Mad Men Ratings Sink in Week Two - Don’t Be Surprised

When asked to play Monday morning quarterback and pinpoint the cause for the near 40 percent ratings drop (Washington Post) from the season two premiere to the following week’s ep of AMC’s Mad Men, Time.com TV critic James Poniewozik had two theories: the first having to do with DVRs and iPods and the like, but we’ll focus on his second thought, because it’s dead on. Said James, “I suspect mainly there were new viewers who tuned in attracted by the hype, expected fireworks, found a deliberate character study in which most of the action involves talking, smoking and drinking—and checked out.”

First of all, trying on a new series a full season behind rarely leads to a satisfying viewing experience. Latecomers, do it right with due diligence and a Netflix account, or not at all. Those looking to jump onto a moving vehicle would do right by a slow crosstown bus of the MTV & VH1 variety - time enough for two commercial breaks is all that’s required to learn who’s who and what’s what - very black and white, captioned and packaged for on-sight I.D. and distinction between the bad boys and girls and the approaching-tolerable ones.

Second, Mad Men and other multilayered slow-burners like the The Wire don’t earn loyal viewers through accolades (handfuls of critics have rated The Wire as one of the greatest in television history, yet it garnered only one Emmy nomination in its final season), they come from trusted word of mouth. If your friends need to be watching Mad Men, they’ve received the prodding by now.

Third, no invested Mad Men viewer gives two shits about ratings. The small tent factor is the kind of thing that us early adopting blowhards subsist on.

tedzee | Permalink | August 7 2008 | Comments (View)