Pan Am - season 1 thread (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Pretty good episode centering on Maggie's struggle to go from one job to the next culminating with Pan Am using any trick and exaggeration she can to make it.

 

[Greg_S_H]

They do a pretty good job of setting a lot of the action off the plane. You're never sitting there saying, "Gee, what a bottle show." The Lost-style flashbacks and setting it in the various destinations more often than I would have thought, and the way they had Kate stuck back home. I like seeing her guy turning into an anti-communist firebrand, and the way her handler is manipulating her with the reality that she better find him a better way to change his country, or he's going to be killed. I think when this was coming, people thought it was going to be mindless jiggle TV like Charlie's Angel, but it's a lot meatier.

 

[Nelson Au]

I agree Greg. Kate's plot thread is getting better every week. At first I was surprised by the amount of spy stuff they are incorporating into the shows, but it's building into something more now.

 

[Nelson Au]

Poor Kate had to suffer through her involvement in the target by falling in love and then losing him. I'm surprised the direction Laura is going in. Not so much her desire to branch out and try new things and see the world. But the admission she had those naughty photos taken by the photographer. As Kate said, that could have bad consequences for her and I'm sure if the series survives, they plan to bring those photos out again. I thought her storyline with the sailor was sweet. I doubt Laura has dirt to use Like Maggie did last week to save her job. So Ted the co-pilot will probably save her again. It will interesting too where Colette goes. Does she just like the Captain, or does she want to fly. Her character's been less featured recently.

 

[Neil Brock]

It is NOT a period piece because the show is a revisionist view of how that time ACTUALLY was. Blacks would have been much less accepted, if at all. Women would be a lot more just sex objects for the guys and they would be less aggressive even during this time period. No, this is what happens which the PC types try to make a show from a time when the term politically correct didn't even exist. These women would be in the work force, but in no way treated anywhere like on this show either as it was breaking ground just to be in the work force more so now. It may have been a good show on cable like Starz, Showtime, etc. but it would also have to be a LOT more realistic in how events really were during that time. That's why shows like this always fail to the masses or at least those of us that have actually lived those times.

Agree 100%. I couldn't take it any more after 3 episodes. Its the "American Dreams" version of the 60s, meaning its people who have no idea what the 60s were like trying to revise it for modern audiences. Just shows you why Mad Men is so great. No smoking on the planes, pilots looking like Ken dolls, chaste stewardesses (HA). Plus the writing is terrible, the spy subplot silly and there's just no plots to the shows. I tried to like it, I really did, but it was impossible. I think by the 3rd episode, all of the stews had done something they would have been fired for, Ricci more than one thing. But hey, I only last 1 show with The Playboy Club so it took me 2 more shows to be done with this one.

 

[Nelson Au]

I hate to sound like I'm defending this show. To me it's all harmless fun not meant to be any kind of accurate reflection of the times. Never expected it to. The show is starting to dip into other areas. Laura befriended a black sailor who was part of a submarine crew Pan Am was transporting for the Navy. She spent the day with him because the landlord of the apartment she was staying in saw him and told her to kick him out. And some white guys didn't like he was with Laura while they were out and beat him up. Certainly the stewardess have not been very chaste in recent weeks.

 

[Walter C]

Quote: Originally Posted by Albert_M 30#post_3861776

By the way, it's not "pc" to treat people with some respect etc. That's called being a decent person.

It was a Like button like on Facebook, I would click to this statement. It just seems like most people who complain about something being too PC, are those who think it's their right to treat people like shit.



Quote: Originally Posted by Nelson Au 30#post_3868654

To me it's all harmless fun not meant to be any kind of accurate reflection of the times. Never expected it to.

I see it the same way, basically more along the lines of what an actual 60's TV show were, back in the day.

