The creator of the show mainly talks about how he set up all the characters on the show, how he cast some of the major parts, and set up the series. Just a reminder of what a great episode the first one is.

Informative and generally entertaining. Weiner slips into narration a bit, and sometimes pats himself on the back, but all-in-all a rather enlightening discourse into the creation of a pilot for a classic show, when at the time it was unclear if the series would get picked up.

Weiner gets into why he wanted to create a period piece and talks about casting, sets, and costumes and provides a more solid commentary than director Alan Taylor

Weiner talks about the concept of the show and its main characters. Good points are the relationships between the characters and the style of the show. A good track without any gaps for a great pilot. 8 out of 10.

The director's commentary is worth a listen, but if you only have time for one, choose the writer's commentary. Most interesting to me was his frankness in expressing dislike for the use of the music "Caravan" towards the end of the episode, especially after listening to Weiner commenting that he loves it in the other commentary.

There is some redundancy between the tracks, but Taylor's delivery is more even compared to Weiner's enthusiasm.

No series spoilers in either track, save mention that a photo of a character we don't actually meet until later is not a photo of the actor eventually cast. I don't think this information really spoils anything, but I thought I'd mention this instance.

As is usual for commentary-giving actors, there is plenty of dead air and plenty of general admiration ("I love this line"). Given that Mad Men Season 1 provides something like 36 hours of commentary tracks, this one is easily skippable.

There is a mild spoiler mentioned, about when a certain as-yet unmet character shows up, around episode 6.

We are blessed with not one but two actor commentaries on the second episode...depending on your level of compulsive complete-ism, this is perhaps skippable. Between the two tracks on this episode, this one is far more interesting and continuous (as in, the actor's don't slip into screening comas). If you only want to give time to one commentary per episode, choose this one. If you're on a time crunch and need to stick to just the good commentaries, this might not make the cut.

Odd, though, is the "cut together" nature of this commentary. It's never acknowledged but Gladis and Moss clearly recorded their commentaries separately, mostly noticed in the lack of exchanges between the two of them (and when they refer to each other in the third person rather than the second, and they just sound like they're in different rooms). The other track on this episode was recorded with both acresses in the same room. Yet while it feels like two people having separate conversations at the same time, I suspect that it allows the editors to remove dead space, or the boring bits, and keep just the best parts from each.

There are a small number of mild spoilers, nothing in my opinion that destroys the tension of the season's stories, but still, if you prefer to avoid any and all spoilers, this is best left until after viewing the entire season.

Between three actors, they probably only provide half-an-hour's worth of commentary, most of which is superficial. Occasionally a nugget of interest is offered, but this commentary is generally a pass except for completists.

Note that the two actors are recorded in one session, and the writer is recorded in another, and the two commentaries are edited together. It always feels weird when you have two disassociated commentaries going on at the same time.

The actors actually provide a more informative and entertaining commentary than the writer, but together it’s a full, solid commentary. My only gripe is that the actors sometimes slip into entertainment mode and silly voices, which was only mildly annoying compared to other actor commentary tracks.

Spoilers: there is a minor spoiler about a line said towards the end of the season. It’s not particularly revelatory, but it may color your expectations of how the seasons unfolds.