Smoking, drinking, working, affairs and intrigue

Maclean-Hunter in the seventies was more like 'The Hour' than 'Mad Men'.  'The Hour', a BBC series and thus perfectly done, is about BBC TV journalists in the fifties who challenged the system and who wanted to produce hard-hitting documentaries about political and governmental corruption -- rather than the flotsam about the comings out of vacuous debutantes and the jetsam of the latest fashions. 

It was really the beginning of the 'Fifth Estates' and 'W5s' of this world, but what intrigued me were the lifestyles and office environments of the young reporters in this series.  At M-H, as we called it, we too worked in the same sort of rudimentary conditions, all of us in one large room, sitting at grubby desks, banging away at old typewriters, spewing out copy for our various publications.  Our publishers had offices, but we were in a virtual editorial bullpen.  It was so much bloody fun because you could turn to another hacker and ask him about your piece, or ask her to listen to what you had just written, before you handed your copy to your editor.

Cigarette smoke clogged the air, people had bottles in their desk drawers and everyone was screwing everyone -- literally and figuratively.  It was heady stuff for a young woman such as I, fresh out of university, and I loved every minute of it.  'Mad Men' staff worked in luxury; we worked in reality.  'Mad Men' ad execs were cynical; we were idealistic.

Why can't the CBC do anything of this quality?  There is no way that dumb 'Republic of Doyle' can even come close to touching 'The Hour' for superb acting and gritty reality.  It's on Netflix.  Do yourself a favour and watch it.