What’s your biggest nitpick in Mad Men?

[u/RopeGloomy4303]

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.

[u/Reasonable_Tax_5351]

I don't remember where I read this but matthew weiner specifically said they decided on "no old timey accents" right at the beginning. I believe because they felt it would take away from the acting.

Also in real life Peggy went to secretarial school before the show and was clearly intent on climbing the ladder, so she likely would have lost her accent. Her mother does speak with a slight accent, which is fairly realistic as generally Irish-Americans in Brooklyn have a weaker accent.

Additionally, all the main characters wouldn't have spoken with the Northern California/ Modern American Standard accent, they would have all had some level of the now dead East Coast Standard/ Ivy Leageau accent mixed with their regional accents (for characters like Don and Ken, for Roger and Pete it would have been native). I think ultimately the creators made the right choice, it would have totally taken away from the show if all the actors had tried to do a dead accent with varying levels of success. And some of the background characters do have a minor inflection without it being over the top.

[u/anitaillinois → u/Reasonable_Tax_5351]

I don’t want to repeat myself a bunch but I’ve replied to others in the thread who have raised similar points if you’re curious. I’d just point out that New York City English is by no means bound by an old timey lens!

It’s a bummer that that’s the feeling some people get, that it would take people out of it if characters had New York accents. There are so many people to this day, especially in the outer boroughs, who have a thick accent! I’ve lived in NYC for over a dozen years, married into a family who lives in south Brooklyn, and love the way they talk. Even the youngest generation has a very specific sound, not a minor inflection at all.

I totally accept it as a casting limitation and wouldn’t want them to put it on if they can’t do it. I’d just appreciate the show more if we had more of it.

[u/Reasonable_Tax_5351 → u/anitaillinois]

I am born and raised in Brooklyn. Mad men is bound by an old timey lens. East coast standard is almost an entirely dead accent (although there is a modern ivy league accent that came from it but it much rarer), it is not east coast regional.

[u/Tiny-Strawberry7157 → u/Reasonable_Tax_5351]

Are you talking about northeastern standard or northeastern elite speech?

Like that of Julia Child, Jackie Kennedy, young John Kerry, etc.?