A mere 58,000 viewers tuned in to Sky Atlantic overnight on Wednesday to watch the majestic return of Mad Men, which is down even from the channel’s 98,000 for the start of Season Five last year. It really is one of the least-watched pieces of genius on TV, and it’s the lead review on this week’s Telly Addict, so the Murdoch-intolerant and/or surcharge-averse will at least get to see some majestic clips from its December 1967 incarnation. I also check back in with Game Of Thrones on the same channel (which gets more like 710,000 viewers, by comparison); welcome the first full series of Morse prequel Endeavour to ITV; warm to Victoria Wood’s Nice Cup Of Tea on BBC1; mark the upward turning point of Season 2 of Parks & Rec on BBC4; and applaud Mark Gatiss’s latest period Doctor Who on BBC1.
Never Knowingly Underwhelmed
Don't look like much here, but we have everything
Never Knowingly Underwhelmed 
Mad Men really is one of the least watched but most overly praised pieces of TV ever. I doubted each of seasons 1-4 at some point on style over substance grounds but it always won we over in the end. However season 5, with the exception of one or two great moments, was a right dud.
At times it felt like watching Lost or Heroes, as you wondered if they were making it up as they went along. Consequently, without the distraction of a plausible plot, some of the acting, which has always been patchy (the bloke who plays Pete Campbell is lucky his character is meant to be a bit ‘arch’, a bit of a stuffed shirt, but Christina Hendricks isn’t so fortunate and is very limited) started to jar. It was a very average season at best.
So I watched the season six opener with lower expectations and I’m afraid it only just met them. The bubble has well and truly burst for me. I can only see plot holes and questionable character motives. They were probably there right from the start of season one but were lost in all that sodding smoking.