HBO Max’s 'Mad Men' Vomit Scene Proves ‘Remastered’ Doesn’t Mean ‘Better’

Last month, HBO Max announced a large caller summation to its library. Not lone would the streamer beryllium adding Mad Men—a amusement that HBO execs infamously passed connected backmost erstwhile Matthew Weiner was a writer connected The Sopranos—but it would beryllium presenting the play drama’s episodes successful a caller 4K remastering. This would, according to the property release, “[give] audiences and longtime Mad Men fans the accidental to bask the series’ authentically-crafted elements with crisp item and enhanced ocular clarity.”

As it turned out, determination was possibly too much clarity. Not agelong aft the bid went unrecorded connected HBO Max, a screencap began floating astir societal media, from a country successful the Season One occurrence “Red successful the Face,” wherever Roger Sterling is vomiting successful beforehand of a radical of horrified Sterling Cooper clients. When it aired—and successful the mentation inactive disposable connected AMC+—seven men are connected screen, each of them wearing period-appropriate suits and ties. The HBO Max version, connected the different hand, features 2 men who look precise retired of spot successful 1960: unit members lurking successful the background, feeding a hose to make the illusion that histrion John Slattery is puking:

As of this morning, immoderate episodes were besides mislabeled, truthful you had to click connected the occurrence labeled “Babylon” to spot Roger’s stomach-churning display. It’s the benignant of infinitesimal for which Mad Men’s ain “Not great, Bob!” meme was invented.

This is, unfortunately, not the archetypal clip this has happened erstwhile a classical bid has changed platforms and/or formats. Most shows that originated successful the 20th period were filmed successful modular definition, successful the classical 4:3 facet ratio. Putting the images into a higher resolution, and past reframing them for widescreen television, has created akin problems. Crew members could besides beryllium seen successful immoderate Buffy the Vampire Slayer shots erstwhile the supernatural teen play was converted to widescreen. “Gender Bender,” an X-Files occurrence astir a slayer who tin alteration backmost and distant from antheral to female, erstwhile moved to widescreen had a changeable wherever you could spot the antheral histrion lurking astatine the borderline of the frame, conscionable waiting to swap successful for his pistillate counterpart.

Those issues came from adding worldly to the sides of the representation to acceptable the wider frame. But cropping the tops and bottoms of images besides causes problems, peculiarly with ocular comedy. When Seinfeld went widescreen, definite shots nary longer featured the pothole George Costanza was complaining astir successful an occurrence virtually called “The Pothole.” An occurrence of The Simpsons wherever Homer visits the Duff brewery mislaid 1 of its champion show gags erstwhile it archetypal arrived connected Disney+, cropped for widescreen:

But the occupation goes beyond a alteration of facet ratio. Remastering shows that were primitively changeable with much primitive exertion sometimes goes horribly awry, similar an I Love Lucy clip that went viral past twelvemonth showing a brace of once-blurry inheritance actors brought into truthful overmuch absorption that they present looked similar surreal Picasso sketches.

I visited the acceptable of Frasier successful the precocious nineties, arsenic the TV manufacture was preparing for the displacement from modular to hi-def. As I admired the decor of Dr. Crane’s surviving room, 1 of the acclaimed sitcom’s producers lamented that each of it would look overmuch shabbier successful HD than successful the much visually forgiving SD format, and disquieted that they’d person to spell to the disbursal of rebuilding each of their lasting sets. Frasier, Lucy, and truthful galore others were created without a thought to however they mightiness 1 time look successful a format that didn’t adjacent beryllium astatine the time.

While countless classical movies person been successfully remastered for HD oregon 4K, they’re besides standalone projects, wherever existent attraction and attraction tin beryllium fixed to each frame. Seinfeld and I Love Lucy some made 180 episodes. The Simpsons made 429 episodes successful standard-def. Doing prime power with that magnitude of merchandise is precise difficult, which is however truthful galore of these mistakes get made. (In the lawsuit of The Simpsons, Disney+ eventually introduced an enactment to ticker the archetypal 20 seasons successful their archetypal facet ratio.) Every present and past you get a concern similar The Wire, whose creator David Simon insisted connected being progressive successful the process of changing the gritty municipality drama’s representation prime and facet ratio, but it’s rare.

This circumstantial Mad Men mistake is an unusual one, since the amusement was ever presented successful HD widescreen. But the archetypal 4 seasons were changeable connected film, truthful possibly successful the remastering process, idiosyncratic inadvertently utilized an alternate instrumentality of the vomit country wherever the unit members hadn’t been digitally erased. A root adjacent to the process said that Lionsgate gave HBO Max “incorrect files,” and that the due versions volition beryllium uploaded ASAP.

But wherefore was the transportation adjacent necessary? Mad Men is 1 of the best-looking TV bid ever made. My Blu-ray episodes are gorgeous. On my 4K TV, the HBO Max mentation of the archetypal occurrence is simply a spot crisper and much detailed, but not truthful overmuch arsenic to warrant either the fuss oregon the circumstances that allowed this flub to happen.

There’s truthful overmuch of a propulsion contiguous to marque things look arsenic bully arsenic they perchance can, without overmuch thought fixed to preserving the tone and benignant of however they were primitively made. Some shows, similar Mad Men, don’t request further polish. Others, similar The Wire, were meant to beryllium grubby. When the HD versions were preparing for release, Simon wrote, “While this caller mentation of The Wire is not, successful immoderate circumstantial ways, the movie we archetypal made, it has capable merit to beryllium arsenic an alternate version. There are scenes that intelligibly amended successful HD and successful the widescreen format. But determination are things that are not improved. And adjacent with our champion resizing, touchups and maneuver, determination are immoderate things that are simply not arsenic good.”

In his astir celebrated advertisement pitch, Don Draper explained that, “Technology is simply a glittering lure, but there's the uncommon juncture erstwhile the nationalist tin beryllium engaged connected the level beyond flash, if they person a sentimental enslaved with the product.” We person a sentimental enslaved with the top TV shows. Maybe it’s OK to permission them arsenic they were, adjacent if determination are achromatic bands connected the sides of the image, oregon you can’t spot each hint of stubble connected Don’s jaw.