Hopping on the Mad Men bandwagon, ABC recently began airing Pan Am on Sunday nights. The network’s been searching for some new hot dramas to replace Desperate Housewives and their aging medical series. Have they found the solution in a show named after a defunct airline or will this one just crash and be cancelled?
Pan Am follows the pilots and flight attendants that work for the world-famous airline in 1963. Dean (Mike Vogel) is a young pilot who’s just been promoted to captain. His co-pilot, Ted (Michael Mosely), is hiding a secret. Stewardess Maggie (Christina Ricci) isn’t afraid to push the limits, Colette (Karine Vanesse) flirts too much, and Kate (Kelli Garner) has taken on a dangerous side-job after helping her sister, Lara (Margot Robbie), become a runaway bride. While traveling the world, the flight crew have interesting brushes with history.
The series debuted on September 25th to a 3.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 11.06 million viewers. Those aren’t bad numbers but they’re hardly impressive either. Pan Am was second in the timeslot, behind NBC’s football coverage. Looking at the breakdown for the show’s ratings in quarter hour increments, about 10% of the demo audience tuned out before the episode was finished. That’s not terrible but certainly not positive either.
The second episode dropped 16% in the demo to a 2.6 rating with 7.76 million viewers. That’s a pretty normal second week drop-off but Pan Am really didn’t have many viewers to spare. Week three is where things really got bad.
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The third episode saw the demo drop by an astounding 27%. Did the people who tuned in for the second episode decide that they’d seen enough or, was the third week just a fluke?
Apparently it was the latter because the ratings dropped by another 5%, to a 1.8 in the demo with 5.84 million. Last night’s numbers held steady according the fast affiliate numbers. That’s positive but a 1.8 demo rating is certainly not.
Pan Am is currently the lowest-rated new show on ABC with an average of a 2.2 rating in the demo and 7.36 million. Those numbers will keep dropping unless future episodes perform significantly better. Of the 14 scripted shows currently on the network, Pan Am ranks 12th, beating only Body of Proof and already-cancelled Charlie’s Angels.
While Pan Am’s fate seems all but sealed, ABC doesn’t seem ready to throw in the towel just yet.
They’re reportedly bringing in veteran writer and producer Steven Maeda as showrunner. He previously worked on Miami Medical for CBS and Lie to Me for FOX. ABC execs, who apparently still really like Pan Am, want to hear Maeda’s story ideas before deciding on whether they want to order additional episodes for a full season.
It’s very likely too late to pull this show out of its downward spiral but perhaps ABC will get lucky and beat the odds. Typically, once viewers reject a show, it’s nearly impossible to get them to take another look.
What do you think? Should ABC keep Pan Am flying for a full season or should they just pull the plug and cancel it now?
Image courtesy ABC.
KEEP IT!!!
I loved the pilot episode. Liked the 2nd. But by the 3rd, was getting whiplash with chronology BS (6 months ago, 2 hours earlier, present, then 12 hours prior). Jeesh! I give up already. I really wanted to like PAN AM, but the writing failed.
Love the show. Was a flight attendant many years after the 60’s but it brings back some fun memories. Much better than the reality junk on now, or football!
Definitely keep this show! Acting is superb and I love the storylines, spy themes, production quality is amazing for a tv show! Best show to come along in awhile! I can’t wait for it every week! Also, ratings may be low because people can watch for free on some online services. I do on hulu.com!
I didn’t have time to watch Pan Am till today and I have fallen for this show. There have been way too many shows airing lately and viewers
get lost in all the chaos. Keep the show!
This is a wonderful show, beautifully produced. I am sure it is expensive to film, but I hope ABC will give this show the time it needs to find a large audience. Many more people will come to love these characters and their stories.
KEEP IT!!!!!!
Please do not cancel this show!
Pan Am is my favorite new show of the season! It’s well written, the characters are getting more interesting as we learn more about them, and the retro fashions are to die for! I hope ABC gives it a chance, like NBC did with Friday Night Lights.
KEEP Pan Am! This show has a great deal of potential and, if kept on, I suspect will grow it’s audience.
Pan Am is a failure. Scrap it and start anew with something else. Or completely restart Pan Am with better writers and better stories. Even then, it would only work if they scrap the distracting spy angle. This show should have been about stewardesses in the 60s instead of 2011 women made up to look retro pretending to be stewardesses against the backdrop of 60s sets. I wanted to like this show, but can’t.
Are there plans to go forward with history PA. the Pacific
Crews flew R&R flights. Wives & girlfriends from stateside were de-planed
in Hawaii, Australia, Bangkok. Then turn around trips into the main/USA FRIENDLY (most of the time”) So. Vietnam and pick up our GI’ s and take them to meet their loves.
I also feel the TV captains and cockpit Crew need to be older looking, many were married with kids! LOVE THE PROGRAM – please keep it on the air!!!!!!
Pan Am is one of the better shows on the air. It has such plot potential and is developing some very interesting characters. I believe it can show many younger people who missed that era how, and why many things are as they are now. Keep this show going PLEASE!!
this show is growing on me. Fun to look back on that time period. Keep the show on Sunday night for a full season please! Give it a chance!!
Love this show!!!! Maybe the storyline isn’t super super strong, but the look back into that time period is wonderful! I sure hope they keep this show. It is like walking down memory lane for all of us Baby Boomers.