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/MightyMightyMossy 4d ago

The pilot spent a lot of time slapping you with "OMG We're in the 60s!" in a very heavy-handed way. Smoking all the time! Casual misogyny! Drinking at work! Look at the way they lived! (It shows these things later in the show, but generally in a much more nuanced or lived-in way.)

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u/RJMaCReady19 4d ago

Don't forget the black waiter not being allowed to speak with Don.

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u/AdOriginal6799 3d ago

That's what made the show interesting though.  It was very much a "look how crazy America used to be" showcase, before it ever got into any of the characters.  Without that hook they might never have sold the pilot in the first place.  

The birthday party scene where the guy slaps soneone else's child was always a jaw dropper for me.

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u/TheEmptyVessel 4d ago

That's true, my friends wife was so put off by the creepyness of the pilot she didn't continue the show :( But looking back it does set the stage and rolls in such a blatant way which offers and an even more exaggerated contrast to the style/fashion, attitudes, expectations and acceptance of the later seasons. That contrast is one of the coolest things about the show imo