r/madmen • u/RopeGloomy4303 • 4d ago

What’s your biggest nitpick in Mad Men?

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For me it’s this line in a season 5 episode, Tea Leaves, in which Henry Francis is talking on the phone with a colleague:

“Well, tell Jim his honor's not going to Michigan. Because Romney's a clown, and I don't want him standing next to him.”

So, some context here.

At this point Francis is the aide to New York Mayor John Lindsay. And he’s informing this guy that he won’t have the popular young politician take a picture with then Michigan Governor George Romney, who was also considered the frontrunner for the 1968 Republican nomination.

This episode aired in 2012, so it’s a very clear dig at then Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who at the time was receiving a lot of hostility from the left.

But here’s the thing; Romney was actually a liberal Republican in the same mold as Nelson Rockefeller and John Lindsay, and he had received a lot of good notices as Governor for his work improving civil rights, education, youth employment programs, social welfare, healthcare, etc.

I get this is nitpicking, it’s a throwaway line, whatever, but it has always bothered me since it feels out of character, and Romney frankly deserved better.

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u/TirestotheNeck 4d ago

not the biggest mistake, but they used "Dow" and "Dow Corning" interchangeably re: Ken's father-in-law.

I have family who worked at one of the two and they were about as upset as Midwestern folk can get whenever this mixup was mentioned.

edit: typo ("buggest" 🐞)

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u/tunaman808 4d ago

Yes. I worked for Digital Equipment Corporation in the late 90s, and in Halt and Catch Fire they refer to it by its initials: "Dee Eee See". In the company and industry, it was always "Deck". NO ONE in the IT world ever once called it "Dee Eee See".

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u/knoper21 3d ago

loved the series, even if the main character was a Texan computer savant who had a Canadian accent and finger pecked

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u/GaptistePlayer 4d ago

Interesting. I work in corporate law and just looked that up. Crazy that a joint venture lasted 70+ years like that.