Vested Id wrote:

Pleasantville argued that the essence of the 50s was as portrayed in shows like The Donna Reed Show and Father Knows Best, and that while this world may be perfect it's ultimately barren because of what gets left out - namely sex and normal human emotions, which it makes almost equivalent. Even though today we have to deal with things like AIDS and global warming we're richer people because we're complete human beings.

Mad Men literally reverses that formula by portraying the 50s/60s realistically (disputable but certainly when compared with Pleasantville), and the bargain it's presenting is that when you look at that world as it actually was, with the flaws mixed in with the good things the postwar era was superior to the world we live in in almost every way. Whether that's true is another issue but it's the show's whole cultural import. Not everything is about narrative fabs.

I'm guessing the initial rave buzz was from hipsters ecstatic to see their retro dress style validated, and the television without pity crowd who can't stop creaming themselves over Don Draper, despite him doing nothing but be insecure and mope.

Hipsters ruin nothing, geeks ruin Mad Men by reducing it's appeal into pat notions they're comfortable with, like how hats are sorely missed and how women should be feminine.

Also I think you're ignoring the obvious point, remarked on by everyone, that Don Draper is obsessed over because he's a lost type.