We hope that Matthew Weiner, creator of AMC's New Frontier-era advertising potboiler Mad Men, has a big-ass box ready for all the superlatives that are about to be thrown at him and his show. Because now that the paper of record has given Mad Men the official "[Blank]est Show on TV" treatment, he can probably count on everyone short of Tom Shales' mother to chime in.
Everyone, that is, except us.
Don't get us wrong: we're not cynical about the show, which full disclosure, we've never seen but are expecting to like a lot. (We didn't have cable when it came out, and were planning to Netflix it before the second season started this July.) No, what we're cynical about is the whole "It Show" phenomenon -- let's call it Sopranos Fever -- that struck HBO's gangster soap first, and then moved on to The Wire, and now seems poised to fix itself on Mad Men. We're not generally cynical or suspicious about this sort of thing, and let's be clear: we love Sopranos and The Wire. But don't expect to see us participating in this sort of thing until The Powers That Be deign to bestow such lavish hosannas on a show that takes place, oh let's say, in space, or in the Old West, or on a remote island (hah!) and not within a hour's train ride from where we presume their offices to be.