Mad Men: Season 1

Attention to detail was paramount when creating Mad Men, AMC’s decadent 1960s Madison Avenue series, and the bonus features (see: 23 commentaries from 28 cast/crew members) follow suit. Everyone from Jon Hamm to prop master Scott Buckwald candidly illuminates creator Matthew Weiner’s quest for period perfection. In ”Establishing Mad Men” — one of three featurettes in the four-disc Zippo lighter-style box — we learn Weiner banished an Etch A Sketch from episode 2 because the toy launched a few months after a scene supposedly took place. Even grocery-store apples — in the background when Betty (January Jones) slaps Helen (Darby Stanchfield) in episode 7 — were deemed too large for the era. ”I was very reality-oriented,” the obsessive Weiner says with a grin. The EXTRAs are as transporting as the show itself. A-