It’s been 18 years since Mad Men first premiered on AMC and ushered in the network’s drama domination era (with Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead coming along shortly thereafter), but the period series is still just as entertaining and upsetting as ever.
The show centers on the mysterious Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a genius ad man who dazzles clients with his thoughtful (and often off-the-cuff) campaign ideas, all while his personal life slowly falls to pieces. Don remains one of the seminal antiheroes in television history, and he’s not the only iconic character to emerge from the show.
There’s also Betty (January Jones), who has a perfect exterior but a deeply imperfect personality and experiences both tremendous growth and backsliding throughout the story; Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), who begins as a sheepish secretary and claws her way into a place of power with her talent and grit; Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), a quick-witted bombshell who becomes a major player and a survivor; Roger Sterling (John Slattery), a nepo-man-baby with an oversized chip on his shoulder and a clever line for every occasion; Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), an accounts guy who goes from smarmy and scuzzy to, well, still smarmy but a little less scuzzy; and so many more.
Mad Men ran for a celebrated seven seasons on the network, taking audiences through the ’60s through the eyes of its creative character set. Some of those seasons were, of course, better than others, so here’s a ranking of each season of the show.