If Mad Men fans felt like channeling Joan Holloway when she stepped into the elevator after a particularly hard day at Sterling Cooper, and she mutters to Peggy Olson, "I want to burn this place to the ground," it would make a lot of sense.
After nearly a decade of Mad Men being available to stream on Netflix, the series' contract with the service expired, and it was briefly unavailable for streaming and could only be purchased from a mega-retailer like Amazon, or fans could buy physical box sets of the series. No need to disturb Jon Hamm's Don from a meeting; Mad Men is now available to stream once more!
'Mad Men' Can Be Streamed For Free
Most streaming services charge a monthly fee, but there are a handful of streaming services with content to stream for free! IMDB TV is a service affiliated with the Internet Movie Database, containing a limited number of ads within an episode, and the service costs nothing to use! IMDB TV now has the rights to stream Mad Men, and this includes all seven seasons of the series. Every single moment is preserved; fans can look back on every single Sterling Cooper ad campaign, all of the stunning Sixties-inspired fashions, and of course, all of the drama! There's no shortage of Don Draper's shortcomings.
'Mad Men' And Culture: The Series' Place In 2020
Television shows that have a focus on a specific era in culture can have both strengths and weaknesses when they air in a television landscape so far removed from the current cultural landscape. Mad Men begins in the early Sixties, and the series depicts the remainder of the decade, with the characters living their lives connected to actual, real-life events, with many instances featuring the characters' insight on world events unfolding around them.
2020's place in our history will forever be solidified as a period of extreme change surrounding cultural commentary. Historical political events taking place around the world have had unmatched eternal effects on society; Worldwide protests have brought positive long-term change, undoing practices in place for decades, some that have had extremely dangerous effects on the lives of marginalized groups. The massive cultural changes already taking place during the first six months of 2020 will have a place in the history books, a la many of the cultural events of the Sixties covered on Mad Men.
The act of watching television has become an activity of escapism for many this year, which may bode the question for some who are willing to explore the question, "What place does a series like Mad Men hold in a time of great social change and during a time period where the need for escapism and distraction is much-needed?"
The effort to come to an answer to this question was put into place upon the show's return to streaming. A controversial episode where Roger Sterling makes an unfortunate decision at a party and decides to dress up in blackface, won't be removed from the series' library, joining the recent trend of episodes being removed from streaming services which deal with sensitive subjects in the wake of the current cultural landscape.
The episode will instead feature a disclaimer at the beginning of the episode, highlighting how Roger's behavior was more commonplace in 1963. According to CBS News, the statement released by Lionsgate, emphasizes the series' commitment to providing viewers with a historically accurate outlook. The statement reads in part, "The series producers are committed to exposing the injustices and inequities in our society that continue to this day so we can examine the most painful parts of our history in order to reflect on who we are today and who we want to become."
From The Sixties To Present Day: Where The Cast Is Now
The Mad Men cast may forever be immortalized for their timeless performances through the series' return to streaming services, but it's worth looking into the cast's current achievements! Elisabeth Moss has gained notoriety in recent years for her award-winning performance in Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale, as well as taking her talents for drama to the big screen, notably her performance in Her Smell.
The man who brought Don Draper to life has several titles currently in both pre-and post-production, most recently appearing in a TV adaptation of the beloved film The Princess Bride. His TV daughter Kiernan Shipka, recently experienced sad news with the unexpected cancellation of her Netflix series The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina after three seasons. Shipka's TV mother January Jones has also been spending 2020 starring in a Netflix series; Jones appears in Spinning Out, a series about the trials and tribulations of competitive skating.
Mad Men may be a series that tells the story of a specific period and addresses issues tailored to a specific industry, but its exploration of cultural relations still holds an important place in the landscape of 2020, which will inevitably become an essential year for social change globally. No matter what decade it is, Mad Men will remain a powerful snapshot into a not-entirely-bygone era of historically important change and its results, and most importantly the societal and psychological effects they can bring to absolutely anyone, no matter the roles you play in your professional or personal life, both inside and outside of an advertising meeting.