's) less filling (than it intends).
  15. Orlando Sentinel
    Reviewed by: Hal Boedeker
    100
    Wit and glamour sell this top-quality product.
  16. Slate
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    70
    Some us also go in for TV shows that have the potential to ripen into astringent Billy Wilder-style examinations of what lust can do to the white-collar soul.
  17. Salon
    Reviewed by: Heather Havrilesky
    80
    Mad Men is smart, funny, eye-opening, and probably 10 times better than anything you'll see this fall, so don't miss it.
  18. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Doug Elfman
    88
    It's hard for an artistic entity to balance that kind of American duality. Mad Men does so in a subtler and more natural way than "Natural Born Killers" did satirically.
  19. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    80
    It is something rare and wonderful, a remarkable, original vision.
  20. Detroit Free Press
    Reviewed by: Mike Duffy
    80
    As a witty social history viewed through the tempestuous prism of office and sexual politics, Mad Men is big fun ... classy entertainment with a brain.
  21. San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times
    Reviewed by: Charlie McCollum
    90
    The series is a funny, knowing, sometimes dark, sometimes romantic take on the time just before the power of advertising was fully realized.
  22. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Dorothy Rabinowitz
    70
    Mad Men is infinitely more concerned with entertainment, an effort at which it succeeds, thanks mostly to its first-rate cast, disarming humor and period detail.
  23. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    80
    Mad Men may thrive on a certain heartless suspense, but it's definitely got a brain, one that's interested in how our lives are a battle between the narrative we imagine for ourselves and the path we happen to be on.
  24. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Adam Buckman
    100
    If you check out Mad Men tonight, I guarantee you'll be back next week.
  25. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: John Leonard
    40
    This series feel like a fifties leftover, chock-full of unimportant secrets.
  26. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Gloria Goodale
    83
    It's very filmic both in execution and ambition as it explores life before Betty Friedan and the Surgeon General's warnings on cigarette packs.
  27. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Nancy Franklin
    80
    Mad Men is smart and tremendously attractive, and it stirs you more than it probably should.
  28. The New Republic
    Reviewed by: Sacha Zimmerman
    40
    The mood is serious, not campy, and there aren't laugh-out-loud moments, just a lot of groaners--at which point, the show simply becomes a reflection of its characters: depressing.
  29. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    83
    What gives Mad Men its zing is that play is part of work, sexual banter isn't yet harassment, and America is free of self-doubt, guilt, and countercultural confusion.
  30. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Randy Cordova
    80
    The premiere is so well constructed in every department, it would be near-impossible to skip the next episode. If the show can keep up this level of quality, it could wind up being one of the greats.
  31. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Randee Dawn
    40
    There's much to admire about Mad Men, and much worth tuning in for. But so far, it's all soft sell.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.6 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 335 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 84 out of 100
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 100
  3. Negative: 9 out of 100
  1. BlakeP
    10
    Though it takes quite a bit of time and effort to really submit into the world of "Mad Men", after a few episodes it's worth the patience. Once you become submerged in the business world of the '60's, it's ruthless, realistic atmosphere is so interesting that it's impossible to not be convinced that the actors involved really exist in our time. The show is consistently well-written, and every performance, particularly by Jon Hamm and January Jones, give it a sense of power that most TV shows beg for.… Full Review »
  2. JwGaming
    10
    The hype around this show was killing me and I really wanted to watch it, so I did and i did not regret wasting my time on it. Mad Men is awesome the era in which the show takes place is awesome the events that occur during each episode are interesting, the Actors are great and the backstory is great nonetheless. Big fan of the series so far !!… Full Review »
  3. Coquette10
    10
    This was the gem that got away (from HBO)...but gratefully, a show made all the more accessible to viewers on AMC. The music and strategic placement of the era songs, fashion and advertising campaigns make the ad family of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (formerly Sterling Cooper) very alluring from a social-cultural perspective. That most of the cast are virtually new to many of us viewers (except those of us who fondly remember Robert Morse back in the day) compels us to keep our eye on the script and story driven developments. The stylish look, the visual and audio nuances and the political and cultural backdrop are enticements to keep us all watching from Season to Season. Many of us had hoped to see MAD MEN go off into the hemisphere....moving through the Camelot years of the 60s, through the roaring turbulence of the 70s....incorporating some of the Disco era....to the Morning in America, when our long national nightmare would really be over. Yet, negotiations appear to deprive us from this so there remains only 3 seasons left. What to do....what to do??… Full Review »
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