Mad Men on the Moon

“That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

– Neil Armstrong, July 21, 1969

I don't know whether you've been following Mad Men, but I have (though a bit displaced since I don't get cable and am viewing it thru Netflix). I've just watched episode 85, “Waterloo”, which is the conclusion to the first half of season 7. There’s a sequence near the end where we go into the homes of many of the principals and see them watching TV. What are they watching? Freakin’ Neil Armstrong landing on the freakin’ Moon at the culmination of the Apollo 11 mission.

From the Wikipedia episode summary:

Over the weekend, members of SC&P watch the moon landing from various locations: Don, Peggy, Pete and Harry are together in Indianapolis where they are preparing the pitch to Burger Chef; Roger, Mona, Brooks, and Ellery are together in his apartment; and Bert is home watching with his maid. The Francises have company for the weekend and are also tuned in. Sally seems smitten with the family's oldest son but immediately after the landing goes out to the back yard and kisses the younger, more bookish son who is closer to her age.

I’m sure you can appreciate the IMPORTANCE of THAT. But here, of course, that event is being reprised in a QUALITY TV series about/set in the 60s. As Sun Ra intoned, “Space is the [freakin’] place”.

In the world of “must-see TV” it sure beats the 2003 “shock and awe” bombing of Baghdad. Back in the 60s, of course, they got to watch the war in Vietnam, though not in real time.