Mad Men
Character studyInterior life matters more than plot.This show: 10/10Period pieceSet meaningfully in a past era.This show: 10/10Slow burnDeliberate pacing where the payoffs are earned over long stretches.This show: 9/10Morally grayNo clean heroes or villains anywhere in sight.This show: 9/10Dialogue-drivenThe writing's voice is the main event.This show: 8/10WorkplaceThe job and its social ecosystem as the stage.This show: 8/10MelancholicA wistful sadness woven through the story, even in its lighter moments.This show: 8/10Antihero leadA protagonist doing bad things you can't stop watching.This show: 8/10
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Starring
Jon HammElisabeth MossVincent KartheiserJanuary JonesChristina HendricksAaron Staton
Written by
Matthew Weiner
Starring
Jon HammElisabeth MossVincent KartheiserJanuary JonesChristina HendricksAaron Staton
Written by
Matthew Weiner
Ratings per Episode
Votes per Episode
Mad Men Episode Ratings Heatmap
| Avg | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | E7 | E8 | E9 | E10 | E11 | E12 | E13 | E14 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 9.0 | 9.0 | ||
| S2 | 8.2 | 7.6 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.3 | 7.9 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 7.9 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.9 | ||
| S3 | 8.6 | 8.1 | 7.7 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 9.1 | 8.4 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 8.3 | 9.2 | 8.9 | 9.7 | ||
| S4 | 8.8 | 8.5 | 8.2 | 8.7 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 9.7 | 8.6 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 8.3 | 8.8 | 9.0 | ||
| S5 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 9.1 | 8.7 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 8.6 | ||
| S6 | 8.3 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 8.7 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 9.1 | ||
| S7 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.9 | 9.5 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 9.0 | 9.1 | 9.3 |
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About
"Ambition and self-deception dressed in perfect tailoring"
Set in a 1960s Madison Avenue advertising agency, the show follows Don Draper, a brilliant but secretive creative director, and the colleagues orbiting him as the decade's social upheavals creep into their gleaming offices. It's a slow-burn character study more than a plot-driven drama: gorgeous period design, sharp dialogue, and long silences that say as much as the words. The pace is deliberate, rewarding patience over binge momentum. What carries it is the acting and the way small personal moments accumulate into a devastating portrait of ambition, identity, and denial.
Watch it for
the slow accumulation of character detail that turns advertising executives into unforgettable, flawed people.
Maybe skip if
you want fast plotting rather than quiet, character-driven scenes that build meaning gradually.
Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.
All Seasons
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Season 12007
8.162K1310h 12m
Season one takes place between March and November 1960. It introduces the fictional advertising agency Sterling Cooper. The season begins with the new secretary, Peggy Olson, starting her first day with the firm. As the season unfolds, the mysterious backstory of enigmatic ad man Don Draper is revealed as are the growing confidence and success of Peggy Olson.
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Season 22008
8.245K1310h 36m
Season two takes place between February and October 1962, culminating with the Cuban Missile Crisis. It expands on Peggy's rise in the workplace and the marital strife between Don and Betty Draper as Don's infidelities further intrude on his family life. The second season also introduces an unknown acquaintance of Don Draper. Draper is corresponding by letter with this unseen acquaintance in secret.
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Season 32009
8.648K1312h 40m
Season three takes place six months after the conclusion of the second season and ends in December 1963. It chronicles the end of the "Camelot era" as the characters go through immense change in their professional and personal lives.
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Season 42010
8.847K1310h 24m
Season four takes place between November 1964 and October 1965. It is set at the new and considerably more modern advertising agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. The main narrative of the fourth season is driven by Don Draper's identity crisis. As Don falls deeper into existential despair, he begins regularly meeting with women of loose moral character and faces debilitating alcoholism.
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Season 52012
8.745K1310h 22m
Season 5 takes place between Memorial Day 1966 and spring 1967. The season explores Don Draper's new marriage to Megan, which leads him to ignore his work at the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce advertising agency. Meanwhile, Lane, Pete, Roger, Joan, and Peggy learn that it is "every man for himself" in their personal and professional lives, as they each face painful new beginnings.
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Season 62013
8.339K1310h 20m
Season 6 takes place between December 1967 and November 1968.
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Season 72014
8.747K1411h 13m
The first part of season 7 begins in January 1969, several weeks after the Thanksgiving 1968 ending of season 6, and ends in July 1969, with characters dealing with the dynamics of lives and offices being split between New York and Los Angeles.
Full Cast & Crew
Cast
Jon Hamm Don Draper
Elisabeth Moss Peggy Olson
Vincent Kartheiser Pete Campbell
January Jones Betty Francis, Betty Draper, Betty
Christina Hendricks Joan Harris, Joan Holloway
Aaron Staton Ken Cosgrove
Rich Sommer Harry Crane
John Slattery Roger Sterling
Kiernan Shipka Sally Draper
Robert Morse Bertram Cooper
Crew
Matthew Weiner
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