“Mad Men” promised to give us an inside look at a bustling 1960s advertising agency… but the new version streaming on HBO Max is letting us see too much, it seems.
All seven seasons of the esteemed Emmy-winning drama debuted on HBO Max on Monday, with the streamer touting a new 4K version available for the first time, offering “crisp detail and enhanced visual clarity.” But the 4K version apparently includes a number of errors that were corrected before the show originally aired, the most glaring one being the famous Season 1 scene when Roger Sterling throws up at work after enjoying too many cocktails and oysters at lunch. In the 4K version, you can actually see two crew members to the side operating a machine that produces Roger’s fake vomit, along with a hose on the ground.
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 lmao pic.twitter.com/HNgPRNOsla
— johnny (@bigrackspart7) December 2, 2025
That isn’t the only error, either. In a Season 2 episode, Peggy is walking through what is supposed to be 1960s Manhattan, but we can see advertisements for cell phone SIM cards and a sign for “the best tacos and burritos in L.A.” behind her.
update: the ‘no post-production edits’ problem carries over into season 2. the fourth episode has peggy walking by ads for SIM cards and “the best mexican restaurant in LA” lol pic.twitter.com/bwQTfd6rGj
— johnny (@bigrackspart7) December 2, 2025
How could this happen?
It seems inconceivable that a beloved and acclaimed show like “Mad Men” could be released in a new version with so many mistakes intact, but it’s not unprecedented. A decade ago, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was infamously remastered in HD by Fox, but the remaster widened the image from 4:3 to 16:9, resulting in stray crew members and equipment being visible in the frame. The issue seems to stem from going back to the original camera negatives to create the new version, but not including any of the cropping or post-production edits that cleaned it up before air.
“Mad Men” producers Lionsgate “will soon deliver a corrected version” of the episodes on HBO Max, Variety reports, after the unedited versions were uploaded to the service by mistake. (TVLine has reached out to HBO Max for an update on when the corrected versions will be available.) Until then, there’s always DVD and Blu-ray.