Like a few other people, Chris and I are eagerly awaiting the start of the new Mad Men season on Sunday night.

Having these great cable series is a fabulous part of adult life.  We’ve loved and lost The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and The Wire.

Just this month, we watched the entire season of Treme before it disappeared from our TV menu.  At first, I didn’t think it would hook me, but then it did.  These long-form series are an amazing way to tell stories.  I am crazy about them, and now that we’ve finished Treme, the new Mad Men is starting at just the right time.

I prefer my TV to be fictional, as opposed to “reality.”  A few days ago I finally caught an episode of Hoarders.  Deeply disturbing!  I had to admire the people providing psychiatric intervention, however.  They were very no nonsense.  One hoarder lady, showing off her stash of empty glass spaghetti sauce jars, explained why she was keeping them.  “Well, once when I was sick, a friend brought me soup in a jar like this.  See how there are little markings for measurements?  That’s so cute.  And someday I will make soup and take it to friends in these jars.”

The shrink listened politely, convinced the lady to recycle all the jars, and then said sotto voce to the camera, “She’s never going to make soup.  A lot of hoarding is dreaming about what you’ll do one day and how you’ll need all this stuff, but that day never comes.”

The show was fascinating, in a train wreck sort of way, but we all know the real world is full of crazy people.  Give me the madness of  Mad Men any day.   Tell me I’m not alone.

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