So I am a huge, enormous, cannot-believe-it-is-not-airing-this-summer Mad Men fan. I also am one of the few (less than one million) viewers who watched Mad Men from the very beginning (it was an add featuring the use of "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse and Christina Hendricks' ample bosom that got me interested. Sex doesn't only sell to men, you know). So when I heard of a "British Mad Men" I was excited. Of course it is only 6 episodes as opposed to 13, and I must admit my British history is musty at best (or one could just say that anything besides American history simply isn't taught in American schools).
First and foremost, The Hour is not Mad Men. This is not shocking. I would possibly call it a curse to call a show "The Next Mad Men". Swingtown was supposed to be the 70's version of Mad Men (I actually did watch that show and quite enjoyed it - why it was on CBS still puzzles me) and it irked viewers when it wasn't. And now we have not one but two period shows coming out here in the US - Pan Am and Playboy. I read the Playboy script and thought "Meh" (also Eddie Cibrian is not a good actor and his Don Draper imitation is derivative, at best). I admit I have neither read nor seen the Pan Am pilot, but from what I have heard, it's supposed pretty good. However, Pan Am will not be "The Next Mad Men" because Matthew Weiner isn't the creative mind behind it. Call Mr. Weiner what you will (as many have done), he is a brilliant writer who has the balls to fight for his show (according to him) regardless of money.
I think The Hour shows great promise and there are some comparisons to be drawn between the two series - I love Dominic West as Hector Madden. I loved him in The Wire as McNulty, and before that, I loved him as Sandra Bullock's boyfriend in 28 Days (a movie no one saw but myself). He is not a cheap imitation of Don Draper but a close cousin - he oozes charm and sex appeal but you have a sneaking suspicion that underneath that blue suit (a color that Pete Campbell prefers) he is unmistakably unhappy. Just look at the way he talks about his wife with Bel Rowley (Romola Garai). I hope these two get it on, but I do believe that Bel is in for a world of heartache.
I am not as familiar with Romola Garai's work as I am with the other two leads, but friends have told me she was wonderful in Atonement. Bel is kind of a hybrid between Peggy Olson and Joan Holloway in the sense that while Peggy is not as beautiful as Bel, Bel's beauty seems to make things perhaps harder than they would be for her otherwise, a la Joan Holloway. Ben Winshaw, whose performances I enjoyed in both Bright Star and Brideshead Revisited, is equal parts bitter and vulnerable as Freddie Lyon.
The biggest thing working against the series is the inconsistent writing - Michael Deacon of The Telegraph noted that instead of showing sexism, it spells it out explicitly for the viewers disgust (or perhaps enjoyment). Any good screenwriting professor will tell you to show, not tell (don't write "on the nose"). The weakest parts of the pilot had specifically to do with a debutante who begins the pilot getting married to some gorgeous actor, and by the end of the pilot, *spoiler* kills herself. Whenever she was on screen I felt like I was watching a bad melodrama. I didn't care about her, Ben Winshaw's relationship to her, or her relationship to the mysterious deceased professor. I'm actually glad she's dead.
I am excited to see how Bel, Freddie, and Hector work together at the BBC and I await the second episode in the hopes that the writing becomes more nuanced and less preachy. But what a time to premiere show about corruption in the British Press, Police, etc...It's almost as if it were planned that way (dun dun DUN!).
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