Anybody else watching this new show on ABC tonight? This looks like it could be good. And there is a void to fill re 1960s setting TV shows at 10 o-clock Sunday night. 
It doesn’t have the veneer of authenticity that “Mad Men” has - the 60s setting looks a little bit contrived. And doubtless it won’t get anywhere close to the type of introspection on the changing society that MM does, but still I must admit it was entertaining. Light, fluffy, watcheable stuff.
The advance publicity heavily focused on Christina Ricci, but surprisingly she seemed to have very little to do in this episode. It’s just as well, as her “groovy bohemian crashpad” was the least convincing period element of the show.
I didn’t see the cold war espionage plot-line coming, but it was an interesting departure to distinguish this show from MM. And it gives the story some forward momentum. When the plane took off for it’s “maiden voyage”, I had fears that this show was going to be nothing more than “Love Boat” in the air. It’s good to see that they are at least attempting to do somethng a bit weightier.
Didn’t care much about the French stew, or her affair with the pilot. And just how did the pilot’s wife find out about her?
I’d give it a B-. Not an entirely convincing show, not even sure if they’re trying to be entirely convincing. I’ll keep watching - at least until the episode when Cuban hijackers subdue the whole flight crew - and the blonde ingenue is forced to land the plane. (Because you know they’ll eventually get around to doing that!)
I’ll give it a “C”. It was generally okay with spots of just awful writing (“Don’t ground them” and the “Buckle up and set course for adventure” bit beaten into the ground during the commercials). There were other spots beyond that but those were just pure groaners. The “twists” were all predictable except for the MI6 guy but then I didn’t care for that plot anyway. Which is too bad since I’m sure it’ll be a main driver for the show.
Ultimately, I just didn’t feel interested to learn anything else about the characters. It wasn’t dire and I wasn’t angry at having spent an hour on it, but I can’t see myself getting invested.
I saw it and that was pretty much my assessment. Much more soap operaish than Mad Men, but still entertaining.
By the way, does anyone know much about the historical background behind the Bay of Pigs evacuation they mentioned. I know about the BOP invasion of course, but can’t say I’ve heard about the evacuation.
Enjoyed it overall, and I’m not much for the soapy stuff. But then I’m an aviation fan and I appreciated that the producers went to some effort to make sure the (mostly CGI) planes and helicopters were appropriate for the period. I’ll let slide the line about that particular B707 having ‘never flown before’. What, not even a delivery flight?
The actors were all very pretty, if mostly unconvincing, particularly the pilot captain (seemed more than a bit young for that position) and the Nancy Drewish stewardess-spy. Don’t know what the OP is going on about concerning the French stewardess; my glasses were fogging up every time she showed up on screen. I won’t mind a bit seeing more of her. Presumably she’s going to be given something else to do since the adultery subplot was wrapped up with a bow in the pilot episode.
Music was a bit intrusive, to the point where it was drowning out some of the dialogue. Production design was fairly spectacular for a network series. It is almost a cartoon fantasy of the early '60s, imagewise, but that’s OK by me.
Eh, not the worst thing I ever saw on TV. Besides it’s not like there’s anything else on in it’s timeslot right now that I’d be watching. The CGI looks really bad, but the costumes & sets are nice. Both male & female eye candy. All the flashbacks were annoying; I hope that was just to set things up in the pilot & won’t be a regular part of the show. Also French & British stewardesses on an American flag carrier? 
I thought flight attendants (at least on international flights) used to have to be US citizens.
Only caught a few minutes of the beginning, but I agree about the production design. I covet the stewardesses’ flight bags.
My mother was a stewardess (for United, not Pan Am) during that era; I’d told her about the show, and I was curious to hear her reaction to it. But, I suspect she decided it was going to be too much of a soap opera, and didn’t watch.
Didn’t see it. Did they actually use a 707 with the Pan Am “jet age” livery for the ground shots? Or was it CGI?
They were kind of clucking about the “house mother” checking their weight and stuff–as though the casting department didn’t do that sort of thing too.
Was the missing stewardess/spy wearing a Russian fur hat when she slunk away?
As her if stews were not allowed to wear lipstick in 1963–I thought it very odd that none of the actresses were wearing any, when it was pretty much unheard of for women to go lipstickless back then (pale pink was “in” in '63, but they seemed to be wearing none).
And you don’t hire a quirky actress like Christina Ricci, and then give her nothing to do!
I don’t know much about Christina Ricci, but I do know she is 5’0". I don’t think she’d have made the grade as a Pan Am stewardess.
Decided to watch . Not too bad. My concern is that they went for it on the first episode and the followups will devolve into crappiness. TRAVEL had a good doc on right after, Plane Sexy, about stewardesses during the golden age, which was a good addendum to the show. Different world back then for sure.
Merged duplicate threads.
I had fun counting the significant difference between then and now. It’s almost a drinking game in the works.
Briefcase on lap during take off
Kid just visits the cock pit
High end hotels for Crew?
Hat pins on Stewardesses (probably not now)
etc.
I thought it was fun, but light.
Fascinating look back at the “Golden Era” of airplane travel.
The shots of the PanAm building (now MetLife) were great!
The stewardesses were properly perky-that thing abot the girdle was hilarios.
Ah, the 1960’s, when “men were men and women were…sex objects”!
Bt too many damn commercials!
This felt more like the first half of a movie then a tv show. I am not sure how they are actually going to have a story to move forward within this premise. Watching stews fly around the world is not going to be interesting for long and the whole spy thing is going to have to be used lightly or become a farce.
I don’t think they will have any problems filling this show with stories.
I lived in Berlin when the Wall was up, and the only three carriers allowed to fly into West Berlin were Air France, British Airways and Pan Am.
I got to meet quite a few Pan Am employees and just a few memories from back then:
One Pan Am pilot was a major dealer of cocaine in Berlin - he could smuggle it in as pilots were rarely, if ever, searched at airports back then.
Some Pan Am pilots were major boozers and partiers - and would wake up half-crocked with three hours of sleep and go fly.
The Pan Am stewardesses knew every famous, rich person who ever flew on the planes, and were not shy about telling you stories
I taught a German woman to speak English so she could become a Pan Am stewardess - and later, by coincidence, flew on a plane where she was working. Yes, she let me go sit in the cockpit with the pilots for a good half hour! Just stories about that woman would fill a few episodes.
And again - knowing quite a few Pan Am employees, I can tell ya stories about kids flying alone, drunks causing fistfights, old people having heart attacks and dying on the plane, a little dog that crapped all over the plane, flights so rough half the passengers were throwing up, weird things people would leave on the plane (great story about a dildo), sad stories about people leaving from/returning to their homeland for the first time…
So no, I don’t think they will run out of things to write about.
The TV show could be promising but could also turn into a sloppy soap opera, so the verdict is out right now. I hope they keep up the pace.
It’s not exactly mesmerizing, but good enough.
Of course it’s company policy never to imply ownership in the event of a dildo… always use the indefinite article “a” dildo, never “your” dildo.