Mad Men: Season 3

Right under everyone’s noses, the Matthew Weiner creation Mad Men has become one of the most overrated shows on television. The AMC show’s existential second season was a marked improvement over its first, but this tone-deaf third installment betrays all of its best qualities—even saving grace Christina Hendricks is intermittently written out. As the season opens, the Sterling Cooper admen are adjusting to their new British bosses (the show’s clichéd depiction of its English characters is among the more risible aspects of the season), while the Draper family adjusts poorly to the concept of monogamy. Both Don and his wife Betty find themselves straying this season, her in a romantic subplot so plastic it would revolt Ross Hunter. The final episode offers a faint glimmer of hope and seems to press the reset button on this whole disastrous season.