Pan Am: What Critics Are Saying
Email“Pan Am,” the new ABC series set in the 1960s whose focus is the lives of stewardesses, played by Christina Ricci, Kelli Garner, Margot Robbie and Karine Vanasse, premiered Sunday night.
Naturally, critics drew comparisons to “Mad Men” and NBC’s “The Playboy Club,” other series also set in the ’60s. Here’s what they had to say.
The Hollywood Reporter:
“Pan Am seems most intent on making the idea of the ’60s and stewardesses and ‘the jet age’ more glamorous than real. It has neither the exactitude of the times nor the talent of the writers to get at the issues, a la Mad Men, that illuminate the issues of the day. It only has the magazine ad dreams of the times – girls don’t have to be their mothers; they can also be modern women who get weighed at work and dumped at 32 for being too old.” — Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter
The New York Times:
“Mad Men, which returns for a fifth season next year, is unquestionably a far better show, but ‘Pan Am,’ like ‘The Playboy Club,’ which began on NBC this week, may be a more accurate reflection of our own insecurities. Viewers may not see anything particularly fresh about this show’s foursome of stewardesses, however. The Pan Am heroines represent the dawning of the women’s movement, and they are not fully formed characters so much as stick figures borrowed from a Rona Jaffe novel.” – Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times
The New Yorker
“Pan Am has a bit of style to it, and a note of darkness, and the formula might just work. … The show makes me think of the difference between Truman Capote’s novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the movie version: Pan Am feels like a watchable version of something whose core has been removed.” — Nancy Franklin, The New Yorker
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Personally I thought the pilot of Pan Am was awful! They over-glamorized the 1960′s to a point where you just want to look at your parents and ask; was it really this cheesy back then? Also, I find it highly unlikely that stewardess’ were front line at the Bay of Pigs prisoner release and were involved in espionage in other countries. Coffee, cocktails and cream? Sure. Prisoners, spys and sabotage? Please…
Posted by: Lauren | September 26, 2011, 4:46 pm 4:46 pm
I was so looking forward to this show, but it was kind of boring, actually. Just didn’t do it for me, and I was so disappointed! Couldn’t really follow the Russian espionage thread too well. And how come absolutely not one black person in the show? No, they weren’t being hired as stewardesses and pilots (who, by the way, were far too young for commercial jet plane pilots), but there were some very middle class blacks, especially in NYC where this takes place, who were flying, travelintg to Europe on occasion. I didn’t see one black person on the plane or at the airport. Also, the make-up and hair styles didn’t ring true to the era.
Posted by: brittany | September 26, 2011, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm
YUK. dumb
Posted by: Roni | September 26, 2011, 5:42 pm 5:42 pm
I tuned in after DH was over. I happened to enjoy it. Watching the women weigh in and being asked if they were wearing girdles made me cringe. I can’t imagine going through that. I felt there were a few missing pieces like how the wife knew the French stewardess was sleeping with her husband. I will tune it next week!
Posted by: KC2CHI | September 26, 2011, 7:18 pm 7:18 pm
The premiere episode was so-so. I will probably tune in next week and will hopefully some of the pieces will fit together, i.e., how the wife knew about her husband’s affair with the French stewardess, etc. I was very displease with how the clothes and the hairstyles do not match the time period of the early 1960′s. Also, I noticed that the character named Maggie, the purser, had long hair while in her apartment at the beginning of the show, however, when she boarded the plane, her long mane was noticeable short. Come on now, ABC–this could possible be a great show, however the time period needs to be correctly represented!
Posted by: shewashdc | September 26, 2011, 9:49 pm 9:49 pm
I enjoyed the show, but I think there were too many errors in the time frame. I flew for American from the1961 to 1989. Hair had to be 1″ above the collar – also we had layovers with 2 girls in a hotel room. It changed in the late 70′s to single rooms. I checked with TWA and Pan Am girls and they agree. Otherwise, good show.
Posted by: Carol | September 28, 2011, 3:05 pm 3:05 pm
This new show is awful! Hope not running long as big waste of time for any vierwer! Doubt it cvan be saved – so cancel and get something good!