 

[Walter C]

Double Post

 

[Walter Kittel]

I don't think the show intends to realistically recreate that time period. It is filled with nostalgia for the period and attempts to create a sense of adventure and capture the wide open possibilities of the era. I was complaining about the lack of adventure in the Terra Nova thread and (IMHO) Pan Am is so much more satisfying in this regard. The show has a life and a spark to it, as personified by its cast, that I find extremely entertaining. - Walter.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I was on-board (no pun intended) with this show up until last week when I discovered two things, one I wasn't really enjoying the show, just sort of watching it with no emotional involvement, as soon as an episode ended I immediately forgot what happened and two I just couldn't take anymore of Christina Ricci's bulging eyeballs, I usually like her but she came off as deranged in this show lol. Shame, too, I've developed a bit of a crush on Kelli Garner, her full lips with those cute dimples in the corners of her mouth drove me nuts lol.

 

[Nelson Au]

I thought last night's episode was great! The old stranded in a hostile location trick. The last few weeks have seen some really good shows, IMO. The plots are getting a little heavier. I'm enjoying watching these women's adventures. The show seems to be finding it's way. Similarly to Mad Men, how the events and attitudes of the day are affecting these characters and how they react to them. I was amused how the 707's engines on the ground didn't match the CGI version.

 

[Patrick Sun]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/pan-am-abc-249149

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Pat. Too bad, but at least it's not dead dead yet. The Tim Goodman review quoted in that article is true. The series hasn't found a voice yet. But I thought the last 4 episodes were homing in. I would not expect this series to copy the kind of narrative that makes Mad Men so good. It should not be a clone. If the shows of the last few weeks were under that new showrunner from Lost, then I thought it was much improved. Perhaps a better timeslot would help.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Yeah, I'd keep watching if they'd keep airing the episodes.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I dropped it around the time Hammer did. Maybe the new showrunner's vision didn't jibe with mine, maybe it was seeing the writing on the wall as to the show's continued viability (tvbythenumbers has had it de facto canceled for a long time now).

 

[John Lloyd]

It looks like ABC is unable to admit the show is canceled. I heard the sets were taken down, so I don't know how they can be filming new episodes. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/pan-am-actress-tweets-the-series-is-canceled-abc-launches-into-spin-control/2011/11/29/gIQAzvcf9N_blog.html

 

[Greg_S_H]

As someone said, it's to keep as much of an audience as they can for the remaining episodes. If they let it be known it's totally over, they'll be playing to even fewer than they already are.

 

[Nelson Au]

That article didn't mention the sets being struck, but your source could be right. It will be interesting to see how the power of Tweeting will affect the show's return this weekend. The Tweet Karine Vanasse posted according to the article sure took some notice.

 

[Stan]

Liking this more and more, hope the network gives it a chance. Never have seen Mad Men until this past week when AMC started running the series from episode 1, hopefully they'll show everything until the new epiisodes kick off. Mad Men seems to be a period story set in somewhat modern times, a bit harsh for me and not nearly as enjoyable as Pan Am. Pan Am seems to be a little more romantized,a softer look back at what those times may have been. Was getting a little burned out on the spy story, but seems to be turning around and becoming more interesting. I feel Pan Am evokes more of a nostalgic, feel good time, even though it's a bit whitewashed it's comfortable and seems more of an escape to a quieter, less technology based world.

 

[Nelson Au]

What an episode to possibly cancel the series with! Did Kate kill the guy? Or wound him? I'm glad ABC promoted the next episode to air in January so we'll know. Poor Laura and her continued odd relationship with Ted as he continually saves her. Did she really start to fall for him after the obnoxious captain tell her how he spoke so highly of her? And then to see him together with his old friend? She was quite va-va-voom all made up and in the black dress. That obnoxious captain was probably more realistic in attitude of some men then. Not sure it was smart for Dean and Colette to roll in the hay in Dean's father's barn. What if his parents came looking for them? Interesting to see Maggie's convictions reawaken with her encounter with the congressman. So that's nine episodes aired so far if I got that right. There was a report ABC bought 12 episodes and then bought 2 more in November for 14 episodes. I hope they air them.