Driving drunk down the Mad Men highway
During the early part of the summer, I decided to catch on to Mad Men. I watched all the
episodes from last year and started with the new ones. A friend told me it was great and it's become the only "must see" show I have these days now that Sopranos is gone. Last night it won the best drama Emmy.
(I will watch Lost when it returns, but that's only because I feel obligated after having watched so many episodes already. But it's tiresome. There's got to be a payoff at some point, right?)
Anyway, one of the amusing things about Mad Men is to see how times have changed. It occurs in the early 1960s. They smoke and drink excessively in the office and at home (they must all reek), and treat female employees like sex objects. (The sexual harassment would bring dozens of lawsuits today.)
They also show things that make you snicker. The stuff we don't do today: Besides the non-stop drinking and smoking, they order fried chicken for dinner, leave trash all over the ground at a picnic, let kids put plastic bags over their heads to play, and drive without seat belts.
On a recent episode, Don Draper, a man cheating on his wife with a woman cheating on her husband, was driving drunk, actually taking swigs from the open bottle as he motored down the highway with her.
He crashed, of course, and was arrested for hitting the legal blood-alcohol limit in New York of 0.15, or nearly double what it is now. I laughed when the cop said the legal limit was 0.15 because that's pretty darn drunk.
If I was writing a story today, it would get a "nearly twice the legal limit" line next to it. The limit today is 0.08.
episodes from last year and started with the new ones. A friend told me it was great and it's become the only "must see" show I have these days now that Sopranos is gone. Last night it won the best drama Emmy.(I will watch Lost when it returns, but that's only because I feel obligated after having watched so many episodes already. But it's tiresome. There's got to be a payoff at some point, right?)
Anyway, one of the amusing things about Mad Men is to see how times have changed. It occurs in the early 1960s. They smoke and drink excessively in the office and at home (they must all reek), and treat female employees like sex objects. (The sexual harassment would bring dozens of lawsuits today.)
They also show things that make you snicker. The stuff we don't do today: Besides the non-stop drinking and smoking, they order fried chicken for dinner, leave trash all over the ground at a picnic, let kids put plastic bags over their heads to play, and drive without seat belts.
On a recent episode, Don Draper, a man cheating on his wife with a woman cheating on her husband, was driving drunk, actually taking swigs from the open bottle as he motored down the highway with her.
He crashed, of course, and was arrested for hitting the legal blood-alcohol limit in New York of 0.15, or nearly double what it is now. I laughed when the cop said the legal limit was 0.15 because that's pretty darn drunk.
If I was writing a story today, it would get a "nearly twice the legal limit" line next to it. The limit today is 0.08.
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About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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if you think mad men is the only must see show on tv, then you clearly have not seen sons of anarchy, my friend. check it out.
Ok, when's that on?