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.
Please keep the show on. Love it!!
I just love Pan Am, love the actresses and all the potential story lines. Could
do without the spy stuff, I think it’s great, please give it a chance to find it’s
Audience
Cancel it! One of the most boring new shows! Put Charlie’s Angels in the timeslot! I could only tolerate one episode.
Relevant story-line for today’s times. Keep it on!
I really enjoy this series. Fresh idea. Having been a Pan Am stew in the 70’s brings back fond memories. Could do with less drama between the girls, not to interesting, too soapy.
Like the historical and political themes threaded through the series. This really was the beginning of an era and should not be forgotten.
I personally love this show! It takes me back to a “somewhat” innocent time in my life. Granted, Playboy Magazine and “stewardesses” were the icons of the time, but that was what I strived to be during that decade. I was in my VERY early 20’s and never made it to either one. PanAm reminds me of that time. The wardrobe is right on and I love the actors. They are young and doing an excellent job on recreating their characters. Thank you ABC but I’m still upset about the sudden cancellation of Brother and Sisters! We “like her, we… Read more »
Love this show! Keep it!
Why bring racism into this show?
Love this show! Plz don’t cancel.
I’ve been watching Pan Am since its premiere. I think they need to improve on the plots and drop the spy crap and put in an hair raising incident with flying….surely flying in the sixties had one or two incidents of mechanical troubles!!
PLEASE do not take Pan Am and Prime Suspect off the air. I love these shows and so do all my friends. I also love Charlie’s Angels.
Id like to know who thinks that these shows are bad. I think they are great.
I love this show – It just needs a little tweak and it will be awesome! Don’t cancel please!
I hope they keep it. I love this show and don’t think people are giving it a chance. I also can’t believe Body of Proof is low in the ratings. that is a great show!!
KEEP IT!!!! Love this show!
well…. you got the airline right…..but i think you got the period wrong………………i,m thinking more about say 1939 -1941 …………….just think of the stories you could write about in that era…….thats where you had the original pan am clippers…..spies, politicians, ambassadors,, movie stars, business men , royalty, high ranking brass, and of course ordinary millionaires… refugees…….all jumbled on an overnight flight to europe and back……you had wheather to contend with……stops in bermuda when the british conficating the mail……lisbon during the war ….what better place for intrigue …romance.. .there were german , italian, spanish planes also landing there from inside europe… Read more »
last night episode was one of the best episodes of any show in the last 10 years, I hope that if ABC drops it another network (USA?) picks it up.