HBO Max's 4K debut of Mad Men was [1]botched after Lionsgate reportedly supplied the wrong file, [2]leading to visible crew members where someone is seen pumping a vomit hose. Ars Technica reports:

> Mad Men ran on the AMC channel for seven seasons from 2007 to 2015. The show had a vintage aesthetic, depicting the 1960s advertising industry in New York City. Last month, HBO Max announced it would modernize the show by debuting a 4K version. The show originally aired in SD and HD resolutions and had not been previously made available in 4K through other means, such as Blu-ray.

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> However, viewers were quick to spot problems with HBO Max's 4K Mad Men stream, the most egregious being visible crew members in the background of a scene. The episode was "Red in the Face" (Season 1, Episode 7), which was reportedly mislabeled. In it, Roger Sterling (John Slattery) throws up oysters. In the 4K version that was streaming on HBO Max, viewers could see someone pumping a vomit hose to make the fake puke flow.

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> [3]The Hollywood Reporter , citing an anonymous source, said that the error happened because Mad Men production company Lionsgate gave HBO Max the wrong file. The publication reported that Lionsgate "was working on getting HBO Max the correct file(s)" and was readying to provide them at approximately 10 a.m. PT today. The blunder is likely to be fixed for all viewers soon. There were no problems with the HD versions of HBO Max's Mad Men stream.



[1] https://bsky.app/profile/ceej.online/post/3m6zi46pxfc27

[2] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/mad-mens-4k-debut-botched-by-hbo-max-streaming-episode-with-visible-crewmembers/

[3] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/mad-men-hbo-max-4k-stream-roger-sterling-barf-tube-errors-1236439517/