Soap Men?

Love it. I truly do. I get home on Sunday evenings and try to make sure that I catch the rerun of Mad Men at 1am, like clockwork. Characters are dynamic as is the growing plotline. And this season finale: pretty heavy stuff indeed.

But all the same, I'm scratching my head.

The drama, the infidelities, the heated office politics, and all those gorgeous people -- despite the extremely clever writing -- leaves me to question just exactly how Mad Men is not much more than a primetime soap opera.

Let's be honest: the storyline is right out of a mid-afternoon soap. But is it the writing alone that "elevates" it from the dregs of soap-hood? Perhaps so. Maybe it is just the writing of the program, how the plot twists and turns, compelling its audience to experience slight twinges of discomfort just when we thought we "liked" the characters.

In short, I guess it comes down to the exact way in which Mad Men is promoted on its network, AMC. All I can say for the prospects of the new season is that I hope they get dark; I mean, really dark.