Mad Men
Shares rank 24 of 60 TV series by recommenders
Praised as one of television's highest artistic achievements; critics say the HBO Max 4K remaster is badly done, with poor color, cropping and altered music.
Praised as one of television's highest artistic achievements; critics say the HBO Max 4K remaster is badly done, with poor color, cropping and altered music.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 14
- approval share
- 52%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Considered among television's finest art
“I do find it to be the show of highest artistic achievement.”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Favorite TV Show?” “the highest art that television has yet achieved”
Comment from 4 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Favorite TV Show?” Worth watching in any version
“it exists and is a good way to watch the show”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle” “I recommend you watch the TV series Mad Men”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “The A in AGI Stands for Ads” Available on disc or free streaming
“you can find disc versions of The Wire, Mad Men, The Sopranos etc.”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “I'm tired of being on the network” “It's streaming, for free, on Tubi”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Rescan instead of proper remaster
“wasn't mastered at all, just a re-scan of the original negatives at a higher resolution”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle” “the VFX weren't redone properly after a rescan of the film”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in ““I just chose words carefully”” Altered cropping and music
“they seem to have also applied some weird auto-cropping that made “choices” no human doing the job would have”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle” “The PAL release is already the bad copy (starting with season 4 I think).”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle” Careless upload and production mess
“someone sent the "wrong file" to HBO Max, and it seems nobody checked it properly before uploading it”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle” “You could see cameras, crew, equipment, etc. total mess that showed no care for the material.”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “The Pirate Bay Remains Resilient, 20 Years After the Raid”
Other TV series people recommend
The four most recommended other TV series, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halt and Catch Fire | 166 | 20 | 89% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Babylon 5 | 86 | 21 | 80% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Silicon Valley (TV series) | 52 | 1 | 98% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Andor | 52 | 5 | 91% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Mad MenThis page | 15 | 14 | 52% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
27 of the 31 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“MadMen (forming new agency seasons)”
“I do find it to be the show of highest artistic achievement.”
“the highest art that television has yet achieved”
“you can find disc versions of The Wire, Mad Men, The Sopranos etc.”
“the VFX weren't redone properly after a rescan of the film”
“You could see cameras, crew, equipment, etc. total mess that showed no care for the material.”
“I recommend you watch the TV series Mad Men”
“it captures something about work and life in that unique way that art is supposed to”
“what they just did to one of the best shows ever, Mad Men?”
“It turns the show into a quasi making-of documentary and that's a neat opportunity.”
“I'm happy that some love has been put into restoring the show, albeit in unintended 16:9.”
“It's just flat out broken.”
“Also a US only thing. Torrents keeping the rest of us alive.”
“wasn't mastered at all, just a re-scan of the original negatives at a higher resolution”
“It's streaming, for free, on Tubi”
“It solves a problem no one actually has.”
“it exists and is a good way to watch the show”
“Really surprisingly bad work by HBO.”
“over-optimization to make shareholders happy in the end ruins everything”
“The only way to watch this show properly now is the 4:3 NTSC DVD release.”
“I think the recent streaming releases also have the music altered in many places.”
“The PAL release is already the bad copy (starting with season 4 I think).”
“actually doing a good job will only hurt the bottom line”
“they seem to have also applied some weird auto-cropping that made “choices” no human doing the job would have”
“someone sent the "wrong file" to HBO Max, and it seems nobody checked it properly before uploading it”
“the color grading has never been great, although it obviously at least has the correct effects applied”
“So weird that they just forgot about CGI.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.