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I can't really say for sure, having never worked in an advertising agency.

But being a writer who covers marketing, Trust Me seems to be shallow in terms of its reflection of the real advertising world. There are references to Clios, depictions of focus groups, talk of tag lines, and scenes where ad men incredibly sell half-cooked concepts to hardened clients. The latter also frequently happens on Mad Men, sometimes in the form of grandiose, borderline pretentious monologues. But the 1960s-set Mad Men uses the world of advertising to intelligently comment on a changing culture. Trust Me is primarily content to showcase neurotic/quirky banter and behavior.

It's a bit of a disappointment, considering Trust Me, centered around a pair of Chicago ad men, has been created by a pair of former Chicago ad men, Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny. They may want their audience to trust them, but I'm not so sure that Baldwin and Coveny trust their audience. Thus far in Trust Me, there has been no reference to DVRs, no discussion of YouTube or Facebook, no mention of the evolving consumer mindset or debate over the breakdown of push marketing mentality. Advertising has been impacted and challenged by these breakthroughs for years, certainly before this show went into production. It wouldn't be right to chastise Trust Me for being dated just because it was written and shot before the recession, but it's obvious that the show's writing was dated from the beginning. Even the show's own method of advertising via product placements (a growing trend in the TiVo era) is more cutting edge than what's depicted in the on-screen scenarios. The creators talked a little bit about this in an interesting Forbes interview.

My sense is that there's a concern by the producers, the writers, and/or the network that what's been happening in the real advertising world is too nuanced, too inside-baseball, for a general audience to digest in hour-long TV episodes. Maybe there's a worry too that advertisers would be scared away from a show that too realistically depicts the trials and controversies of advertising.

But I argue that these challenging times make advertising an incredibly fascinating industry to study right now. It inherently makes for good human drama, and should make for great TV entertainment. In turn, honestly addressing these obstacles can make people better appreciate and understand the art of advertising, and the show could gain more viewers, or at least coveted critical acclaim, as well.

Again, I'm a writer who covers marketing. What do you readers out there who make a living doing marketing and advertising think of Trust Me, or for that matter, Mad Men? Do you think shows about advertising can change viewers' perception of advertising for the better? And why do you think that advertising has become a focal point for not one but two TV shows in the last few years? Please post your thoughts.

If you haven't seen Trust Me, tonight's your chance - the show airs every Monday night on TNT at 10 pm ET/9 pm CT. You can also see a sneak peek of tonight's episode below, and glance at Trust Me review headlines over at Metacritic.