'Topaz' and 'Mad Men'

I'm a big Hitchcock fan, and I'm also liking the currently-playing US cable TV series "Mad Men," which is set in a New York City ad agency in the early sixties and has lots of references to Hitchcock films of the late fifties and early sixties (references to Vertigo, Psycho, Marnie, The Birds, and of course the Madison Avenue "North by Northwest" have all been made, and show's beautiful blonde wife charatcter is called "a Grace Kelly type.")

Season One of "Mad Men" took place in 1960; Season Two is on now (summer 2008), set in 1962.

And I can't help noticing that the 1962 "lead couple" on "Mad Men" -- handsome married man Don Draper and his beautiful blonde wife Betty Draper -- resemble, in look and circumstance, Andre and Nicole Devereaux from "Topaz" which is set during the 1962 Missile Crisis.

Andre and Nicole are older than Don and Betty -- they have a married daughter -- but their personal issues are the same. Handsome Don is cheating on his beautiful blonde wife with an exotic brunette (Juanita DeCordoba; on "Mad Men," Don Draper has had three brunettes thus far.)

"Topaz" is one Hitchcock movie that "Mad Men" has NOT reference, for it was made in 1969, and "Mad Men" may never even REACH 1969.

Still, I'm intrigued by the way that Andre and Nicole look, dress, and comport themselves as "mirrors" of the younger Don and Betty Draper. And if this season's "Mad Men" reaches OCTOBER of 1962 (they're in "April" right now) -- the show will have to confront the Cuban Missile Crisis that "Topaz" is about.

And that's why its fun to analyze movies and TV shows "on my own terms."