Getting Yourself Prepared For The Return of Mad Men!

Mad Men returns tonight. Every blogger, TV enthusiast and old-timey ad-man alike is anxiously awaiting the second season of this critically acclaimed drama.

Want to get into the spirit before tonight's brand new episode? Here are a few tips:

• Make yourself a cocktail. Don Draper drinks whiskey old fashioneds. His lady friends tend to drink red wine or mai tais. Regardless of what you drink, hold it well. No one gets drunk at work, that's what election results parties are for.
  
• Take up smoking. I tried to count how many ciggarettes appeared in one episode and lost count after the first scene. Can you imagine if that America still existed? Watching all of that huffing and puffing seems so foreign. And don't worry about the actors, according to this painstakingly thorough article from the New York Times magazine, the articles are smoking herbal cigarettes (no nicotine, no tar).
• Read up. This season kicks off about 18 months from where we left off. It's Valentine's Day, 1962. So we won't get to see Pete Campbell's irreverent take on The Bay of Pigs, the beginning of the Berlin Wall, the Yankees winning the world series or the release of J.D. Salinger's Franny & Zooey. Tragic.
  
• Listen to some good music. The top songs from this time period remain classics today. Add Runaround Sue, Stand By Me and The Lion Sleeps Tonight to your playlist to get yourself in the mood.
  
• Buy the first season. iTunes is selling season one for $19.99, that's $20 off the retail prive everywhere else. If you don't mind watching it on your computer, that's certainly a steal.
  

Once you've done all that the only thing left to do is wait. You can read some of the "mad" press this show's received, especially in the past week. That might occupy your time. The season premiere airs at 10/9 central on AMC. Set your Tivos to stun.

Photo: AMCtv.com