http://fxrant.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-mad-men-in-4k-on-hbo-max-debacle.html skip to main | skip to sidebar FXRant A blogtacular blog filled with words, images, and whipped cream on top. Written by Todd Vaziri. Tuesday, December 02, 2025 The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle [madmen_banner2] Reader warning: there's gonna be a lot of pretend puke photos in this post. If you've fired up HBO Max recently, you've probably seen that one of the most influential and prestigious television series of all time was to premiere in 4K on the streaming service. The show's first four seasons were shot on film, and the final three were shot digitally on the Alexa, but the run of the series was mastered in 1080p HD. HBO Max has been touting this 4K "restoration" of the series, produced by Lionsgate TV. The highly anticipated 4K debut of the show was to be one of HBO Max' crown jewels of television history. It looks like it might initially serve as a cautionary tale of quality control when it comes to restorations and the technical process of bringing shows to streaming. [Screenshot] As far as I can tell, Paul Haine was the first to notice something weird going on with HBO Max' presentation. In one of season one's most memorable moments, Roger Sterling barfs in front of clients after climbing many flights of stairs. As a surprise to Paul, you can clearly see the pretend puke hose (that is ultimately strapped to the back side of John Slattery's face) in the background, along with two techs who are modulating the flow. Yeah, you're not supposed to see that. It appears that the HBO Max episodes represent the original photography, unaltered before digital visual effects got involved. Somehow, this episode (along with many others) do not include all the digital visual effects that were in the original broadcasts and home video releases. It's a bizarro mistake for Lionsgate and HBO Max to make and not discover until after the show was streaming to customers. * * * * * I want to be clear that this is a separate issue than the "reframed original film negative for 16:9" issue that has plagued many restorations that have left viewers scratching their heads. In those cases, the shows were originally shot on film and presented in 1.33-to-1 aspect ratio, but for their HD restorations the studio decided that their shows should fill the HD frame at the 16:9 aspect ratio, so portions of the negative, previously unseen and NOT intended for broadcast, were now suddenly visible, sometimes leading to ridiculous images that were never meant to be seen by audiences... [FwmY7L0akAIv1ro] example from "Friends" in HD, look at screen right ...or cropping out vital visual information in order to avoid black bands on the left and right side of frame. [pothole] example from "Seinfeld" in HD Reframing old shows to fit a new aspect ratio is antithetical to the spirit of media restoration, and cheapens the future of our shared culture. The folks at the studios who insist on hobbling their most classic television shows are really bad at their jobs. But that's NOT what is going on with "Mad Men", since the show was mastered in 16:9 to begin with. * * * * * I decided to help illustrate the changes by diving in and creating images that might do better than words. The first thing I noticed is that, at least for season one, the episode titles and order were totally jumbled. The puke episode is "Red in the Face", not "Babylon". [bafkreie3pzk32gdwev5zt55ot4hzd32ivfs7igcubj4d2azzruuhoww] update 12/2/25: The season one episodes are being updated live on HBO Max to their correct positions and titles. The corrected title: [Screenshot] I lined up the Blu-ray edition of the episode