Mad Men, Mad Times

My most recent TV series has been AMC's Mad Men, which I just finished up last night, upon recommendations from my brother and a friend. I really enjoyed it, and I thought it was one of the more original shows around. Even though it's basically just about housewives and husbands (who work on Madison Avenue at an Advertising Agency), which is a common subject, setting the show in 1960 is unusual. It seemed really well done... I mean, obviously people put a lot of effort into getting details right.
I was very frustrated, early on, imagining what it would have been like to be a woman in the 60s. Specifically, the episode where a young divorced!, working! mother of two moves into the neighborhood. All the mothers are atwitter with the news, and they seem in horror that the woman could have a) let her husband go, b) done something to make her husband go and c) be a working mother, and still provide a good home for their children. Whereas these woman all have maids and/or nannies cleaning and watching their children for hours every week... Even though they are housewives. And most of them have cheating husbands. But this woman actually did something about it.
Another frustrating issue was when Betty's doctor suggested a psychiatrist, which was far less common at that time. Even though it was her own mind that was in question, it was clearly not her decision whether she should go or not. Not only did her husband decide whether it was acceptable or necessary, but then he was privy to all of the information she discussed with the psychiatrist, without Betty ever hearing any of the analyses herself. AAAAH.
As a graduate of an all-women's college, I was excited any time I heard the names of one of the Seven Sisters. Until I remembered that none of the Ivy Leagues were even open to women at the time, so it was less of a choice for them. And they were obviously not expected to do anything with the degrees they earned. Not that it makes the Seven Sisters any less cool, it was just another point of difference between the way things were and the way things are.
I had a hard time actually liking any characters, including the people I suppose are the "main" characters. Don Draper, Peggy Olsen, and, I guess, Betty Draper. Though there were some endearing traits in each of them, I found weaknesses in their character that offset the nice things. But then, I think they are each a product of the times... So are they to blame? Well, Don Draper and his buddies at Sterling Cooper are some of the people making the ads that make the times. If advertising isn't a manipulation of society, what is? He may have made himself from nothing, but I personally don't like who he made himself into. His secretary, Peggy Olsen, is a nice girl with great ideas, but her obsession over stupid Pete Campbell seemed related to her desire to climb up the working latter, and not in a smart, independent way. And Betty just seems so weak! I wanted to just shake some sense into her. And smokes all the time! Around her children! I can't imagine what it would smell like to hang around with these people. Or, what their lungs would look like. Or what my lungs would look like. Nearly every episode I wondered if they actually had to smoke that much for the filming of the show, or if they were some sort of fake cigarettes. Please.
I'm not sure if anyone was supposed to a very beloved character, because I really think the series is commenting on how despicable the situation was... when men seemed to actually feel they had a right, if not an obligation, to sleep with women other than their wives, and wives could not even letter an air-conditioning salesman into their homes. Because really, their homes belonged to their husband. (At least that's what it said to me.)