‘Mad Men’ Hits HBO Max in 4K, Complete with Vomit-Covered Goofs and More

The new 4K restoration of Matthew Weiner’s AMC series “Mad Men,” the best and only series about the ennui-riddled advertising industry of the 1960s, has been available on HBO Max for only a day. Already, it’s causing controversy for the streamer.

Early Tuesday morning, fans started tweeting about never-before-seen gaffes in the episodes, likely related to scanning original 35mm negatives that didn’t include post-production edits. Specifically, as viewers pointed out, crew members can literally be seen roaming around the set in certain scenes — including during a queasy fan-favorite moment from Season 1, Episode 7.

“The new 4K transfer of mad men on HBO somehow does not have any of the post-production edits added in, which means you get stuff like this where you can see the crew member manning the puke machine after Roger has too many oysters,” one user wrote on X in the wee hours of the morning, setting off a tidal wave of comments.

The post (and it’s not the only one) refers to the final moments of “Red in the Face,” when Don (Jon Hamm) gets revenge on Roger (John Slattery) for drunkenly coming onto his wife (January Jones) by taking his older colleague out for a stomach-turning martini and oyster lunch. In fan-filmed clips shared online, crew members can actually be seen crouching behind Slattery as he pretends to hurl all over the office floor.

And unfortunately, that’s not where the mistakes stop. If you go to HBO Max to see the blunder for yourself, you’ll have to do some digging, because at least a few of the episodes are also out of order and mislabeled. Episode 6 (“Babylon”) is where Episode 5 (“5G”) should be; Episode 7 where 6 should be; and Episode 5 in place of 7, etc. Not ideal for first-time viewers of the series, which HBO Max hopes to lure along with legacy watchers.

As of mid-afternoon on Tuesday, the gaffes were still there, though the blame doesn’t seem to be solely on the streamer. A source with close knowledge of the situation told IndieWire that incorrect files were delivered to HBO Max, which is now in the process of obtaining the correct files to be posted as soon as possible. (Of note, “Mad Men” is a production of Lionsgate Television.)

While that gets ironed out, viewers keep flagging issues with the 4K restoration, which is the only version of the series available through the platform. One X user pointed out that the pilot’s opening sequence does not include the explanation of the series’ title that was present in previous versions. Others said crew members could be seen in other shots.

Meanwhile, some fans were just grateful that Season 3, Episode 6 (“Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency”), where an advertising exec loses a chunk of his foot courtesy of a lawnmower, is still apparently intact. And it’s always good to look on the bright side, since things can quickly take a turn for the worse. Or as Joan says in that episode, “One minute, you’re on top of the world, the next minute, some secretary is running you over with a lawnmower” — and one minute you’re beloved for bringing back everyone’s favorite prestige show, the next you’re being trolled online for uploading the wrong files.