Mad About Mad Men (and Women)

It's Sunday night, which means I'm counting the minutes until the next episode of Mad Men. Whether they cite the set design, the acting, the writing or just the general dark deliciousness of it all, it seems everyone is in love with AMC's picture-perfect period series about the early years of Madison Avenue's advertising industry.

Part of the show's genius is that every one of its central characters is artfully (and often mysteriously) flawed. Potential proto-feminist and budding copy writer Peggy Olson is as intriguing as primary protagonist Don Draper, and it makes sense that the actress who plays her is equally beguiling. There's a great profile of Elisabeth Moss in New York Magazine this week, written by one of my favorite profile writers, Emily Nussbaum. If the stark contrast of the gorgeous picture above with the frumpy figure she carries on the small screen isn't enough to intrigue you, then perhaps the fact she accurately compares Peggy to Jack Lemmon's flawed everyman characters or Ernest Borgnine in Marty will.