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.
As a former Pan Am stewardess, I am sure that I speak for the thousands of us who flew those beautiful ‘clippers’….we all were in great anticipation of the series PAN AM and her arrival at the gate. Sadly, this stewardess is a little disappointed in some of the sub-plots and characters portrayed. Nancy Hult Ganis who was herself a member of our club knows better! So Nancy, as I said in a letter to you sometime again, please,” detail is so important in bringing back the glory that was Pan Am.” It was so much more, than what we… Read more »
Keep it! This show is great with lots of potential!
I want to like this show. But, truthfully, it’s pretty bad. Mad Men bandwagon? Hardly. The greatness of Mad Men comes from presenting the 60s as a real place. Pan Am gives us 60s hairstyles, clothes, and sets — but 2011 attitudes and sensibilities. I find it annoying to watch modern characters playing dress up and retro-pretend. Pan Am had a ton of possibilities. I wanted to see a show about stewardesses in the 60s. Pan Am gives us the trappings of that show. But that’s about it. Oh, wait. Pan Am also gives us spies. (Sigh.) Put it down… Read more »
great idea and theme for a show . Pan Am crews were everywhere all the time so there are endless plot potentials. That said, the cockpit crew is too young, we didn’t fly with the same cockpit month after month, and there were 6 crew on a 707, 3 in the cockpit and there was little diversity back then so the engineer is not very believeable. Audiences are smart and could do with better dialogue and less sex, like West Wing.
Love this show, but lately anything I seem to love gets cancelled (other than Mad Men).
I started off liking this show then my interest fell rapidly. I have the last two episodes waiting to still be watched on my tivo, I just don’t think I care enough to keep watching. It’s a neat idea for a show and had a lot of promise but I personally think it failed to live up to expectation. My prediction is it will survive the season but not get renewed.
Watch those two episodes, Lou. The show gets better and better each week. I really hope your prediction is wrong and the show comes back next year. “Pan Am” is very popular in Canada and Ireland. It will also air in England and India in the next few weeks.
they better keep this show for at least 2 seasons with a proper ending. if they were to cancel (I REALLY HOPE THEY DON’T!!!!) then at least they should end it until the 20th episode of season 1 with a proper ending, not in the middle of the 10th episode or something. i mean there would be so much to think about, dean and colette, kate’s job and everything! i love this show, this is the only show i watch on tv along with mad men and gossip girl.
I think the show may have potential and i love the sets and costumes .. The show should be given a chance to find an audience ‘also CHARLIES ANGELS was real interesting and did not get a fair chance at a good time slot ‘ but that is ABC for you.
I was a stewardess for Pan Am from 1964-1967. So, have a special interest in the show doing well. Here are my thoughts. The Captain needs to be older or at least a haircut. I remember the Captains as older. ex military pilots. The lead stewardess is to short and not right. She could be let go or transfer to San Francisco. What about more new cultural experiences such as Seville, Spain April Fair, Octoberfest in Munich, and a romance of a stewardess and an Italian tour guide. On full flights we had triple stacked trays that had to be… Read more »
As I mentioned in my reply to GeneV, supra, the captain explained that he was able to jump the queue as a result of an accidental meeting with Juan Trippe, the founder & president of Pan Am. The future captain had had business at the famous Pan Am building & was trapped with Mr Trippe for 11 minutes in a lift / elevator ( owing to an electrical outage or electrical blackout, I think, ) & impressed the founder of the airline. It’s fiction, & we can either accept it or not as credible. I understand from ex-stewardess friends that… Read more »
I vote to keep the show. As a former Pan Am flight attendant in the 70s and 80s, the show has brought back so many memories and long lost friendships among former crew members. The response from friends and even strangers has been interesting, a lot of people find it hard to believe that our lives resembled scenes from the show. I have to say that on most accounts the show is spot on. Air travel today is so lacking in just the basic creature comforts that it must be hard for some to understand that air travel for passengers… Read more »
I love this show! For one hour I can sit back and enjoy and live vicariously through the lives of a much less stressful and easier time. I hope this show lasts for a long time.
(typos in previous note) (please use this one! Thanks! ) LOVE the Pan Am show… and not just because I used to fly for Pan Am. Although I was a flight attendant at the end of the run (in 1990) it was the best year and a half of my life. Besides the cool retro style of this show, there are so many great moments in history where story lines can come from. ANYTIME something happened around the world, Pan Am crews WERE THERE! I hope the execs realize there is so much potential here, and keep the show for… Read more »
I really enjoy this show. I have watched every episode. It’s a great escape into a glamourous world that we don’t have anymore. I like the characters and I hope they give this a chance to develop. Those were the glory days!
I was really excited to see the new Pan Am series take off on ABC. I flew as a Pan Am steward for about 7 years in the early 80s and it was the best job I ever had. I was 21, just out of college, single, and through Pan Am I saw the world, learned new languages, and became a citizen of the world. The series, however, is not a lot more than a soap opera to me. The pilots are completely unrealistic. Pan Am pilots were virtually all retired U.S. military pilots, which meant they were in their… Read more »
You missed the episode wherein it was explained by the captain that he was able to jump the queue to the captain’s chair as a result of an accidental encounter with Juan Trippe, the founder & president of Pan Am. The future captain had business at the famous Pan Am building & was trapped with Mr Trippe in a lift ( or elevator ) for 11 minutes & impressed the founder of the airline. It’s fiction, & we can either accept it or not as credible historical fiction. We could also criticise the stewardesses’ haircuts, for, in this *early* 1960s… Read more »
I LOVE this show. Especially end of Sunday. There are so many inferior shows which keep being renewed. it is entertaining, witty, interesting with lots of potential for character development.
Keep it. I love it
Keep it. It’s one of the most intelligent and entertaining dramas on TV. I worry that the TV audience may not be educated enough anyone to fully appreciate. But it’s High quality show with excellent characters