Branded Networking: PAN AM & THE PLAYBOY CLUB

There has been a lot of anticipation this TV season about two shows aping AMC's hit series MAD MEN and its '60s nostalgia.  But what's more interesting to me about these shows is that they have both have adopted the corporate logo of their respective companies, Playboy and Pan Am, as their main image for advertising and promotions.  That actually harkens back to the 1950s when advertisers regularly sponsored entire programs, like the Camel News Caravan (which featured Edward R. Murrow) and soap operas (thus the name).

Marketing aside, the proof is in the pilot as they say. So I checked them both out over the weekend.  THE PLAYBOY CLUB is an odd show and not at all what I expected.  It seems more interested in being GLEE than MAD MEN, with it's musical numbers, fluffiness and homosexuals (there was even a meeting of the Mattachine Society?!).  With a strange voice-of-God narration by Hugh Hefner, the show just doesn't really make sense in the end.  

As for PAN AM, it was a lot more coherent as a show about 4 stewardesses flying transatlantic Clipper service on the storied airline.  But it also pulls a bit of a bait-and-switch in that it's less MAD MEN and more akin to a flying LOVE BOAT. Not that that's a bad thing....but it's an awfully small boat :)  This show seems more likely to succeed as an actual interesting program as opposed to a 45-minute commercial which is somewhat ironic, given Pan Am is not currently in business.  However there is a newly launched shopping site where you can buy everything from bags to key chains with the company's  iconic blue logo. Given the state of the air travel industry, this approach will probably be much more profitable than restarting the actual airline.

ABC's Trailer For New 60's Series PAN AM

So this one of the more exciting trailers I've seen for the new 2011 fall TV season, which was announced here in NYC last week. PAN AM is ABC's entry in the MAD MEN rip-off genre (NBC is doing THE PLAYBOY CLUB).  But the Playboy trailer does not look promising....something about one of the bunnies accidentally killing a mobster?!  Huh?!

PAN AM has it's own twist too but it sounds somewhat more plausible and a helluva lot more interesting than TV mobsters; one of the stewardesses is recruited to be an international spy! The show looks incredible, has some handsome Draper-esque dudes and it stars Christina Ricci too. And having a little Frank Sinatra setting the mood sure helps.  Coming this fall....

Greenwich Village Becomes Rome for TV Pilot "Pan Am"

Walking down Macdougal Street yesterday, I noticed a number of tiny little cars from the 1960s.  As I moved down the block, I saw lots of trucks, lights and cables for the shooting of the new ABC pilot called PAN AM.  They were doing a scene in an "Italian cafe", with famous Cafe Reggio made over with new signs and a large green-screen in the middle of the street on which to project some amazing view of Rome in post.

I looked for Christina Ricci, the star of the ABC version of MAD MEN, told from the perspective of the female Don Draper's of their day; stewardesses for the classic airline, Pan Am.  I did see some extras with big bouffants but no Christina which was no surprising given the fact she is incredibly short.  Anyway, it was nice travel to Rome on my way to work....if only for a few minutes.