with the current HBO Max episode: [tile] [stacked] The fun thing about this restoration mistake is that now we, the audience, get to see exactly how many digital visual effects were actually used in a show like "Mad Men", which most would assume did not have any digital effects component. In this shot, not only were the techs and hose removed, but the spot where the pretend puke meets Slattery's face has some clever digital warping to make it seem like the flow is truly coming from his mouth (as opposed to it appearing through a tube inches from his mouth, on the other side of his face). A Twitter user noticed that the post-production screwups are not exclusive to season one, so I fired up my comparison machine to illustrate it. [signs_tiled] [signs] In this case, visual effects was used to obscure the fact that the show was filmed in 2000's era Los Angeles, not in 1960's New York City. Every sign was altered, and period-appropriate garbage NYC garbage cans were also added to each side of the frame. Eric Vilas-Boas has been covering the behind-the-scenes issues that may have cause this screwup over at Vulture. This post will be updated as warranted. My original Bluesky thread is here. [Screenshot] update 12/3/25: Another comparison below. When you fire up the first episode of the first season on HBO Max, right after the now-iconic opening titles, you might wonder why the music plays against black for a few beats. Well, that's because you're missing some titles that should appear on screen. [tile_pilottitles] [Untitled] You should be seeing the text: "Mad Men: A term coined int he late 1950's to describe the advertising executives of Madison Avenue. They coined it." However, like the visual effects examples above, these graphics do not appear in the HBO Max version. update 12/3/25: I just started randomly looking for season two wide shots of locations... and found another one. [tile_restaurant] [stacked_restaurant1] [detail] Looks like in s02e01, they filmed in a hotel lobby (probably The Biltmore in Los Angeles), which features modern signage for a west coast hotel... which were digitally removed for the real episode, but the HBO Max version is the raw, unedited photography. * * * * * As an aside, I've seen a lot of speculation as to how something like this could happen. I've been crafting my words carefully because I don't want to speculate or lay blame on any one process or group - I've been focusing on the results of the oopsie-doopsie. Usually, mistakes like this happen because even if only one goof was made, several steps of quality control missed the goof. Posted by Todd Vaziri at 12/02/2025 02:43:00 PM # # Labels: Mad Men No comments: Post a Comment Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) FXRant by Todd Vaziri FXRant by Todd Vaziri Todd Vaziri Links * tvaziri.com * Todd Vaziri's Home Page * Todd Vaziri's IMDB Page * Todd Vaziri on Twitter About Me Todd Vaziri tvaziri.com - my name is todd vaziri and make movies and talk about movies a lot. mail me feedback at tvaziri@tvaziri.com. View my complete profile Blog Archive * V 2025 (22) + V December (1) o The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle + > October (2) + > September (1) + > July (2) + > June (3) + > April (4) + > February (5) + > January (4) * > 2024 (14) + > December (1) + > November (1) + > October (3) + > June (4) + > April (1) + > March (1) + > February (2) + > January (1) * > 2023 (25) + > December (1) + > November (1) + > October (1) + > August (1) + > July (2) + > May (2) + > April (1) + > March (3) + > February (5) + > January (8) * > 2022 (9) + > December (2) + > November (2) + > October (3) + > March (2) * > 2021 (6) + > May (1) + > April (2) + > March (1) + > February (2) * > 2020 (4) + > November (3) + > January (1) * > 2019 (16) + > November (3) + > October (1) + > March (4) + > February (3) + > January (5) * > 2018 (36) + > December (5) + > November (3) + > October (1) + > September (15) + > August (2) + > July (1) + > June (1) + > March (1) + > February (3) + > January (4) * > 2017 (16) + > November (1) + > September (1) + > May (1) + > April (1) + > March (1) + > February (7) + > January (4) * > 2016 (15) + > December (1) + > August (1) + > April (1) + > March (2) + > February (5) + > January (5) * > 2015 (24) + > December (4) + > September (1) + > August (2) + > July (2) + > June (1) + > May (1) + > March (2) + > February (6) + > January (5) * > 2014 (20) + > December (2) + > November (1) + > October (2) + > September (1) + > May (1) + > April (1) + > March (3) + > February (4) + > January (5) * > 2013 (22) + > December (3) + > August (1) + > July (1) + > June (2) + > May (3) + > March (3) + > February (6) + > January (3) * > 2012 (23) + > December (2) + > November (1) + > September (1) + > August (2) + > July (1) + > June (2) + > March (1) + > February (10) + > January (3) * > 2011 (23) + > December (2) + > October (8) + > July (1) + > April (1) + > March (4) + > February (4) + > January (3) * > 2010 (34) + > November (1) + > October (1) + > August (2) + > July (7) + > May (5) + > March (6) + > February (2) + > January (10) * > 2009 (30) + > December (4) + > November (3) + > October (1) + > August (2) + > July (1) + > June (2) + > May (6) + > April (3) + > February (4) + > January (4) * > 2008 (47) + > December (2) + > November (4) + > October (1) + > August (3) + > July (1) + > June (8) + > May (5) + > April (3) + > March (7) + > February (4) + > January (9) * > 2007 (101) + > December (4) + > November (4) + > October (8) + > September (3) + > August (14) + > July (31) + > June (12) + > May (6) + > April (5) + > March (2) + > February (5) + > January (7) * > 2006 (10) + > December (9) + > November (1) Labels * visual effects (117) * film (109) * Academy Awards (95) * ILM (81) * Transformers (55) * predicting the oscar (43) * predictinator (38) * VES Awards (24) * podcast (23) * camera movement (22) * Stephen Colbert (21) * Transformers Review (21) * cinematography (18) * Oscar Ballot (17) * The Colbert Report (17) * favorite interviews (17) * movie marketing is hard (16) * Randomizer (15) * Star Trek (14) * Star Trek 2009 (14) * J.J. Abrams (12) * Avatar (10) * James Cameron (10) * Michael Bay (10) * 87th Academy Awards (9) * Apple (8) * Star Wars (8) * The VFX Show (8) * mi3 (8) * Box Office Average Per Academy Award Category (7) * Halloween (7) * President Bush (7) * Rogue One (7) * hero (7) * media (7) * 88th Academy Awards (6) * 89th Academy Awards (6) * Brad Bird (6) * Raiders of the Lost Ark (6) * advertising (6) * ratatouille (6) * 90th Academy Awards (5) * Back To The Future (5) * Christopher Nolan (5) * Indiana Jones (5) * Robert Zemeckis (5) * Transformers 2 (5) * anamorphic (5) * mi4 (5) * Adapt (4) * Douglas Slocombe (4) * Inception (4) * John Carpenter (4) * Mac (4) * Pirates 2 (4) * Rob Zombie (4) * Star Trek Into Darkness (4) * Steven Spielberg (4) * Terminator 2 (4) * The Onion (4) * Transformers 3 (4) * always awesome (4) * lens flare (4) * movie poster (4) * 5by5 (3) * 91st Academy Awards (3) * After Effects (3) * Apple TV (3) * BTTF podcast (3) * Brett Ratner (3) * Chicago (3) * Cinefex (3) * Digital Domain (3) * Hulu (3) * Iron Man 2 (3) * John Knoll (3) * Lighter Darker (3) * Pixar (3) * Skeleton Crew (3) * Speed Racer (3) * Thankless (3) * The Daily Show (3) * The Dark Knight (3) * The Force Awakens (3) * The Shining (3) * VES Awards 2008 (3) * VES Awards 2010 (3) * Van Helsing (3) * Wally Pfister (3) * jaws (3) * misinformation (3) * superman returns (3) * television (3) * 1-18-08 (2) * 2001 (2) * 3D (2) * Avengers (2) * Cloverfield (2) * Dan Benjamin (2) * Defamer (2) * Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2) * Fake Movie Poster (2) * John Gruber (2) * Jon Favreau (2) * Jon Stewart (2) * Let The Right One In (2) * Marketplace (2) * Microsoft (2) * NPR (2) * New York Times (2) * Pitch Black (2) * Rango (2) * Roger Guyett (2) * Ron Fricke (2) * Sam Elliott (2) * Shake (2) * Stanley Kubrick (2) * The Talk Show (2) * VES Awards 2009 (2) * VES Awards 2011 (2) * VES Awards 2013 (2) * VES Awards 2014 (2) * VES Awards 2015 (2) * VES Awards 2016 (2) * VES Awards 2017 (2) * VES Awards 2018 (2) * Visual Effects Hall of Fame (2) * Weta Digital (2) * camera shake citation (2) * clip show (2) * dr. weil (2) * editing (2) * iraq (2) * lost (2) * maura tierney (2) * radio (2) * recap montage (2) * sequels (2) * split diopter (2) * terminator (2) * tomorrowland (2) * twitter (2) * 300 (1) * 92nd Academy Awards (1) * 93rdAcademy Awards (1) * 94th Academy Awards (1) * 95th Academy Awards (1) * 96th Academy Awards (1) * 97th Academy Awards (1) * A Fish Called Wanda (1) * AV Club (1) * American Pie (1) * Andrew Stanton (1) * Ant-Man 3 (1) * Baraka (1) * Barbie (1) * Barry Bonds (1) * Batman (1) * Benjamin Button (1) * Beowulf (1) * Better Call Saul (1) * Box Office vs. Tomatometer (1) * CGLies (1) * Carl Kasell (1) * Carlos Mencia (1) * Children of Men (1) * Cybertruck (1) * DC Comics (1) * Danny DeVito (1) * Darth Vader Being a Jerk (1) * David Bordwell (1) * Dexter (1) * Disney (1) * Disney Plus (1) * District 9 (1) * Double Negative (1) * Forrest Gump (1) * Fox (1) * Fox News (1) * Futurama (1) * Game of Thrones (1) * George Carlin (1) * Gran Turismo (1) * HBO (1) * Halloween Ends (1) * Halloween II (1) * Halloween Kills (1) * Hans Zimmer (1) * Harry Potter (1) * Heat (1) * Hypercritical (1) * It (2017) (1) * James Bond (1) * Joe Rogan (1) * John Alcott (1) * John McTiernan (1) * Judd Apatow (1) * Jurassic Park (1) * KQED (1) * Kevin Smith (1) * Knocked Up (1) * M*A*S*H (1) * Mad Men (1) * Marvel Comics (1) * Men in Black (1) * Michael Giacchino (1) * Mission Impossible (1) * Mitt Romney (1) * Noises Off (1) * POV (1) * Pat Tubach (1) * Paul Franklin (1) * Peacock (1) * Peggy Sue Got Married (1) * Predator (1) * R-Rated (1) * Rain (1) * Schindler's List (1) * Seven (1) * Spider-Man (1) * Stan Winston (1) * Star Trek First Contact (1) * Stephen Sommers (1) * Tarkin (1) * The Exorcist (1) * The Incredibles (1) * The Office (1) * The Sopranos (1) * The Studio (1) * Titanic (1) * Tom Martinek (1) * Toy Story (1) * Tran (1) * True Lies (1) * VES Awards 2012 (1) * VES Awards 2019 (1) * VFXHQ (1) * Vanity Fair (1) * Visual Effects Headquarters (1) * Visual Effects Society (1) * Wall*E (1) * War of the Roses (1) * action choreography (1) * art vs. technology (1) * as himself (1) * bake-off (1) * baseball (1) * blocking (1) * casino royale (1) * color timing (1) * correcting the record (1) * credits (1) * dedioptered (1) * dolly zoom (1) * drone (1) * dumb product alert (1) * empire strikes back (1) * flying spaghetti monster (1) * godzilla 2014 (1) * goodfellas (1) * grown ups 2 (1) * hal hickel (1) * hulk (1) * iPod (1) * iTunes (1) * inspirational quotes (1) * intertubes (1) * iphone (1) * long take (1) * motion smoothing (1) * new term (1) * nicolas cage (1) * politics (1) * positive acknowledgment (1) * professional screenplay filmer (1) * rand (1) * ratings (1) * shouldabeen (1) * sound design (1) * spider-man into the spider-verse (1) * spinoff (1) * storify (1) * stunts (1) * the frame (1) * torture (1) * vexation (1) * waterworld (1) * writing (1) * zune (1)