Everyone should watch Mad Men (AMC, Sunday nights), because it is the best show on television.

You’ve got to listen to me – I’ve seen this happen before. Arrested Development, 2003 – 2005. R.I.P. The best comedy in TV history, canceled! Come on! It didn’t even last for three seasons, because no one watched it – none of you listened to me. Now you acknowledge how brilliant it was, but now you’re stuck watching the same 30 or so episodes over and over, imagining how glorious it would have become, if only you were there when it needed you. (Although it looks like Fox is adapting it into a movie, so you’re somewhat off the hook for that one.)

But let’s be honest – who watches TV anymore? Almost no one. I’ve been in Buenos Aires for four months, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve turned on my TV (and two of those were because I accidentally sat on the remote). When I was home in the States, the screen didn’t light up much more often.

You know why?

Because most TV sucks. Predictable plotlines, timid characterization, forgettable jokes – all meant to keep you entertained just well enough so you’ll stay in your seat just long enough for advertisers to remind you to buy Tide, a Sprite, a Toyota, Lunesta, or whatever. Most people are too busy to put up with that. If you’re gonna put your own life on pause to watch a pretend version of someone else’s life, then the experience had better be spectacular.

Mad Men’s is.

Ironically, it’s a drama about Madison Avenue advertising execs in 1960 (a group that played no small role in bringing about the current mediocre state of television). But it’s also about the world before people had any idea what was healthy and what was deadly. It’s about Don Draper, the coolest guy alive. It’s about what it what it was like to be a woman before the women’s movement. It’s about what it’s like to be married to a person who’s wrong for you. It’s about what it’s like to lie to everyone around you.

I’m not even doing it justice - it’s awesome, and I recommend you start it from the beginning.