Let the 'Mad'-ness begin

After what feels like a very long eight or nine months, "Mad Men" is back on the air Sunday at 10 p.m. for its fourth season.

The drama, which takes place in 1960s New York, is arguably one of the best shows on TV. I watch a ton of … everything, but "Mad Men" is great because it's entertaining, well-written, and well-made. Some shows try to be smarter, funnier or more dramatic than they really are, but "Mad Men" hits the mark as a dramatic show without being flashy or overstated.

As I wrote last week, the AMC show was just nominated for 17 Emmys.

The show follows Don Draper, a totally likable guy, but probably not the best role model. Don's kind of shady sometimes, and his back story is told through flashbacks throughout the series.

At work, Don (Jon Hamm) is a successful advertising exec at the fictional firm, Sterling Cooper. It's a boys club of (m)ad men, save the female secretaries and the determined (but sometimes annoying) Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss). In charge of the secretaries for the first couple of seasons was Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), who has hit the covers of several magazines in the past year - Esquire and New York Magazine in the past few months, for example.

The office happenings generally involve competition for promotion or romantic flings, or maybe both.

At home, Don is husband to Betty (January Jones) and father to young children Bobby and Sally. But Don is not quite the perfect husband. And last season, it didn't feel like an episode of "Mad Men" unless Betty told their children to go watch TV or leave her alone.

Even though the show is set in the '60s, it never feels like the time element is thrown in your face - so much so that I did a double take when a pregnant character started smoking a cigarette like it was no big deal. But the show's subtleties make it that much better.

It's one of those shows best watched in marathons, instead of episode to episode, I think. Most episodes end on a cliffhanger, so I like to watch at least a few at a time. Also, when something dramatic happens in one episode, that storyline is often not brought up again for another couple of episodes.

It's not hard to catch up on the show since each of the past three seasons are made up of only 13 45-minute-long episodes. And AMC airs season marathons every so often, too. Last season saw some serious shakeups in the Draper family and the Sterling Cooper office that I can't wait to see unfold starting Sunday.

Like "True Blood" and "Dexter," "Mad Men" really took off in popularity its last season.

I'm just glad it's back for another season of (50-year-old) pop culture references and Draper dramatics.