“Mad Men” Gets Futuristic
Posted by: Wendy Atterberry
Filed in:
entertainment
2:40PM, Wednesday August 26th 2009
Could this be the start of a new hobby for those of us suffering from end-of-summer malaise? Yesterday, lexicographer (I had to look it up, too) Ben Zimmer noticed that one of the props on this past Sunday’s episode of “Mad Man” was a three-volume edition of The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, which was first published in 1987 — well over 20 years after the current season supposedly takes place. Sterling Cooper’s CFO Lane Pryce — the character whose desk housed the OED — explained on Twitter: “Regarding my office library, I was asked to hold on to those books by a nervous young man named McFly.”
The set decorators on “Mad Men” are usually meticulous with this kind of thing, but now I can’t help but wonder what else from 1965 on has slipped by unnoticed? Show of hands: how many of us will watch the show next week with an eagle eye looking for a dog-eared copy of a John Irving novel on Peggy’s bookshelf, or a bottle of Diet Coke in Joan’s kitchen? Or, perhaps, your seasonal malaise isn’t quite as bad as mine… [via NY Mag]
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Riley
wrote on August 26 2009 @ 01:50 pm: [report]
Wow, and I thought surfing the internet and posting drivel on websites was a grand waste of my time. You have topped me. Once I start looking for anachronisms in television shows I’ll just go ahead and see if I’m bullet-proof.
Ginger
wrote on August 26 2009 @ 03:03 pm: [report]
Some people are really bugged by anachronisms. I’m a theater major and when we learned about costumes, props and scenery, the teachers stressed how important it is to research these things. Because most people won’t notice but the one person who does will spend the entire show focusing on it.
mountain_laurel1183
wrote on August 27 2009 @ 07:42 pm: [report]
goodness, I don’t think that wasting a ton of time to prevent one person from obsessing over a minor detail is particularly worth it. I say that as a person who often obsesses over minor factual errors in shows. I see it as my problem: I either have to learn to be flexible and get over it, or watch something else. I think people should try to keep things as accurate as possible, but everyone makes mistakes and a few minor ones here and there should be easily forgiven.