5 Reasons I'll Miss Mad Men

I'll admit, I missed jumping on the Mad Men bandwagon when season 1 initially aired. I heard it was good, but could never find AMC -- at first I thought it was A&E, then maybe TCM. Who can keep track of all the acronyms? One day, while strolling thru Best Buy, I happened on the 1st season on DVD. It had very cool packaging, like a flip top cigarette lighter. Being a marketer's consumer, I was intrigued.

So I bought, and I watched, and I loved. You can bet I never missed an episode of season 2 (and even found it on channel 54!). I'm sad the season is over so quickly. I've really enjoyed taking a trip back to 1962 every Sunday night. Here's why I'm counting the days until season 3 (or at least until 2 comes out on DVD):

1) Dreamy Don Draper. I can say no more.

2) Love the opening credits. It really transports you back to that time, like falling down the rabbit hole. Combined with the costumes and the culture (Drinking in the office? Sleeping on your office couch? A pregnant woman smoking while at the doctor's office? Scandalous!), it's such a stark contrast to the politically correct, health-conscious world we live in today.

3) The story lines are never neatly tied up. It keeps me tuning in from week to week to see if Basketcase Betty will ever forgive the original Dapper Don for his dalliances, or whether Peggy will ever embrace reality and tell Pete she had his baby and gave it away, will Joan really marry her creepy fiance after he basically raped her in her boss's office (and will she put an eye out with those boobs?), is Sal EVER coming out of the closet, and now that Duck is hitting the sauce again, who knows what will happen with the Sterling Cooper merger?

4) Aside from Roger Sterling (played by the awesomely arrogant John Slattery -- remember him from SATC? He liked to be peed on.), I really never saw any of these actors before, but I'm impressed with their skills the same way I'm blown away when I see a Broadway show. HBO must be kicking itself for passing on this.

5) The marketer in me appreciates the way advertising has been integrated into the show. Even the commercials have a historical feel -- nice job BMW and Heineken -- so it never totally takes you out of the mood. Really slick!

I also love that my mom and I have a phone date every Sunday at 10pm to watch the show together. I guess that's reason #6. Maybe we'll need to start having a Dancing with the Stars phone date now...it has costumes too.