Mad Men 4K Streaming Debut Plagued by Glitches on HBO Max

The 4K premiere of Mad Men on HBO Max has drawn widespread attention. Viewers quickly spotted that several episodes appeared to be unfinished cuts, including on-set production crew. The errors quickly circulated online, raising questions about the release.

Mad Men begins streaming on HBO Max with massive editing errors

The long-awaited 4K version of Mad Men arrived on HBO Max earlier this week, but the upgraded release immediately drew attention for unexpected reasons. Viewers quickly realized that instead of streaming the finalized and fully edited version, it appears that an unfinished cut of the series had been uploaded. It includes the production elements that were never meant to be visible in the final cut.

The issue came to light shortly after the episodes became available on Monday, December 1, when fans noticed several irregularities. In the Season 1 episode, titled “Red in the Face,” viewers spotted crew members clearly visible in the frame as they operated a machine used to create Roger Sterling’s vomit effect.

Clips circulated widely online as fans reacted to the unexpected behind-the-scenes footage. One user wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “The new 4K transfer of mad men on HBO somehow does not have any of the post-production edits added in,” while highlighting the vomit scene.

Variety reported that HBO Max received the wrong set of 4K files by mistake, leading to the unedited episodes being made available on the platform. Lionsgate is now working on preparing the proper files and will be uploading the corrected versions on the service.

Beyond the on-set equipment, fans pointed out that episode titles were mislabeled and the order of the 4K episodes was incorrect. The labeling issues appear to have been fixed within hours, though the flawed footage itself remained live.

Prior to this release, the 4K edition of the Emmy-winning drama had only been available on AMC+.