Let us now sing the praises of my favorite new television series of the fall season… and the way the ratings have been dropping week to week, we’d probably better hurry because it’s not likely going to be around much longer. And what a damn shame that is, because I’m personally finding Pan Am to be a refreshing change from all those dour forensics shows and police procedurals, the “reality” competitions that reward the most sociopathic behavior, and of course all the boring damn variations on the amateur talent-hour.
If you don’t know it — and based on those disappointing ratings, I’m guessing you don’t — Pan Am follows the adventures of four young flight attendants and, to a lesser extent, their male counterparts up in the cockpit, as they fly around the world exploring exotic destinations and discovering their own potential and limitations. The show is set in the early 1960s, when jet airliners were the latest thing, travel still had a whiff of glamour and privilege about it, and the Cold War insinuated itself into the background of just about everything. But while Pan Am does pay lip service to the social issues of the day, particularly the ridiculous sexism that told women they shouldn’t have any dreams beyond making babies and cooking Sunday pot roasts, the show’s really not interested in examining these themes in depth. To be honest, it’s got more in common with The Love Boat than Mad Men, and the plots tend to be a little far-fetched, if not downright silly. (One of the ladies is a courier for the CIA who occasionally gets herself into some overblown intrigue; I find the stories about her sister, an insecure young woman who ran out on her own wedding, far more compelling.) That’s not to say the show is stupid or lacking in genuine poignancy, because it’s not. But it is a trifle, and deliberately so. It’s obviously intended to be a light dessert rather than a heavy meal. And honestly, that’s the very reason why the show appeals to me, because simple escapism has been out of fashion for far too long. Even the generally lighthearted Castle has done its grim serial killer story. And I’m sick and tired of grim.
The one thing Pan Am does especially well, the thing that keeps me coming back for more, is the way it captures the un-ironic optimism of an era when anything seemed possible, as well as the bubbly excitement of going some place new for the first time. The show reminds me of what it felt like to be young. It’s a welcome break from the harshness of our current-day reality.
And of course it has airplanes and pre-TSA airports, and I like seeing those things…
