Pan Am
ABC | Release Date: September 25, 2011
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
NewsdayVerne GaySep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: A gorgeous production, though the story sometimes keeps it on the tarmac. Read full review
88
New York PostLinda StasiSep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: So far, so great. Read full review
80
SalonMatt Zoller SeitzSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: Pan Am is nostalgic bonbons for the mind, made with the finest ingredients. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: The glamour in Pan Am may indeed be manufactured--doubly manufactured, given the re-created places and planes--but it's not empty: The show says, yes, this is as good as it looks, and it looks very good Read full review
80
Miami HeraldGlenn GarvinSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: Derivative Pan Am may be, but that doesn't make it any less watchable. Read full review
80
Zap2it (Inside the Box)Rick PorterSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's definitely a flight worth booking. Read full review
80
SlateTroy PattersonSep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: Pan Am's easy whirl fits the bill, when its chatter is snappy and also when it's not. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushSep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: Watching Pan Am is like getting a free upgrade to escapist class. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyKen TuckerSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: Right now Pan Am doesn't seem to know exactly what it wants to be; it's experimenting with tone, and seeing what works and what doesn't. That's the kind of attitude that, if done right, should lead to an interesting series. [30 Sep 2011, p.62]
75
HitfixAlan SepinwallSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: The female leads are appealing, the world promising and the pilot much more clear-eyed and less compromised in its view of the era than "Playboy Club" is. Read full review
75
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: For shows that play to our longing for America's lost days of glory, the sky's the limit. Read full review
75
USA TodayRobert BiancoSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: This is a series where surface is substance, and surfaces don't come much dreamier than in this beautifully realized flight fantasy, from its lovely, terror-free airport to its even lovelier cast. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: The action is set to the beat of "Mack the Knife" and other swingin' songs that, along with some stunning production design, help the show deliver a hefty dose of '60s nostalgia. Read full review
75
People WeeklyTom GliattoSep 16, 2011
Season 1 Review: The show is fueled with so much soap-operatic hot air that it takes off. [26 Sep 2011, p.54]
75
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertSep 12, 2011
Season 1 Review: The romance and the attractively stylized innocence of the era is addictive, but the espionage plot, with its link to political history, is absurd. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GraySep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: My favorite so far of the fall's two "Mad Men" wannabes and a show with more moving parts than a jumbo jet. Read full review
70
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenSep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: Every television series launches on a wing and a prayer, perhaps none more than this entertaining, glossy drama. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithSep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: Take the back stories, add the unfolding drama of love, loss, disappearances and danger, shake it all up with exotic locales from Paris and Berlin to Monaco and Rio--and it could be a tasty cocktail Read full review
60
The New YorkerNancy FranklinSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: The new shows are more concerned with hitting their marks and getting the sociology right than with character, but Pan Am has a bit of style to it, and a note of darkness, and the formula might just work. Read full review
60
PopMattersRenee Scolaro MoraSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: Set in 1963, Pan Am's production is highly stylized, neat, and dreamy, perfectly suited to the nostalgia it is eager to evoke. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleySep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: There's soap here, and the liberated-woman part sometimes feels like a reach. But the show is fun, it makes flying look like fun, and yes, that line of stewardesses does look good enough to stop an airport. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandSep 26, 2011
Season 1 Review: Beneath all the visual dazzle of the premiere episode, a bit of the groundwork is there, but Schlamme and Orman need to build on it very soon. Read full review
50
Uncle BarkyEd BarkSep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: Beyond selling the glamour of it all, Pan Am may be very hard-pressed to come up with weekly storylines that impel viewers to climb aboard. Read full review
50
Slant MagazinePhillip MaciakSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: The show's extravagant, aggressive joy about the friendly skies sometimes makes even that pinnacle of historical romance seem like a Lars Von Trier film in comparison. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleySep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: If only for the costumes and '60s music, Pan Am is amusing to see at least once, but if it has any instructive benefit at all, it's as a mood indicator for these times, not those. Read full review
50
Washington PostHank StueverSep 16, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's a handsome study in perfect mediocrity. Read full review
40
VarietyBrian LowrySep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: Even so, the disjointed, choppy approach leaves this meticulously outfitted production looking overdressed for the occasion, and while there are enough moving parts to potentially turn up something interesting, turbulent takeoffs seldom bode well for the rest of the trip. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanSep 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: It has neither the exactitude of the times nor the talent of the writers to get at the issues, ala Mad Men, that illuminate the issues of the day. Read full review
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