The alphabet network handed out full season orders today to two sitcoms, Last Man Standing and Happy Endings, as well as Sunday night fantasy drama Once Upon a Time. The latter has been performing particularly well for ABC and is currently the second-highest rated show on the network.
The same can’t be said for Pan Am, the network’s other freshman Sunday night drama. Six episodes have aired so far and the most recent three episodes have registered just a 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic. It’s currently the 12th highest-rated scripted show on the network out of 15, just above struggling sitcom Man Up! and Body of Proof.
Though things look very grim for Pan Am, ABC has asked for five additional scripts. Though that’s certainly not as good as the network ordering more episodes into production, it’s a sign that ABC hasn’t given up on the show just yet. Whether those episodes get made will be determined by how well future installments perform.
What do you think? Will the five scripts end up being produced or will Pan Am be cancelled after 13 episodes? What could be done to attract more viewers?
Image courtesy ABC.
Please do not cancel this show..A valid look to the past is better than a lot of the new shows that are out. Enough reality TV. This show brings back memories of the 60’s when the world was a better place.
I PVR the show every week! I love it! It’s what I look forward too each week. I haven’t watched TV in over 4 years bc the dumb reality shows and singing shows had completely turned me off. This show has reconverted me. I love it. A friend got me hooked and I surely hope they do not cancel it. They could do more to promote the show, like a commercial or two for it during other prime time shows. Most people have never heard of it, and those who have love it. So advertise!
I have been disappointed by ABC and it’s trigger-finger cancellations so many times that I almost did not bother watching Pan Am because I feared the same. I’m so glad I did watch though – I love the show. I am shocked to hear that it’s on its TV death bed – almost every woman and young girl I know watches/PVRs/streams the show. I know it’s a coveted demo so why the low numbers. I can only hope that ABC (finally) realizes that sometimes you have to have patience with a show and give it a chance. As for it… Read more »
I was a flight attendant for 25 years and find the dialog, props, and situations refreshingly realistic. Sure some story lines may be a little dramatic, but it is entertainment and not a documentary. I really hope it continues.
I am a mad fan of pan am please dont cancel its a good show that I find myself watching the episodes online repeatly even after watching the new ones and having them recorded
Its good so on behalf of the fans for I am one of them please do not cancel the show ABC
Pan Am is a great show. It’s written very well and has a lot of plot content. Unfortunately, American TV has been “dumbed down” to the lowest life forms that thrive on reality shows. Pan Am is a different type of show. It’s set in a period, but not historically accurate in every facet. No, Pan Am pilots were not younger men…most were war vets. No, the stewardesses probably did not double as CIA messengers. And certainly, the insubordination shown by Maggie would not have been tolerated at Pan Am. That’s the whole point: The show is about entertainment…NOT reality… Read more »
Another show I like, yet ABC wants to cancel.
Well, I like the writing and the pace the show sets.
The 60’s was a time when America was feeling it’s way out of the War Era.
It was a more peaceful time when the Cold War threat was at a plateau.
The acting is great, and if anyone remembers, all the networks wanted hot “hunks” to be in their shows!
They had just identified the fact that teenagers had money, and history will support that fact.
ABC give your shows a chance!
I love the show! It’s on during my “me” time when the kids are asleep! It’s my nighttime guilty pleasure like soaps are during the day! When there are so many negative things on TV, I enjoy watching a less-complicated time and learning about the past. I’m surprised it’s not doing well because after our day full of cell phones and computers who wouldn’t enjoy an hour of simplicity?
Not a bad show, and the women are GORGEOUS.
Try reading up on the background to the show before making two comments that merely display your ignorance. The CIA did indeed use Pan Am stewardesses as couriers, just as, for instance, MI6 in the UK used BOAC stewardesses. As for the pilot, like other airlines Pan Am recruited directly from the Air Force, so, yes, it was quite possible for men in their late 20s to become Pan Am pilots. Whatever you think of the show, you can’t fault it on historical accuracy.
I love Pan Am! I am 41 and my daughter is 15 and we loved to watch it! All my friends from 23 to 60 watch it. We love the fashion and text through the whole show. It is so much fun and I love the characters. I look forward to it each week. I can’t get enough.
Stewardesses were undercover couriers? And the CIA let that information out? And all the laws protecting our intelligence officers have been thrown out because some publicity agent promoting the show says it happened. And now those “Secret Agent Stews” are outed because of a TV show? That’s a little far fetched don’t you think. The CIA recruits from the military and colleges with extensive background checks. Not from the ranks of the Flight Attendents. But if you buy into the idea that a twenty something pilot would be a Senior Captain at Pan Am during this time frame you would… Read more »
I am very happy ABC is ordering 5 more shows. I would like to see even more. I love the show. I have found the writing, directing, story lines and acting are improving with each new episode. Keep it up ABC as this show is the only show keeping me loyal to you.
It’s not the best or the worst on tv but it’s easy to watch and fun. Makes me wish I was young again. I like it and I watch crime shows all the time. This is a good change.
The writing is terrible and the teenage look alike playing the Captain is absurd. Recast the Captain role, “can” the spy story subplot. Bring in a better technical director and interview some “Stews” from that era. Their stories about exotic locations. adventures and romance set against a background of the issues of the sixties such as Civil Rights, Womens Liberation, Vietnam, Cuba, the Kennedy administration, the Iron Curtain along with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Rat Pack and the start of the Sexual Revolution would be far more interesting than the absurdity of covert agents recruiting a Stewardess as a… Read more »
But the thing is, it’s not absurd at all. It really happened.
What can be done to attract more viewers? Hire Zooey Deschanel away from Fox, or have the Pan Am flight crash on an island that has various supernatural residents. The show is not succeeding by trying to attract Mad Men fans, so maybe they need to mimic other successful shows.
I’m a Mad Men fan who decided to give this show a chance because of it and I’m enjoying Pan Am. That said, anyone expecting “Mad Men” here will be sorely disappointed.