Let us now praise "Mad Men"

I feel like a relic, still relying on the airwaves for my TV and reduced to watching "Mad Men" on rented DVDs. I'm not. Really! But oh, how I love those period sets and clothes. Tonight we watched Season 1, Disc 4, episode 1, "Long Weekend." There was a gorgeous little carved-monkey thermometer to show the summer heat. That's the key to making period pieces look real: things left over from before the time of the story.

I sense that there are a lot of anachronisms in "Mad Men," though I can't be sure. Light switches that can't be right. Red wine? In a 750ml bottle? With dinner, at home? But the writing doesn't lie. This episode was exceptionally well written. Desperate yearning all around. So strange to sort of hate what Don Draper represents and yet feel sympathy toward him.