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Mad Men is a period drama television series produced by Lionsgate Television and created by Matthew Weiner. It premiered on AMC in 2007 and ran for seven seasons and 92 episodes until its conclusion in 2015. The series takes place between 1960 and 1970, the decade of change in American business and society.
The show starts at the fictional Madison Avenue-based advertising agency Sterling Cooper and subsequently moves to the new company Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. "Mad Men" is a title assigned to an adjective describing a 1950s advertiser's neologism to describe employees at Madison Avenue, although proof of earlier usage of the word is scarce.
At its essence, Mad Men traces the life of Don Draper, a brilliant but troubled creative director whose private life is tormented by secrecy and insecurity contrasted against his professional success. The show also explores the lives of Draper, his colleagues, and relatives, set against the context of social change and shifting gender roles.
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If viewers enjoyed Mad Men for its exploration of power dynamics, personal conflict, and societal change, then here are seven other TV shows that dive into similar themes.
Halt and Catch Fire and 6 other shows to watch if you like Mad Men
1) The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series produced by David Chase, where he tracks Tony Soprano, a New Jersey mob boss plagued by panic attacks. For comfort, he begins to visit Dr. Melfi, who helps him deal with the dilemma of upholding his criminal empire and living the life of a regular family man.
The series also documents Tony's relationship with the players of greater size in his life, such as his wife Carmela, his protégé Christopher Moltisanti, and other mob colleagues and arch-enemies.
Similar to Mad Men, The Sopranos explores the psychology of a rich antihero grappling with power and identity.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, HBO, Hulu
2) Halt and Catch Fire
Halt and Catch Fire is a period drama TV series aired on AMC between 2014 and 2017. The series is a fictionalized account of the time of personal computers and the early internet in the 1980s and early 1990s technology boom. The series title is taken from a computer coding slang for a system crash since the characters are engaged in radical innovation.
The series starts in 1983 when visionary Joe MacMillan comes to work for a Dallas computer firm to create a groundbreaking computer to compete with IBM. He is joined by engineer Gordon Clark and programmer Cameron Howe to reverse-engineer IBM's BIOS and create a clone named the "Giant."
Spanning a decade, the series explores their evolving relationships, rivalries, and personal sacrifices driven by ambition and technological progress. Halt and Catch Fire shares Mad Men's fascination with reinvention and ambition but shifts the setting from Madison Avenue to the tech-driven Silicon Prairie.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+
3) The Americans
The Americans is a Cold War-era television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on FX between 2013 and 2018. The series revolves around Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, KGB agents from the Soviet Union who pose as married and reside in suburban Virginia, balancing their espionage activities with raising their two children, Paige and Henry.
Placed between 1981 and 1987, the series also features the cat-and-mouse game of suspense between the FBI and the KGB, if only through the Jenningses' neighbor, FBI agent Stan Beeman.
Both Mad Men and The Americans deal with double lives and moral ambiguity in the context of seismic change in American society.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV+
4) Succession
Succession is a satirical black comedy-drama television series produced by Jesse Armstrong. It revolves around the Roy family, who own the global mass media conglomerate Waystar RoyCo, and the struggle for succession as their dominant matriarch's health, Logan Roy's (Brian Cox), is in doubt.
As Logan's health worsens, his four children—Connor, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv—are all at one another's throats, each with his or her own shortcomings and agendas.
The show also explores other important members of the company and family social circles, such as Shiv's husband Tom, cousin Greg, and veteran executive Frank, as it examines power, loyalty, and business control.
Succession, similar to Mad Men, boasts a biting critique of legacy, ambition, and dysfunction in a dominant ruling corporate dynasty.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Apple TV+
5) Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul is an American crime drama legal TV series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould as a spin-off and prequel to Breaking Bad. The series was produced between 2015 and 2022 for six seasons and 63 episodes on AMC.
The show occurs in Albuquerque between the early 2000s and follows how Jimmy McGill, a struggling attorney, and former scam artist, evolved into morally ambivalent lawyer Saul Goodman.
Apart from Jimmy's self-destruction, the series explores his complicated relationships with his brother Chuck, attorney Kim Wexler, and attorney Howard Hamlin. It also explores Mike Ehrmantraut's encounters with the criminal world, Nacho Varga, Gus Fring, and Lalo Salamanca.
Flash-forward episodes prophesize the future repercussions of Jimmy's actions, bridging the time gap with Breaking Bad.
Similar to Mad Men, Better Call Saul is also a story about a character's fall through graduations of moral complexity with subdued power.
Where to watch: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video
6) The Wire
The Wire is an HBO crime drama television series produced by David Simon from 2002 until 2008, for 60 episodes over five years. Based on the real-life of co-creator Ed Burns as a retired detective, the series is a realistic examination of urban living and city policing in Baltimore, Maryland.
Each season addresses a distinct city institution—whether the drug economy and waterfront, politics, schools, or media—while tracking interlocking characters on each level of society. At its heart, The Wire is about how institutions structure and assist in circumscribing the lives of individuals, whether intentional or not.
Both Mad Men and The Wire delve into institutional power and personal compromise in densely textured, character-based narrative.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu, Apple TV+
7) Boardwalk Empire
Boardwalk Empire is an American TV period crime drama series produced by Terence Winter and aired by HBO, which is set during the Prohibition era in Atlantic City.
The series is loosely based on the real-life story of political boss Enoch L. Johnson and stars Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, a political boss with connections to politics and organized crime.
Set from the 1920s to 1930s, the series follows Nucky’s climb and collapse as he faces changing power dynamics and tries to hold on as Prohibition ends.
Similar to Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire balances historical accuracy and individual drive in its depiction of the rise and fall of a flawed leader.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu
Interested viewers can watch all seven seasons of Mad Men on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
