But over the last few years, "Mad Men" has been one of the very best shows on TV that continues to look back at a generation of parents, kids, workers and bosses who slowly but surely redefined the notion of the American dream.

For those who have never seen an episode, the series began at the dawn of the 1960s, based around the advertising men of Madison Avenue who landed big accounts to help sell the future to the new American consumer.

By the third season, that started to spin the concept on its axis. This wasn't just about the new American dream, but also about the disillusionment that would come after we all grabbed hold of our house, car and garden and were suddenly left with "Great: What now?"

That has been the progress of the television series, all wrapped around the enigmatic Don Draper (Jon Hamm), whose secrets have slowly leaked out over the arc of the series. He is an executive at the Sterling Cooper agency, a husband and father to two, and yet his wife hardly knows about his past.

As that truth has seeped out, everything has started to melt down around him. His wife was outraged and demanded a divorce. Meanwhile his ad agency has been gobbled up through a merger with a British firm and season three ended with the key executives fleeing the company with as many accounts as they could handle. They are opening a new firm, Draper is starting a new life free of wife Betty (January Jones). And as happens every now and then in America, all the characters are poised to start anew: What is the dream they're chasing?

If I've made the show sound heavy, it's not. The dialogue is scathing and subtle, the staging is sophisticated and the themes are starkly current in the midst of today's recession.

The show that started about advertising is now about so much more. It returns Sunday night to much acclaim and on a bid to rack up even more Golden Globe wins and Emmy nominations. Now's your time to hop on board and immerse yourselves.