Posted by: Marj G | October 1, 2011, 12:27 pm 12:27 pm
Are you kidding me with this junk? It just took 10 minutes to see how brain dead this show is.
Posted by: JCat | October 2, 2011, 10:07 pm 10:07 pm
AT LEAST GET THE HAIR AND MAKE-UP CORRECT. REALLY BAD
Posted by: Jett | October 3, 2011, 3:25 pm 3:25 pm
Perhaps the only good thing about this show is bringing back memories of the Boeing 707, Idlewild, stewardess uniforms, Berlin, Kennedy, Cold War, etc., and the greatness and glorious early jet age of Pan American World Airways for those of us who were Pan Am employees or passengers and had the opportunity to live through those years. The substance of the series is otherwise total nonsense!
Posted by: David | October 16, 2011, 10:35 pm 10:35 pm
I really do watch this show as a boredom buster on Sundays. Next to Yu-Gi-Oh!, Cyberchase, Ninja Warrior, Dragon Ball Z, and Everybody Hates Chris, it’s cool to watch, despite a pointless plot. Wish I was born in the ’60s…
Posted by: Makiko Sakura Sato | November 18, 2011, 11:27 pm 11:27 pm
As a former Pan American stewardess, I as many of us were thrilled to see our old “Blue Ball” take flight again. However; I have to disagree with the Hollywood Reporter, in that IT WAS a very glamorous time and the writers have touched upon some of the issues facing airline crews. For example evacuation during the Bay of Pigs incident, Kennedy in Berlin, attending Embassy Parties, staying in First Class Hotels and being picked up in Mercedes limos occasionally to and from our layovers. What is not glamorous and exciting about that! You would only have to ask one of us….we have wonderful war stories far better than any of the writers have so far produced! We have offered our expertise. The cockpit is all wrong, age wise. Our pilots were seasoned post World War !! pilots flying the left seat! Most were like father figures to us. The engineer and occassionaly the first officier was under 40. Then of course, our IGS Service based in Berlin was a younger breed of pilots, and “datable”. Some of the scenarios are impossible, such as plying MAC flights with alcohol. Never happened, or this cloak and dagger spy mission! Getting old, and although we had an in with the State Department no one shot anyone or left a body of a pax on the ramp in a foreign country! It’s one thing to take some artistic licensing but it’s clearly another to embellish it beyond the point of what really happened and lose your audience. Everyone likes a good airline movie….take a look at the “High and Mighty”! or even “Airport” If they keep it real, we should be cleared for a cruising altitude.
BA Miller (MIA< IAD, JFK)
Posted by: Barbara | December 9, 2011, 9:41 am 9:41 am
Ms. Miller, it was very refreshing to read your comment about the glorious days of Pan American World Airways. I never worked for Pan Am but had the honor and pleasure of boarding dozens of Pan Am jets from 1960 through its last days in 1991, traveling the planet. The Pan Am series, I believe, simply brings back the great memories of those early jet years aboard all those Boeing 707s and the fine and exquisite service provided by the stewardesses for those of us old enough to have had that honor. The story lines of the Pan Am series is otherwise of no value to me. It was an absolute joy to have been a passenger on Pan Am for three decades. Thank you.
Posted by: David | December 15, 2011, 10:38 pm 10:38 pm
pan am soundtracks jan 17
pan am soundtrack is out january 17
the pan am soundtrack joe and laura will be out on jan 17 by abc, can be ordered,
won’t be in stores.
pan am new episodes 2012
collette visits her friend from haiti in canada, ginny
tries to break up dean and colette’s relationship, by having collette deported
ted and maggie go on a date
laura has a date with joe(gaius charles) back her apartment
she shares with her sister, while kate and nico go on their spy adventure
laura is ready for the next step in her relationship with joe
laura and kate’s mother and joe’s mother suspect joe and laura
are invovled
Posted by: name with held | January 4, 2012, 2:25 pm 2:25 pm
it is all about the fans of the show,
since its first episdoe.
PLEASE keep this show on the air.
it has been one of my favorite shows, since V and once upon
a time.
pan am is something to watch sunday nights. keep it on the air.
Posted by: chez crisden | January 12, 2012, 3:30 pm 3:30 pm