“Pan Am” facing midseason replacement–what this means for the show

Credit: ABC

News has been released that Pan Am and Man Up have been replaced by midseason shows, one of them being GCB, a sopa that is expected to find an audience fairly quickly.

You can read more about the analyses of what this means for Pan Am at these sites, but as for me, I think that while the obvious answer people might go for is that the show is on its way to being cancelled, I’m not so quick to agree. I think the show could possibly come back retooled after the midseason.

Here’s the reasoning for this. ABC has already ordered five more episodes of the show. According to Patrick Munn, ABC has also ordered one additional episode, making the season 14 episodes long. Couple that with the fact that a new, yet seasoned showrunner, Steven Maeda, has been hired leads me to think that the show still has a lot of support in ABC. Another reason why there is so much support–the show is already a success overseas, even in the countries it hasn’t aired yet. I don’t think ABC wants to let go of that lucrative spot in the mess that is currently Pan Am. Just think of how movies that shouldn’t get greenlit for sequels; if the movie makes a ton of money overseas, the film is still considered a success, prompting the studios to make more films of stories you dislike.

I’m probably being way too hopeful and a bit biased, but my hope is that Pan Am comes back with new, better, sharper writers, a confident showrunner spearheading a tight ship, and some GOOD STORIES WITH GOOD CHARACTERIZATION. Because, at the end of the day, that’s really what was missing. The characterization fell flat when it could have been heightened, and the storylines didn’t come together and missed very big opportunities. If the show comes back a better, tighter version of itself, it’ll be the biggest comeback kid of the season.