Mad Men

Mad Men is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner for AMC. It ran from July 19, 2007 until May 17, 2015, with seven seasons and 92 episodes. The series title is allegedly borrowed from the phrase advertisers working on Madison Avenue used to refer to themselves, although, the only documented use of the phrase may derive from the late-1950s work of James Kelly, an advertising executive and writer.

Set between March 1960 and November 1970, Mad Men follows Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a senior executive and creative director at Sterling Cooper, a Manhattan-based advertising agency. Other primary characters include Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), Don's secretary; Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), a mid-level executive at Sterling Cooper; Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), the agency's office manager; Roger Sterling (John Slattery), the agency's name partner; Betty Draper (January Jones), Don's wife; and in later seasons, Sally Draper (Kiernan Shipka), Don's oldest child. As the series progresses, it depicts the changing moods and social mores of the United States throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.

Weiner first developed Mad Men in 2000 but it was greenlit by AMC several years later, acting as the network's first original series. Principal photography for Mad Men primarily took place in New York City and Los Angeles during its run and the writers conducted large amounts of research to accurately depict its time period. The series is considered the breakthrough roles for Hamm, Slattery, and Jones and helped revive the career of Hendricks.

Mad Men received widespread acclaim for its writing, acting, directing, historical authenticity and visual style. It won several awards, including 16 Emmys and 5 Golden Globes. Mad Men is the first basic cable series to receive the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, winning it each year of its first four seasons (2008–2011). It is widely regarded part of the Golden Age of Television in the early 21st century and as one of the greatest television series of all time.