Pan Am

[Dark Raven]

Mad Men is still the best of the three shows. It's the only one that's critical of the time-period. Pan Am focuses too much on the nostalgia of the era. Like Prison Mike just said, there's not one single Black person on the pilot and the show doesn't even bother to address the issue. Compare that to Mad Men's pilot which revolved around the discovery that cigarettes caused cancer and all the characters, who are advertisers, trying to spin that information so they can sell the product. Mad Men is simply the more interesting show -- even if it's "slow" at times. As for The Playboy Club, it's a little of both. Mad Men and Pan Am are the two extremes. Playboy Club is in the middle.

.

That's probably why TPC seems so middle of the road.

The ideal show would combine all three. Well, I don't know if there's that much to combine from TPC. But I would love a show that had the imagery of all three.

Mad Men has very cool cinematography which seems to pay homage to Alfred Hitchcock and Edward Hopper visually. It also has a better social commentary and a stronger leading man than Pan Am.

Pan-Am has a brisker pace, more of a nostalgia factor, more of a soundtrack and more external shots. You barely see Mad Men outdoors.

Playboy so far only really has the Playboy bunny imagery and Amber Heard. I don't think Playboy even does that well in their sets and faithful recreation of the era. There's not really that much to offer.

 

[Call Me Darkman]

Playboy Club has the Chicago mafia... so it has more cinematic storylines. I find that a little better than Pan Am's ridiculous spy sub-plot.

 

[Dark Raven]

Playboy Club has the Chicago mafia... so it has more cinematic storylines. I find that a little better than Pan Am's ridiculous spy sub-plot.

But you can't even properly tell it's 60s Chicago, the way it's filmed. You can't really tell which decade it is at all - it could be the 30s or the 40s or the 60s. The filming seems a bit more tightly filmed. I'm hoping it will be better for its 2nd episode, but I haven't watched it yet.

 

[DACrowe]

Pan Am doesn't really feel like 1963 (or 1961-1962 with flashbacks to evacuating Bay of Pigs prisoners), it felt more like a nostalgic trip on what people felt the early 1960s were when they watched zany sex comedies from the era like Pillow Talk and Sunday in New York or at least the very romantic, but meatier and melancholy, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

It feels like they're looking at the early '60s with extremely tinted and rose colored glasses. But it was better paced and better written than the Playboy pilot. Also, Pan Am stewardesses being able to see the world, even if it was a sexist and oppressive one, feels more empowering than The Playboy Club's attempt to do the same thing for Playboy bunnies.

I watched about 20 minutes of TPC's second episode and the writing dramatically improved, but it still feels like a trashy soap opera being sold on Amber Heard and co.'s T&A at a PG-13 level...I just don't see it lasting. Pan Am can probably have longer and healthier success...but I'm not sold on a 1960s fantasy that feels a few clicks removed from that Ewan McGregor/Renee Zellwegger comedy-fantasy, Down with Love.

Mad Men is the only show that feels like an honest look at the era and it's not all pretty. Much of it is not, actually. And that is what makes it a great show.

 

[obin_gam]

I liked it. As opposed to Mad Men, things actually happened in the first episode that made me want to continue watching it.

 

[Dark Raven]

I'd like a spy show set in the 60s. Or a comic book show. Just an action series for a change instead of what are essentially three soaps (Mad Men, Pan-Am and The Playboy Club).

 

[Prison Mike]

I agree with everyone saying that Pan Am is capitalizing on the nostalgia of the 60s and not neccessarily showing that decade for what it truly was. Mad Men does a far better job at that. I like Pan Am partially because of the nostalgia. It's fluff but I like it. Of course Mad Men is the far superior show and I love that show but I'll continue to watch Pan Am too. Sometimes I just want to turn my brain off when I watch a show...

 

[twylight]

Playboy Club, Pan Am and Mad Men are all comparable based on the time period. However while I can compare the first two with the 'girlfriend' vibe going on, I can't do that with Mad Men, so using it as a point of reference becomes obsolete. Mad Men is a strict period piece in terms of authenticity. I'm fine with Pan Am being a 'rose-tinted glasses' look back. It works well for the show and makes it enjoyable and fun to watch, which is what I expect from a network. So far it's on my DV-R and is going to stay there. Not because it's thought provoking or extremely action packed, but because it's just.. fun!

