Pan Am (TV series)

Pan Am is an American period drama television series created by writer Jack Orman.^[2] Named for the iconic^[3][4][5][6] Pan American World Airways, the series focuses on the pilots and stewardesses of the airline as it operated in the early 1960s at the beginning of the commercial jet age.

Sony licensed the rights to the Pan Am name and logo from Pan Am Systems, a New Hampshire–based railroad company that acquired the Pan Am brand in 1998.^[7]

Pan Am premiered on September 25, 2011.^[8] In November 2011, observers speculated the series was canceled while ABC insisted the show was still officially in production.^[9] As of December 25, 2011, the first nine episodes of the series were made available for free on iTunes in an effort to increase viewer interest in the series.^[10]

Cast

Main cast

• Christina Ricci as Maggie Ryan,^[11] the flight crew's purser, who is not afraid to test the rules and her Pan Am superiors.
• Margot Robbie as Laura Cameron,^[11] a stewardess newly out of training, and Kate Cameron's younger sister. Laura appears on the cover of Life magazine in her Pan Am uniform, making her a minor celebrity and a source of irritation for her older sister.
• Michael Mosley as Ted Vanderway,^[11] the crew's First Officer. A former United States Naval Aviator and test pilot, he was honorably discharged from the Navy after a Naval tribunal blamed him for the crash of an aircraft he was piloting even though his father (whose company manufactured the aircraft) admits to Ted in private that there was a mechanical problem.^[12][13]
• Karine Vanasse as Colette Valois,^[11] a French Pan Am stewardess. Orphaned during the German occupation of France during World War II, she still harbors resentment toward the German people.
• Mike Vogel as Dean Lowrey,^[11] a Boeing 707 pilot recently promoted to Captain on Pan Am's international routes. He had been romantically involved with the crew's former purser, Bridget, and is now pursuing a relationship with Colette.
• Kelli Garner as Kate Cameron,^[11] an experienced, trilingual stewardess and Laura Cameron's older, head-strong sister. During the pilot episode, Kate is recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency and starts taking early assignments as a covert operative.

Recurring cast

• Annabelle Wallis as Bridget Pierce,^[14] an English stewardess and former purser. She was dating Dean Lowrey before she quit her job with Pan Am and vacated her flat in London following her deactivation as a covert intelligence operative; she recommended Kate as a candidate for recruitment.
• Jeremy Davidson as Richard Parks, Kate's covert intelligence operations handler in New York.
• Kal Parekh as Sanjeev, the crew's flight engineer.^[15]
• David Harbour as Roger Anderson, a British MI6 agent and Kate's covert intelligence operations contact in London.^[14]
• Goran Visnjic as Niko Lonza, a Yugoslavian diplomat attached to the United Nations, serving in the United States. He becomes involved with Kate, and finds himself torn between his love of his homeland and the advantages of his new home. Visnjic will appear in a four-episode arc beginning with the season's fifth episode.^[16][17][18]

Episodes

Production

The pilot episode cost an estimated $10 million.^[20][21] The series, produced by Sony Pictures Television, was picked up by ABC in May 2011 for the 2011–2012 television season.^[22] ABC ordered five additional scripts in November 2011.^[23] The broadcaster later added a fourteenth episode to the series.^[9]

A comment from Karine Vanasse about the future of Pan Am and its omission from the midseason schedule started media speculation that series had been canceled by ABC. The network, however, has since denied the rumors. ABC further states that production will continue toward completing fourteen episodes and there will be final announcement regarding a second season at a later date.^[9]

Although episodes of the series depict the characters in various cities around the world, the show is filmed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and other locations around New York City.^[24] The pilot was filmed, in part, at Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage on Long Island.^[25]

According to Entertainment Weekly magazine, a life-size re-creation of a Pan Am 707 jet is "the biggest star of the series—in all senses". The 707 model is kept in a hangar near the Brooklyn waterfront.^[26]

Nancy Hult Ganis, a Pan Am stewardess from 1968 to 1976, is one of the show's executive producers and is credited as the series developer;^[27] her research for the series was conducted at the Pan Am Historical Foundation and the University of Miami, the location of Pan Am's archives. In addition, Ganis advises the actors, props department, production designers, and costumers in making details of the show as accurate as possible.^[28]

The program features the trademark sky-blue Pan Am uniforms worn by stewardesses. Costume design was over seen by Ane Crabtree who ensured they were made with attention to detail. The department made the replicas using an old uniform which was studied and twenty craftsmen worked on producing each outfit.^[29] The technique was the same used by the Pan Am itself in the sixties and Crabtree said the process was very "old school". In traditional uniform, girdles were mandatory to improve posture; some of the cast members found them "extremely restricting" during filming. Crabtree said that male costumes were inspired by James Dean and Steve McQueen.^[29]

