Upcoming TV show "Pan Am" about the glory days of airline travel

[Chris D]

This sounds AWESOME to me. I really like "Mad Men", and one of the reasons is the era that it portrays. I'm a pilot, and grew up with my dad as an airline pilot, and experienced firsthand the glory days of airline travel. I miss that. (as a side note, I personally still pay homage to those days, dressing up for airline flights. And I wish I could be part of that as a pilot, but the experience is not the same anymore)

So I'm really interested to see what this show will be like. I'll be watching hard for it.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/02/28...ex.html?hpt=C2

[madmac]

I liked Mad Men too except for the incessant smoking. I realize that a lot of people smoked in those days but I find it's a tad overdone to say the least!. I'm sure the tobacco industry pays them big bucks to the show for the use of their product (Movies too).

"Pan Am" does sound interesting and I'm going to check it out!.

[Hdale85]

I really doubt in this day and age many people are accepting money from the tobacco industry for any sort of advertising.


Back in those days darn near everyone smoked, because no one knew it was bad for you, it was a very big symbolism thing. If you were cool or even wanted to be cool you smoked. So as excessive as it looks it's probably not far off from being accurate.

[Ovation]

Far more accurate than the alcohol consumption.

[madmac]

Ya but Ovation.....I like alcohol so that aspect of the show doesn't bother me!! Hehehe!!

@Dougie......Common' dude....look at the movies nowadays......Do you really expect me to believe that all the smoking in films now is just 'part of the script'???. NOT a chance buddy!!. The tobacco industry has got their paws in there FOR SURE!!. It's the only avenue left for them to use to push their product. Besides, mostly kids go to movies now and that's their 'cool' target audience. Most grown up's like me watch their films at home now on their kick A*s home theatre systems now.

[Hdale85]

Not sure what you're kick A*s home theater system has to do with tobacco advertising. There is a big reason smoking is still used in movies and TV shows and the biggest reason is to portray the bad guy. Regardless if the tobacco industry pays them or not the smoking is still going to be all over the movies and TV.

[madmac]

@ Dougie.....I will agree to disagree with you on that one. There's lots of smoking in movies now.....even when the smoker is not a 'bad guy'. It's a phenomenon in movies called 'product placement' and it's all over the place in movies now. The tobacco industry is without a doubt in my mind paying for their products placed into films. Period!.

[Hdale85]

I know about product placement, but over the past smoking has become such a regular part of our society that regardless if the tobacco industry paid for it or not it's going to be there, and frankly if no matter what they are going to use it I can't see why they would pay for it. In most movies there are no brands or anything so it's not like anyones going to pay for that? If there is no brand recognition in the film I just can't imagine anyone paying just to show someone smoking no name brand smokes. In Mad Men you do see a brand once in a while, weather they are all real I'm not sure? So I guess it's possible but even so I'm not sure that's the case.

Generally product placement is pretty obvious because they will always have the label on the bottle, can, car, so on very obviously facing the camera.

[madmac]

Smoking is out socially and the industry is getting desperate!. They need young people lighting up!. Trust me when I say that they are paying for their product placement to Hollywood. You don't need a label on a cigarette. It's a cigarette.......that's what matters to that industry!.

[Chris D]

FINALLY had the show premiere tonight.

Meh...I thought it was a letdown. Not too bad, but not the glitz, glamour, and prestige I was expecting from the golden era of aviation. Seemed more about the personal soap opera stories, and less about the flying. I want to see more of the aviation and company stuff, and a bit less of the other. I don't want this to devolve into a "Desperate Housewives" in the sky.

[Hdale85]

Yeah I generally leave judgement until after a few episodes, but the first one was just so/so.

[Ovation]

Haven't watched it yet (one of the very few new programmes I recorded to check out--I can't remember having so little interest in new programming). I'm giving it a try based on my great appreciation for Mad Men and its portrayal of the era. However, I don't have high expectations as "me-too" shows rarely approach, let alone match, the original.

[Lex]

I thought it was a pretty decent show, a lot of work obviously went into the pilot. I rather enjoyed it.

I don't like to see a lot of smoking in shows either, but worse, I hate seeing it in real life. Does my avatar smoking bother you guys? :lol:

[Ovation]

Watched the first two episodes. Sets, decor, etc. are all well done (a few CGI shots that are a bit too obvious, though). I've liked individual moments in each episode but neither has wowed me overall. I'll give it a bit more time to grow--but if it gets too "soapy", I'm out.

[Chris D]

yeah, episode 2 didn't overwhelm me, either.

[Hdale85]

Well it's been a few episodes now, I've noticed that generally out of all the shows I record weekly this show is the last one I watch and it's not a "save the best for last" scenario. I just can't seem to get into it, I'm not entirely sure what to blame it on though? It has it's moments that interest me but I guess the show as a whole does not.

[Ovation]

Somewhat similar here. I have four of them on my PVR and I usually turn to other things to watch. I will likely watch a few of them in a row (perhaps viewing a mini-marathon will be good--some shows are like that). If I don't get into it after that, it's off my list.

[Hdale85]

Yeah that's my thoughts exactly. Definitely not as well done as Mad Men.

[Chris D]

Agreed. I still DVR it every week, and watch it sometime Sun-Wed night. Okay to pass the time, but it's quickly lost the "golden era" feel for me, and has devolved into another drama, just set in the 60's. They did hit on the inter-racial issue that was so inflammatory back then.

As a pilot, there's aviation things every now and then in the show that just tick me off.

[Ovation]

I've watched a few more and my sense is that it won't live up to its premise BUT it does have lovely eye-candy in hi-def, so I'll keep watching for that.

[Hdale85]

I removed it from my list a couple weeks ago. I don't see it lasting either way. Probably get axed after season 1.

[Ovation]

It did get an order for an additional 5 episodes (up from 13 to 18 ). This could mean a second chance or merely the opportunity to tie up loose ends. In any event, I'm not invested in it, I just think it's nice eye candy (especially the one who works for the CIA). :T