When Mad Men arrived on HBO Max earlier this week, after years languishing on the less-subscribed-to AMC+ service, the streamer's parent company, Warner Bros., heralded it as a triumph. Finally, the much-acclaimed Emmy magnet would be available to watch in glorious 4K resolution; viewers would now have 'the opportunity to enjoy the series in a fresh way,' as the WB executive Royce Battleman trumpeted. And the results certainly were fresh: For the first time ever, Mad Men fans could enjoy such sights as behind-the-scenes technicians operating Roger Sterling's 'vomit hose' as he unleashed a three-martini lunch on the carpets of Sterling Cooper. The visually upgraded version presents Mad Men in the now-standard widescreen format, something all modern TVs, laptops, tablets, and phones are geared toward, as opposed to the boxy televisions of old. But the team behind the image conversion seemingly used footage without a bunch of the usual postproduction edits'hence the appearance of...
learn more
