Before “The Astronaut Wives Club” premiered on ABC on June 18, Thursday, the series creator Stephanie Savage, who also created “Gossip Girl” and “Hart of Dixie,” talked about the comparison between the space drama and the AMC period drama “Mad Men.”

In a recent interview with Variety, Savage explained why “The Astronaut Wives Club” is different from “Mad Men” and the period is the only thing that is common between Lily Koppel’s book, on which the new ABC series is based, and the AMC series starring Jon Hamm and Christina Hendricks.

“We’re a limited series, so we’re only 10 episodes,” Savage explained. “We’re doing the eight seasons of ‘Mad Men’ with each episode. We’re sort of marching through time at a much faster rate.”

A self-confessed huge fan of “Mad Men” fan, Savage said she is flattered by any comparisons with “The Astronaut Wives Club.” She also said doing the new ABC space drama as she is more known for teen dramas like “Gossip Girl.”

Savage is also one of the executive producers of the Fox teen drama series “The O.C.” and The CW comedy-drama series “Hart of Dixie.” She said she is definitely in touch with her inner teenager and she hopes she never loses that connection.

For Savage, it has been fun to have the challenge and the pleasure to be writing more fully adult characters in “The Astronaut Wives Club,” which deals with marriage and about adult female friendships. She describes it as an appropriate evolution since she is no longer a teenager.

In addition, Savage admitted that she was not particularly interested in space until she started doing research into “The Astronaut Wives Club” project. She said she love the period and the awe-inspiring idea and ambition of the space program.

As Savage pointed out, what the story of “The Astronaut Wives Club” is about is more than just a technological innovation. For the TV series creator, it can be compared to Christopher Columbus coming up with the idea of putting a man on the moon and have it materialize in just 10 years.

Playing “The Astronaut Wives Club” title roles are Yvonne Strahovski, Azure Parsons, JoAna Garcia Swisher, Dominique McElligott, Odette Annable, Zoe Boyle and Erin Cummings as the wives of Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper, Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton, respectively.

For questions/comments regarding the article, you may email the writer at c.altatis@ibtimes.com.au.