History Series / MadMen

* ConvenientMiscarriage: Megan admits to this after the fact in "The Collaborators," confessing she is relieved that she didn't have to decide about whether she should have an abortion.

* HulaAndLuaus: The beginning of "The Doorway."

* SexyWalk: Nearly ''all'' of the women, even the housewives, but ''especially'' Joan. Peggy is a notable semi-exception.

* CassandraTruth / TheCuckoolanderWasRight: When Peter's mother (who is shown to be suffering from advanced dementia) comes in to wake Peter to tell him about Robert Kennedy's assassination, she says "they shot that Kennedy boy"; he naturally assumes she's confused and referring to JFK, and tells her to go back to sleep

* CassandraTruth: When Peter's mother (who is shown to be suffering from advanced dementia) comes in to wake Peter to tell him about Robert Kennedy's assassination, she says "they shot that Kennedy boy"; he naturally assumes she's confused and referring to JFK, and tells her to go back to sleep

* BuxomIsBetter: "Can I see them?", says a loathsome pig Jaguar dealer to busty Joan in "The Other Woman".

* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: {{Justified|Trope}} [[AluminumChristmasTrees for the era]], as this was when Freudian psychology was just starting to became obsolete.

* TheFifties: While the show starts in March of 1960, many aspects of '50s culture are still very present until around the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

* LegFocus: Megan does a sexy song and dance for Don while wearing a very short miniskirt and [[tockingFiller fishnet stockings]] at his surprise party.

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: See DiegeticSwitch above.

* ShesGotLegs: Megan does a sexy song and dance for Don while wearing a very short miniskirt and fishnet stockings at his surprise party.

* UngratefulBastard: The partners minus Roger fall into this trope when Don comes back into SC&P, forgetting that the man helped start the agency and was the reason Peggy is no longer a secretary, along with being Joan's ally (right back when Pete pimped her out to Jaguar) and has the talent to save the agency from falling on its collective ass.
** Peggy might actually invoke this trope the most, at least at first. When Don comes back, she's one of the few members of the creative team to antagonize Don by telling him they've been functioning just fine since his absence. Most of this hostility stems from resentment toward Don for breaking her and Ted up, even though Ted was the one who truly instigated the breakup out of unwillingness to break up his family. Given Don's discomfort in the office at that time, Peggy's confrontation can come off as a huge KickTheDog moment for some.

** Sterling Cooper finds some random Jewish guy from the mailroom to attend a meeting with a department store owned by a Jewish family, pretending he's a "rising star" in the art department. Then they serve their prospective clients ''cocktail shrimp'' (extremely non-kosher).[[note]]That said, they wouldn't have done that in real life, as UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust rendered antisemitism ''extremely unpopular''.[[/note]]

** Apparently, Bert Cooper was on the wrong end of an "unnecessary orchiectomy" (look it up) "at the height of his sexual prime." Well, that certainly explains why he isn't married...

''Mad Men'' is an American [[PeriodPiece period drama]] surrounding an {{advertising}} firm on Madison Avenue, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, during the 1960s. The series deconstructs nostalgia of the "good old days" of America's past and explores the changing American landscape through the eyes of Sterling-Cooper Advertising and the world of advertising at the dawn of [[TheSixties the decade]] that would change America forever.

* FiftiesHair: Season 1 has chock full of late 50s carryover styles with all of the men sporting side parts and crew cuts, and the women having diversity with Betty sporting the classic short and wavy, Joan with the artichoke, and Peggy with the ponytail and bangs.
* SixtiesHair: Season 2-7A sees a great progression of hairstyles in the Sixties where the younger men lose the Bryllcreem and/or grow their hair (including facial) out, Joan gets a beehive that loosens up into a elaborate artichoke, Peggy loses her ponytail and gets a flipped bob, Betty's hair gets a little bigger and more flipped before trading in for a more political wife look (think Jackie Kennedy, Ladybird Johnson, or Pat Nixon).
* SeventiesHair: Season 7B sees longer sideburns, loosened up looking hairstyles, loose tendrils, Jean Shrimpton style wavy hair, and Don with a little less brylcreem.

