The TV Zone

It's danged hard for any TV show to get a buzz, let alone a number, in the middle of summer, but AMC's forthcoming "Mad Men" is doing just that, and a week before air too.

Here's why: Creator and head writer, Matthew Weiner, who's one of the young masters of the TV universe. Even though he wrote virtually every episode of "Becker" (and not a bad show at all, if memory serves), he was one of the chief creative forces of "The Sopranos," and wrote/co-wrote/scribbled-on-script-margins fully a third of that late lamented masterpiece. Ergo, what Matthew does from here on out is a big deal in the little world of showbiz.

Anyway, I've seen "Mad Men" - about ad men circa 1960 - and it's generally terrific, with a compelling performance from a moody, sexy, smoky, sultry Jon Hamm. ("Providence" fans will remember him as Burt, and "What about Brian" fans as Richard.) Hamm's Don Draper is what might be called a morally/ethically compromised snake oil salesman who knows that he's a morally/ethically compromised snake oil salesman. As such, comparisons with another similarly conflicted character are inevitable - Tony Soprano - though no one will mistake one for the other. Weiner et al do an especially creditable job of recreating the ad game from an historic era – even if at times it all feels a little too broad - but purists will fault the license taken with the creation of the famed Lucky Strikes tagline, "It's Toasted." That's one of the best scenes in the show, by the way, though that famed marketing rascal/genius, George Washington Hill, who masterminded that particularly lethal brand of cancer stick, claims provenance for the line.

Who cares, though? In the dead of summer, this is one show worth taking time out for. Set your TiVos, and go here for a quick preview.