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.
I too LOVE this show, and so do many of my friends! Have heard many comments saying it is their new favorite show of the Fall season. As a wife of a pilot, it is fun to see the airlines in their glory days. Storylines and plots are just heating up…please give it a chance!!!
I absolutely love this show. The people are gorgeous, and not anorexic looking like most of the actors today. I love that there is not any cursing or gore, or sexual innuendoes ever 2 minutes. I think it would be a shame if ABC cancelled it. Good shows are few and far between these days.
I love this show….keep it on the air!!
I’ve been watching since the first episode and my husband and I both love the show. I grew up in New York and like the city scenes. I think the acting is great and I find the characters very likable. HOpe they give the show a chance to find the right audience.
I love this show & wish they could give it an earlier time-slot than 10 Eastern/9 Centre time : it feels like a show for earlier & more family appropriate hours. It evokes the early 1960s adroitly, & I’m old enough to recall the real McCoy ! Please do keep it.
Absolutely love this show!! It’s one of the cleanest shows around. We don’t I’ve enough of that these days. I really hope they keep this one around. I make surety be home every Sunday night in order to catch it. I guess I’ll just have to keep spreading the word and hope that more people check it out!
This is actually a great show. Come on ABC, give it a better time slot!
i think as a show pan am i think abc should keep the reminder of they series on they air cause they right now don’t have anything to fill the timeslot give the series an full season pick up of 18-22 episodes please give it some time it will get better…………………
LOVE this show. I would be so sad if it was cancelled!
My expectations were very high leading up to the preimer, but its not one of my first choices to check out when looking at my DVR queue now. I was hoping for more of a “Mad Men” strong character, but it’s proving to turn out its just a bunch of eye candy.
Why is this show plumnmeting in the ratings? Everyone I know watches this show or records it on their DVR. There’s something VERY FLAWED about the Nielsen rating system. It has to GO! Pan Am is a GREAT show! Sure hope ABC does NOT cancel it. It needs to be given a chance!
I like the characters, but the story lines are going downhill. The show has no major conflict, certainly no vixen-type character that adds tension. The the story line where the pilot has an affair with the married woman was especially shallow. Why not make the woman less of a cliche, then after she misleads the pilot, the pilot espresses real feelings of hurt and anger? The CIA angle could be expanded, so that the Kelli Garner character could become immeshed in long-term relationships with a spy from the other side, someone she, for example, develops feelings for and is suddenly,… Read more »
I very much enjoy watching Pan Am. I would like to see some stronger story lines, but overall I think it is a great show. Need to give it a chance.
I absolutely love this show!…. it is a fun and engaging look into a glamorous era. This show is one that I enjoy sitting down with my 10-year-old daughter and watching, knowing that I don’t have to worry about gorey scenes, curse words, or inappropriate behavior. I enjoy seeing the characters in their fabulous vintage clothes, listening to the music, and dreaming of exciting voyages on the spectacular Pan Am jet. Please keep this show going… we love it!
I make sure I am home every Sunday night to watch Pan Am. A lot of us used to dream what it would be like to be a stewardess or captain flying the world when we were young. The characters are developing before our eyes and each week the storyline gets more and more intriguing. It’s so refreshing to see a drama that isn’t about murder, blood, and the morgue, not to mention the characters actually treat each other with some respect – an era long forgotten. So they don’t have every detail down perfectly, does that really matter? I… Read more »