Matthew Weiner got cracking on Mad Men back in 1999, but it took him a long time to get anybody to look at it. Apparently his agents at the time who have since been fired kept a hold of his pilot script for a few months before sending it out to people, and even then they were loathe to put up who was previously a comedy writer for a straight drama project. Eventually that spec script ended up in the hands of David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, who hired Weiner to write for the influential gangster drama on the strength of it. But that didn't end up helping Weiner get Mad Men made into a TV series, despite The Sopranos connection. One producer suggested turning that pilot script into a feature length film instead of a TV series. Which would've made things completely different: it's unlikely a movie version would have the same unknown cast if it shared Mad Men's budget, Weiner might've lost creative control, and the slow burn character studies would have been totally lost.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
