By Willie Gillis

Mad Men Season 3
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Matthew Weiner
Starring Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, Christina Hendricks
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release Date: March 23, 2010

Welcome to the world of the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency.

Mad Men explores the lives of the Madison Avenue ad men of New York City in the 1960’s. Don Draper (Jon Hamm), agency director, is the focus of the hour-long drama and the people involved in his personal and professional life.

The series, as a whole, is fantastic and accurately portrays the events of the 1960s. The DVD set offers much enjoyment for new and old fans of the show. The third season was great because the show depicts a historically accurate view of the 1960s. Another good thing about Mad Men is that each season has thirteen episodes which keeps the show focused and on track. The audio commentaries provided the perfect insight into how each episode was made.

The season three DVD includes four discs which include all 13 episodes of the third season and an array of special features: audio commentaries on all of the season three episodes, a two-part documentary on the life and legacy of Medgar Evers, a feature discussing the history of cigarette advertising, a feature on the “I Have A Dream” speech, and Mad Men Illustrated: a feature on the illustrations inspired by Mad Men.

The “Medgar Evers: An Unsung Hero” documentary is a lengthy two-part feature on Medgar Evers’s life and legacy. The documentary provides an informative glimpse into the Evers’s life and the events that followed after his death. The “Clearing the Air” feature is an interesting look at the tobacco industry and how advertising affected their products. Also included as a special feature, “We Shall Overcome: The March on Washington.” This feature was a highlight on the famous “I Have a Dream” with pictures from the March on Washington event. The set also includes the feature “MAD MEN Illustrated,” which is a behind the scenes look at the artist responsible for illustrations inspired by Mad Men.

Overall, the DVD set is fantastic and worthy of a purchase. The four-disc set is packed with historic special features that would interest anyone who is a fan of the show. The audio commentaries are very insightful if one wanted to know how certain scenes were filmed. The only thing missing from the DVD set is special feature about the assassination of President Kennedy and the impact on America, as supplement the episode depicting this event.

If you are a fan of Mad Men, you will thoroughly enjoy this DVD set. If you’ve never seen the show, you should watch season one because the series as a whole is worth it.

Mad Men Season 3 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 23, 2010. AMC will premiere Mad Men Season 4 this summer.