Why There's Been No Equivalent of Mad Men Set In a Different Era

For the record before we start, I'm hoping this article inspires someone to write a drama that does manage to pull this off.

If you watch the series as obsessively as I do (which I highly don't recommend), then it starts to dawn on you why the 1960s were really the best years to portray on television with these particular actors. It's not that every decade doesn't see a lot of change, it's that this particular era saw so much turnover in terms of society's roles. Never before had an industrialized nation had this type of radicalism in terms of Civil Rights, Vietnam and the changing roles of women happen all at the same time.

The foundations had been clearly laid, but the revolution really took place in this decade. If anything, the writers downplayed a lot of struggle, especially considering the main characters were almost exclusively people of means. Don't get me wrong, the success of this show was also largely rooted in the character development and the stunning acting abilities of practically everyone who deigned to grace the show with their presence. However, in a world full of canceled shows and discarded pilots, it makes sense that a Mad Men of the 1950s hasn't yet been announced.

I imagine the original script would be set in a car plant which introduces you to the Vice President, a plucky factory employee and a secretary who's smarter than everyone in the facility. It could certainly be done with the right staff and cast, but it might fail to connect with the wider audience that Mad Men did. Both younger people and older people alike could relate to the themes of how family should fit into the workplace, and many of the arguments that first developed in the 1960s still feel relevant to us today. Let's not forget too that Mad Men didn't stay in the 1960s for the whole series either. They did manage to take us into the next decade with aplomb, so many that's the next logical place for show creators to start.

This post was written by Melody Gee, Content Director of http://www.onlinefaxes.com/.

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