Quick blurbs: TV worth watching.

I can't get over what a great show AMC's Mad Men is. It's based in the world of advertising in New York City in the early 1960's. The characters are fantastic, the show is filmed beautifully, and it's smart, funny, and totally entertaining. If you have an aversion to cigarette smoke the show may give you a headache just from watching it, after all it's 1962 and everyone still tore down Pall Malls like it was going out of style. (Hmmm. maybe it was.) The whiskey consumption during the work day is enviable, as well. It's nice to step back in time when things seemed a whole lot simpler (although, there's always a degree of looking back through rose-colored glasses.)

I'm also a huge fan of Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America. There's apparently an American version, but it's not as good as the language is scaled back and there aren't as many awesome quintessentially English putdowns. I find it amusing hearing grown men fighting in a kitchen and calling each other wankers and twats. In this show celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey has a week to fix a fledgling British eatery. Hilarity ensues as he insults the staff into getting things right. His big thing is "local produce prepared simply", so its great to watch him take apart some pompous French chef for using imported Greek bass prepared in some rediculous fashion. This isn't your everyday cooking show, and is well worth a look.