The cast is cute, the colors are awesome, the very stylized 1960's vibe is enjoyable and reminds me of posters from the era.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Dont know why the one actress who plays the younger sister had to dye her hair blonde. She looked so much better in the pilot. Plus they didnt even care to re-do her cover but they have her blonde for her wedding in the flashback.

 

[Dark Raven]

Dont know why the one actress who plays the younger sister had to dye her hair blonde. She looked so much better in the pilot. Plus they didnt even care to re-do her cover but they have her blonde for her wedding in the flashback.

Probably so she doesn't get confused with her sister visually (eg in posters, promos etc) and because other than her, they don't have a blonde hostess. You would only get red heads and brunettes. Also, her blonde hair makes her more typical of these Hitchcock blondes who fit in with that time period, at least nostalgically.

 

[twylight]

I do wish they like, showed more than just the main 4 women. I hope they expand to a few more stewardesses.

 

[obin_gam]

Goddamnit Karine Vanasse is beautiful!

 

[flash13]

Just got into this show and I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. Kate is definently the most interesting character for me so far.

 

[Specter313]

I'm not gonna get into this, I saw today that it's hemorrhaging viewers like crazy with each new episode.

 

[DACrowe]

I saw the latest episode last night (well half of it) and....it was pretty hilariously cheesy. Them being in Germany for Kennedy's famous Berlin speech? OK. Christina Ricci wanting to meet Kennedy and the French stewardess having cold feelings towards Germany, having grown up in Vichy France? Sure, I can buy that....

But the last ten minutes where they get into the embassy by being stewardesses? And when there one of them sneaks, against all sorts of international rules and protocol, an East Germany spy in who, even if she is sincere, could have caused an international incident less than a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis and it's....OK with MI6 after she gets weepy? Really?! And then, even more ridiculously, angry French stewardess starts singing the Nazi national anthem in front of an elite German crowd celebrating a moment of American-German diplomacy? That scene was hilariously awful.

I can see why the show is losing viewers every week.

 

[Dark Raven]

They should put this show on a cable network as well. Then they won't have to worry about losing viewers. I wonder if Mad Men would've had that great ratings if it had been on a broadcast network?

I actually enjoyed the latest episode despite the perceived cheesiness. I hope the show continues.

 

[MadVillainy]

Christina Ricci, who I liked in the first 2 episodes, was very annoying in this episode.

I still like this show. It's a shame it keeps losing so many viewers

 

[Dark Raven]

Goddamnit Karine Vanasse is beautiful!

She actually looks a little different normally:

Still beautiful. I think I prefer her as she is normally to as she is in Pan Am.

I wonder though if she's a little asian? She looks a bit.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

And then, even more ridiculously, angry French stewardess starts singing the Nazi national anthem in front of an elite German crowd celebrating a moment of American-German diplomacy? That scene was hilariously awful.

If I am not mistaken it was the German national anthem ( Das Lied der Deutschen 3rd stanza) which is not the Nazi one ( first stanza ).

 

[obin_gam]

She actually looks a little different normally:

Still beautiful. I think I prefer her as she is normally to as she is in Pan Am.

I wonder though if she's a little asian? She looks a bit.

The first pic was horrendous! Your other two though are good ones

 

[GhostPoet]

I like this show...never liked Mad Men

 

[X-Woman]

It's odd that Christina Ricci would get a role as one of the flight attendants, because it's actually historically inaccurate. In the '60s the rules were really strict about who could be a stewerdess. There were height and weight requirements. The minimum height that a stewerdess could be was 5 foot 6. But you couldn't be over 5 foot 10, that's how picky they were.

Christina Ricci is only 5 feet tall. There is no way that they would have hired someone her size as a stewerdess in those days. We're talking a half a foot too short here.

But I guess that's TV for ya.

 

[Primal Slayer]

If we were looking for accurate tv, then majority of the shows wouldnt be on.

 

[Dark Raven]

So who watched this week's Pan Am?

I still don't know the characters' names off by heart yet without having to look them up.

There was some tension between the two pilots, as well as the two sisters. Nice to see the ladies relaxing in swimsuits by the pool.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Im fearing this is getting cancelled in the next 2 weeks. So if Once Upon a Time isnt a hit, ABC is going to have trouble in its Sunday timeslot.