talent and vocal quality reigned, not autotune and gimmicks. gaga reminds us that artists used to be unabashed performers and theatrical entertainers. all that retromania takes us back to a time where america was great and strong and simpler, when china wasn't about to become our boss. nostalgia, of course, is always 20/20, and these lookbacks rarely include the full complexity and true confusion of their time, except for "mad men," which is a peerless show, because the workplace gender inequalities of the era are a consistent subtheme. as simmon reynolds writes, is nostalgia stopping our culture's ability to surge forward, or are we nostalgic because our culture as already stopped moving forward? >> i think i can answer some of your questions. i have that degree of confidence right now. >> bring it. >> so i believe that the economic incentives of the production houses to monetize