A decade and a half after the series first aired, there’s nothing that does it quite like Mad Men. Along with Breaking Bad, this seven-season AMC drama came at the tail end of TV’s “golden age”, and was one of the medium’s real high points. It was a period series with wit, depth, lofty literary symbolism, top-shelf acting and cinematography that still blows pretty much any show you’ll see this year out of the water. Even those who’ve never seen the series are familiar with the gist of it through cultural osmosis – smart suits, hard liquor and rampant womanising in the 1960s New York advertising scene. As it celebrates its 15th anniversary on 19 July, many of its fans would still argue it’s never been bested.
But Mad Men, for all its mighty and lasting successes, was not flawless. The series was criticised throughout its run for its clumsy handling of race, for instance – thinly sketched African-American characters would show up for didactic B-plots before being ignored completely. One aspect of the show that attracted substantially less discussion, however, was its handling of sexuality – specifically, its treatment of any character that wasn’t straight.
