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This posting is not about angry guys. “Mad Men” is a new summer series on US Cable Channel AMC. Because I have Rogers’ super cable I have AMC. This first episode was last Thursday and I watched the second episode last night. Quietly simply it is great TV.

In the age of blogs, podcasting and social networking groups, “Mad Man” proves that content is always king regardless of the medium. And yes, television is not dead it just needs great content. Plus, the executives behind “Mad Man” are smart. You can buy and download each episode on ITunes the day after they premiere on television.

What is “Mad Men”? Set in 1960’s New York ad agency Sterling Cooper, the series follows the lives of various agency employees but focuses mostly on Creative Director Don Draper. “Mad Men” is apparently a term coined by the 1960s’ ad men themselves, at that time, when America (and likely Canada) was obsessed by advertising and glamourized the lives of these ad men/mad men. North Americans were still heady consumers coming off the post-Second World War, 1950s’ buying binge.

The series captures the feel of 1960 perfectly. The American Civil rights movement had not started in earnest, all women were “the girl” regardless of her age and the IBM Selectric was breakthrough technology. In every board meeting, party or bedroom scene the characters are smoking like chimneys. I almost felt myself choking in sympathy.

But the real star of the show is advertising. In the first episode the client crisis is a recent Reader’s Digest report that smoking may be bad for your health. Don Drapper is tasked how to respond on behalf of his client “Lucky Strike”. Last night, the advertising challenge was how to pitch the Gillette Right Guard business - first aersol deteorant can. In a scene alot of time was spent debating the merits of promoting this new “space age” technology to the American male.

Those that planned the actual advertising program for “Mad Men” were pretty smart themselves. During the advertising breaks for the program they link the product being advertised to a fun fact about that category’s advertising or about that specific company’s advertising history. For example, Maytag is an advertiser and prior to showing the Maytag ad they flashed a fun fact about the “Maytag Man” and when he was first introduced to the public before becoming an advertising icon.

“Mad Men” is great TV. It is very clever, extremely well written and works on a variety of levels. As a flashback into the not so past (I worked on an IBM Selectric) we have a come along way baby. Some of the scenes with the Africian American characters make you gasp - they’re not violent - what is more striking is the absolute power of racism that is delivered through mundate, every day human interactions.

But the people behind “Mad Men” obviously love advertising and love the process of developing great advertising. As the Don Draper character says to his team of copywriters, “Gentlemen, what is advertising? Advertising is happiness”.

Based on today’s integrated marketing and communications approach Don would now likely say, “Gentlemen, what is great communications? Great communications is happiness”.