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.
 Loading ... |
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.
The first two episodes were dull but the last few episodes have been great. People need to know that it gets better, unfortunately that’s a tough hill to climb.
I hadn’t been this emotionally invested in a TV show on network TV since “China Beach” more than 20 years ago. I really, really hope they don’t cancel Pan Am! It’s worth staying up late for.
I just read on another blog that Sony Pictures is distributing the series in India during the coming weeks. “Pan Am” is already a huge hit in Canada and Ireland, as well as some European countries. I’m so happy to hear that and really hope it will begin to do better over here.
Historical inaccuracies don’t bother me. It’s not like this is supposed to be a history book; it’s meant to be entertainment. But you know what DOES bug me? Meaningless flashbacks. Present day, some hours earlier, present day, back to yesterday, etc… my gosh, the most recent episode was really bad. I’m not a viewer that’s easily confused (on the contrary, I’m usually the one explaining shows to others), but with the way these flashbacks look identical to present day scenes, and are sporadically scattered around, it’s difficult to keep track of what everyone’s doing and what everyone knows/has already experienced… Read more »
It is a boring show and it looks cheesy it could have been better but it took the wrong flight pattern.A show like that needs to recreate a time and place and it just doesnt do that – it looks staged and much too crisp and glossy plus the actresses are very annoying and the pilots look like far too contemporary and young.My father was a navigator in the 60’s for various airlines-so I know this time period and this show doesnt come close to recreating it.Madmen does a much better job it hit its stride with the 2nd or… Read more »
I love Pan Am! Please don’t cancel it 🙁
Love the show. Will watch it faithfully until the very last ep and hope that doesn’t come for seven more years.
Anxious to see what will change and hope the changes don’t take any of the charm out of it. I’d hate to see it become Pan Am:CSI or Pan Am:Lost
Keep it ,great show
Keep it!
CANCEL IT. It’d show them right for cancelling V on us!
I loved V, a lot more than I care for Pan Am, but why should one show being cancelled have anything to do with the other? The two shows aren’t even in the same time slot. It’s the fans that will suffer if Pan Am gets axed, as well as the cast and crew who worked hard on this show, not the TV execs who pulled the plug on V.
I liked “V” also! And when ABC cancelled it, the Earth was under major attack! I really would have liked to see a good conclusion to the show. However, cancelling “Pan Am” because “V” was cancelled is a terrible idea. I LOVE “Pan Am”.
This is a fun show. Please give it a chance. Its just getting juicy. And the idea that there types of things were happening then is facinating. I watch on Sprint T.V, I bet your not counting web and phone watchers.
I think the show should be saved, because you never can tell what will happen. I recall for example that the classic comedy “Get Smart” was on its way to cancellation in the Autumn of 1965, and then after Don Adams appeared on “The Tonight Show,” it started going up in the ratings and ran for four more years. However, if this show is going to make it there will have to be some changes made. I suggest make it more of a tongue and cheek adventure, with more focus on the agent and the girl thwarting the bad guys… Read more »
KEEP IT ON !It’s better than MadMen!
I think the producers of PanAm have done a great job on this period series.Great sets,characters you care about,good story lines, a show that makes me feel good ,and one I want to see every week!
Pan Am writers and producers really thought all Americans were shallow and stupid. You didn’t have to be a historian or an aviation buff to see the huge number of inaccurate details that were either overlooked, missing or clumsily made up. The casting was terrible, acting miserable and the story even a bigger flop. Yes, this was not a documentary but even the younger viewers still remember a few things about Pan Am and nothing about the show reminded us of that great American Institution. The main characters on the show would have been OK to play as Barbie and… Read more »
Not coming from the airline industry I can’t comment on technical accuracy but I disagree that the acting is “terrible.” I think Karine Vanasse is a fine actress and she has won awards for her acting in the movie “Polytechnique.” When the show does showcase her skills, like in the Berlin episode you can see what she is capable of. (If only the show will show her more. I also thinks she was perfectly cast as “Colette.” (Nitpickers have said her French has her native Quebec accent, but that’s a small point. 😉 )
Rusty, since you obviously have the experience as a commercial pilot (maybe during the ’60s or ’70s?), perhaps you can lend your expertise to the writers and point out any glaring inaccuracies you see. I am sure they would welcome it. I notice you retired from United Airlines. ABC and Sony Pictures consulted with actual Pan Am stewardesses and other personnel to help develop the series. As the weeks go by, I believe we will continue to see the show evolve, grow and blossom. Many of us who love the show enjoy it because of the ’60s era. I was… Read more »
Steph, A lot of airline personnel who were from that era of glamourous aviation were very excited and hopeful that this show would bring back some of those wonderful memories. Instead it shattered our expectations by all the inaccuracies and lazy film making. I think precisely the reason was that some old “stewardess” from that era was put in charge of the cockpit scenes. (She may have stayed a night at the Holiday Inn Express, but she sure destroyed all the technical aspects of the show!) They could have used hundreds of pilots and airline personnel who lived that life… Read more »
Rusty, I don’t know how many episodes of the show you have watched. I find that the story lines get better each week and the characters are becoming more developed. While the technical aspects may need improvement, “Pan Am” is still a breath of fresh air to me compared with other shows on television right now. It is unique and that difference stands out from current reality TV or violence we see on other programs. I appreciate your comments because your career allowed you to know and experience first hand what it was like to “fly the friendly skies” back… Read more »