Advertising

The September 12, 2011 edition of TV Guide's Fall Preview issue included an advertisement on the back of the magazine, tilted upside down, featuring Ricci, Garner, Vanasse, and Robbie appearing as their characters for a fictional cover for TV Guide, using the magazine's 1960s logo.^[30]

International broadcasts

The series airs in Canada on CTV on the same night as the ABC telecasts, but is shown in different time slots by region. It also airs on CTV's sister cable channel Bravo! on Saturdays.^[31] In Ireland, the show airs on RTÉ Two, having premiered on October 17.^[32] The series premiered in the UK on BBC Two on November 16, 2011.^[33][34] Canal+ began broadcasting the series in Spain on October 29, 2011.^[35] The series premiered in Sweden on TV3 on October 16, 2011.^[36] On November 6, 2011, the series premiered on SIC in Portugal.^[37] On December 26, 2011, the series will premiere on Net5 in the Netherlands.^[38]

Critical and industry reception

The show was given a 67 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 28 reviews, indicating generally favorable reception.^[39]

Heather Hogan of AfterEllen rated the show highly, commenting, "I continue to be impressed by the unapologetic way Pan Am pushes the women to the forefront of every story... I don't think Pan Am really knows what kind of show it wants to be just yet. But I also don't think that's a problem because every variation—Cold War drama, nostalgic soap opera, feminist dramady—has something to offer." Later episodes, however, received lower reviews for the loss of focus on the women and the addition of romantic storylines.^[40]

Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe gave the show a "B" grade, commenting, "Next to The Playboy Club it's the better network 1960s drama. The romance and the attractively stylized innocence of the era is addictive, but the espionage plot, with its link to political history, is absurd. And the female empowerment message grows feeble."^[41]

The Insider included Pan Am in its list of "10 Best New Fall TV Shows".^[42]

Media coverage of the series has included observations on the absence of smoking by major characters, even though smoking was common on flights and in the terminal during the 1960s. ABC and its parent, Disney, banned tobacco use by the show's stars. Citing "an enormous impressionable element", Thomas Schlamme called the anachronism "the one revisionist cheat" and said he had encountered a similar restriction directing a previous show for ABC. Other characters will be seen holding cigarettes in the background.^[43][44][45]

In the UK, Melissa Whitworth of The Daily Telegraph said that Pan Am chose to "airbrush" the sixties because it depicts a "romanticised" view of the period.^[46] Colin Kennedy from the Metro said the series is "irritatingly in love with its own sense of style". Though he said the storylines made it a "soapy guilty pleasure" and included it in their "pick of the day" television feature.^[47] Euan Ferguson from The Guardian praised Ricci's casting as a positive indicator of the quality of acting, but criticized the overall casting, saying similar looks and identical uniforms make it difficult for viewers to familiarize themselves with the characters.^[48] Though, Emma Brockes from the publication said that Pan Am is "bubble gum bright" and praised the whole cast for putting in "strong performances".^[49] In Ireland, Pat Stacey of the Evening Herald said the series portrays "silly storylines" and "cheesy dialogue". She added it is "most notable for its mile-high mediocrity".^[50]

Scott McCartney of The Wall Street Journal noted that the show highlights the "elegance and excitement" experienced in air travel during the early 1960s. He further noted that former employees of the airline perceived the series to be an accurate portrayal, aside from some "Hollywood glamorization".^[3]

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the world's largest flight attendant union, released a statement following the premiere of Pan Am. In the page-long statement, the union recognized that the show is a reminder of where flight attendants are today in comparison to where they once were in the framework of social injustice:

The premiere episode of the new Pan Am drama on ABC may be a nostalgic escape to the days before deregulation, but it also highlighted the myriad of social injustices overcome by the strong women who shaped a new career. Weight checks, girdle checks, the no marriage rule, sexism, gender discrimination, racism—all of this was challenged by intelligent, visionary women who helped to usher in the call for social change throughout the country and around the world.

As union members, the generation that crewed 1960s Pan American World Airways and their other airline counterparts, Flight Attendants fortified their voice to press airline management and Capitol Hill for equal rights, recognition of their work and improved aviation health and safety standards that benefit the traveling public. Negotiating contract improvements for middle class pay, proper rest, health care and retirement benefits ensured the skilled "stewardesses" set career standards that provided new opportunities for all women and men...^[51]

References

External links

• Official website
• Pan Am at the Internet Movie Database
• Pan Am at TV.com
• Pan Am at TV Guide
• Pan Am on Facebook