* UnfortunateImplications: InUniverse: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-QXjOQjVmQ Don's Hawaii ad]] is suggestive of suicide, which his colleagues and the client point out.

** At the beginning of "The Summer Man", someone in the pool's locker room has "Satisfaction" by Music/TheRollingStones playing on a small tape recorder. As Don exits the facility, the music switches to background music.

* CyclicNationalFascination: From the late [[TheFifties '50s]] to the early [[TheSixties '60s]], American society was positively obsessed with the inner workings of advertising agencies. As a period drama, the series revisits the topic through a more objective lens.

* DaddysGirl: Played mostly straight with Sally Draper, who comes to loathe her mother. Her relationship with Don gets rocky as Don's life gets rockier in later seasons, but in Season 7A they have a rapproachement.

''Mad Men'' is an American [[PeriodPiece period drama]] surrounding an advertising firm on Madison Avenue, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, during the 1960s. The series deconstructs nostalgia of the "good old days" of America's past and explores the changing American landscape through the eyes of Sterling-Cooper Advertising and the world of advertising at the dawn of [[TheSixties the decade]] that would change America forever.

* ButNotTooGay: Sal, the only major gay character (on a show where the straight characters are seen banging each other all the time and in various combinations), is deeply closeted due to the time and place the show is set, so his gay love life mostly consists of resisting the advances of other gay/bi men or unrequited crushes on straight men.
** Bob Benson in Season 6.

* BreakingTheGlassCeiling: Peggy is the first female copy writer. She starts out simply feeding ideas to the male copywriters who then present the ideas as their own. During this time, she's paid as a secretary (a much lower salary) and expected to complete all of her secretarial work during billing hours and do copy writing in her free time. Later, she is promoted to junior copywriter, even though there are no male junior copywriters. Eventually, she is made a fully copywriter.

* SharpDressedMan: Being the 1960s, a smart suit is practically a must for men in business. Three-piece or two-piece is an interesting generational divide: three-piece for older suits like Roger, while younger execs like Don and Pete wear more modern two-pieces with dangerously sharp and narrow lapels. Don epitomizes this trope, but pretty much all male staff in the corporate world, outside most of creative, are always seen in suits of different cuts. The optional [[NiceHat fedoras and trilbies]], [[WaistcoatOfStyle waistcoats]], and overcoats during the colder months, may add to the look. This takes an interesting turn in Season 7, when 70s-era fashions like tan plaid sport coats (a favorite of Ken and Harry) start showing up, making you realize why these fashions (which seem ridiculous today) might have seemed stylish at the time.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Pete's father-in-law is furious when he learns that Pete is cheating on Trudy, which doesn't stop him from sleeping with prostitutes.

** Long-suffering secretary Allison throws a vase at Don in "The Rejected" when he engages in a RantInducingSlight and suggests she write her own reference letter.

** Ted Chaough's reinvention as Peggy's BenevolentBoss doesn't match all that well with the douchey Chaough as he was initially presented.

** Sterling Cooper finds some random Jewish guy from the mailroom to attend a meeting with a department store owned by a Jewish family, pretending he's a "rising star" in the art department. Then they serve their prospective clients ''cocktail shrimp'' (extremely non-kosher).[[note]]That said, they wouldn't have done that in real life, as UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust'' rendered antisemitism ''extremely unpopular''.[[/note]]

** Sterling Cooper finds some random Jewish guy from the mailroom to attend a meeting with a department store owned by a Jewish family, pretending he's a "rising star" in the art department. Then they serve their prospective clients ''cocktail shrimp'' (extremely non-kosher).

* AdultFear: In season 6, Sally is left alone with her two young brothers all night. An intruder comes into the house trying to manipulate her, and she doesn't know what to do.

* TheMan: In "Tea Leaves", Megan notices the squareness of Don's suit and Don says he has to look like this.

* RaisedCatholic:
** Peggy's family is strictly Catholic, and her attempts at living a more modern life create friction with her sister and mother.
** Megan finds it hard to reconcile her upbringing with her desire for emancipation, especially when she gets pregnant. The stern nuns at her Catholic school taught her about the evils of abortion.