First Impressions: Pan Am

(airs on ABC, Sunday nights at 10pm)

If I had to pick one thing I enjoyed about Pan Am, it would be the setting. The production crew definitely deserves some compliment: the scenery and costumes are beautiful, and the bright colors conjure up a high fructose feeling of optimism. But underneath all its visceral gloss, Pan Am is an empty reminiscence of the 1960s, more focused on romanticizing the past and trying to get millions of people excited about transcontinental flight. Although there are a few talented women on the cast (most notably the always lovely Christina Ricci, who is severely underused in the pilot), Pan Am is too obsessed with its surroundings, to focus on anything like characters or having a point.

Even though it looks nice, sometimes the setting of Pan Am feels synthetic. People are brimming with optimism, women’s lib is thriving in the form of women who serve drinks and give directions on planes, and it feels like it’s just ripping off the time period Mad Men takes place in. It doesn’t really have much to say about anything in the time period, except that people wore different clothes and all men did were drool over women (although I should be used to this by now, no?) Sure, they tried to sprinkle some international espionage (even bringing in the British MI-6, to give it that old-school James Bond-type) on top, although I’m having a hard time believing the CIA would hunt down stewardesses to complete vital missions. Doesn’t really make sense, especially when the writer go out of their way to make us believe she was picked for a special reason, from a mysterious character all tangled up in the different plots of the show (as you’d expect, because we can’t have a single fucking new drama on the big 4 that doesn’t involve a conspiracy).

I don’t really have much else to say about Pan Am. Everything is so mediocre, it almost lulls you into submission with its effervescent characters and illogical view of the past. Seriously, did entire airports of people stare at stewardesses like they were celebrities? I highly, highly doubt it – though I’ll admit it was way before my time. Don’t believe the hype, people: Pan Am is not good. You really should trust me on this one and SKIP IT!