MAD MEN

Excellent T.V. show about MADison Avenue advertising executives in the 60's. Explores human psychology and marketing manipulation...two of my favorite topics. The first episode was better than the other two I have seen, but the show is still insightful and entertaining. I was won over by the show (well, initially it was the cover box and Christina Hendricks) by a part in the first episode where they were trying to market cigarettes now that it was undisputable that they were bad for you. They had a psychologist come in and suggest the use of the freudian idea of humans having a death wish. This was initially rejected by the main character (top ad. executive). Later you see him lying on the couch and as he's about to fall asleep he watches a fly buzz around the room before going straight at the light. Ultimately, however, the advertiser rejects this idea and comes up with something better. He understands it, the appeal of it, but knows its not good enough and that it would never fly with the company execs.