How Don are you?

I keep seeing ads around town, asking 'How Don are you?'

Not very, I'd imagine, but it prompted my boyfriend to sigh and exclaim, 'He IS the don' in quite a bromantic fashion.

Don Draper is the star of TV hit Mad Men, the third season of which comes to the NZ small screen on Sunday.

Set in 1960s New York, it depicts a different era when men were men, women were women, and everyone smoked and drank to their heart's content...

Sexy and provocative, it follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive players at Madison Avenue advertising.

I haven't seen all of the second series yet, so will have to leave it to the blurb from Prime to recap:

"Season two left off against the backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis; major changes were unfolding at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency resulting from its takeover by British advertising firm Putnam, Powell & Lowe.

"Creative Director Donald Draper (Jon Hamm) returns from LA - where he ran away trying to come to terms with his identity - to news of the merger, and attempts to reconcile with his wife, Betty (January Jones).

"In the wake of her separation from Don, Betty discovers she's expecting their third child, and in a shocking moment, sleeps with another man in a back office at a bar.

"When Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) professes his love for Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), she makes the heartbreaking confession that she secretly gave birth to his child only to give it up for adoption in order to pursue her career.

"A self-indulgent Roger (John Slattery) leaves his wife Mona for Don's former secretary Jane, while Joan (Christina Hendricks) once again faces the limitations of her gender in both the workplace and her personal relationship."

Phew! For those who haven't seen it before, there's a reason Mad Men is one of the most talked-about shows on the box - it's gritty, racy, pacy and cool, with a slew of Emmys and Golden Globes under its sleek vintage belt.

Jon Hamm's Don Draper may be a sexist, cheating bigot but he's also the coolest man on TV. And, as the boyfriend testifies, he has become an object of admiration for men and women alike.

But fear not, others will enjoy feasting their eyes on January Jones and the incredible Christina Hendricks, who definitely puts the sex into Sixties (or something). 

Oh, and the storyline's not bad either, both as a lesson in sexual politics and American history as well as a damning dissection of the ambitious urban male.

Check it out, and find out how Don you are!

Prime, Sundays, 9.30pm.