Mad Men (season 6)

Matthew Weiner's Mad Men is the most consistently fantastic show on television right now. This season continues offering a glimpse into the advertising profession during the 60s via slices of the lives of those involved. And again, season 6 manages to do so while staying fresh and original. It is able to stay fresh and original, I think, because of its explicit timeline but also precisely because of its slice-of-life structure. Many television shows have the following structure: one overall narrative arc that lasts throughout the season and repetitive narrative arcs that are contained within individual episodes. This year's Hannibal, for example, followed that structure exactly. Mad Men succeeds so well, I think, because it eschews such devices. Yes, there are narrative threads, but Mad Men is very loose with them. Anyway, that's why I like it so much. Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss continue to be my favorite characters. Peggy becoming more and more comfortable and more and more like a mini-Draper might be one of the most interesting and satisfying character arcs I've ever seen. I was also glad to see Pete, Betty, and Trudy become more well-rounded in their new lives (well, new, compared to the start of the series). My only criticism is Bob Benson. I don't know how they should've introduced him and made the character more compelling, but they didn't do it well. He's just always there ruining the scene, in my opinion. Of course, what is interesting about him comes later, but that's because he ends up having explicit or implicit connections with the main characters (chiefly Don and Pete). So, perhaps it would have been better to ground him earlier somehow. Perhaps Pete could've been on to him sooner or something. Anyway, it's definitely still the best show on currently.