Ok, I’ll admit I arrived late to this party. I always meant to catch this show but life got in the way. I’ve been bombarded recently with stories in print and on TV about “Mad Men,” and I’ve seen the displays in the windows of Banana Republic, so I made a point on Sunday to catch the debut of the fourth season to see what everyone’s talking about. (My broken foot has caused me to spend more time in front of the TV set.)

The show is dynamic, with enough “Desperate Housewives” drama thrown into the portrayal of ad agency life in the 1960’s to make it very compelling. (But again, most of you already knew that.) It’s fun to channel the swashbuckling 60’s. I especially liked the way the dialogue was written. My pet peeve is when period pieces are written in dialogue that was never used at the time. “Mad Men” is definitely written in the moment, from drinking your lunch to chain smoking to condemning divorced couples—all very un-PC practices today.

And I really appreciated the care in which the sets were carefully designed to remain true to that decade. The lighting is impeccable. And the clothing of that time is worn with great sex appeal by the lead, Jon Hamm.

I thought for a moment how much I would have loved to have been an adult in the business during that period. But then reality set in when I saw the way women were treated on the job back in those days. We’ve certainly come a long way.

The challenge for me now is to catch up on the first three seasons while simultaneously watching season four. I bet no one ever dreamed of a thing called Tivo back in 1964!

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