Pick for the week of Aug 6th
Here's what I said then:

I always applaud any form of experimentation or daring in television. With so many copycat shows playing it safe (fat husband frustrates loving and hot wife; damaged/quirky woman solves crimes through forensics and/or talking directly to the dead; reality show involves members voted off in some sort of contrived ritual; etc), AMC's Mad Men tries something new–and they've put themselves squarely behind this project which boasts high production values, outstanding casting and a premise we haven't seen a million times before.

The show takes us to the advertising world of 1960s Manhattan with all its sexist man's world mentality. Part of the initial intrigue is the fascination of the way things used to be. Particularly, living in New York, I find myself wondering how I would have fit into that world of long ago. Hopefully the show will become more than an interesting history lesson and the plots and characters will continue to grow and captivate. So far, AMC has exceeded my expectations. Give it a shot because originality on television should be rewarded even if it still has a few quirks to work out.

Runners Up:
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern
Beauty and the Geek
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy/ Smiley's People
The World Series of Pop Culture
The Way We Live Now