'Pan Am': Free Episodes Fly to iTunes

"Pan Am" is not going down without a fight. The struggling ABC series about a group of glamorous 1960s flight attendants and pilots is being offered for free on iTunes and other digital storefronts, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

All nine episodes of Season 1 that have already aired on ABC will be available for free download on iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, CinemaNow, Sony Video Unlimited, and the PlayStation Store. Additionally, two songs from the soundtrack, "Pan Am: Music From and Inspired By the Original Series" -- Billie Holiday's "Just One More Chance" and Brenda Lee's "Break It To Me Gently" -- will be available for free.

In November, rumors of "Pan Am's" demise started spreading after series's star Karine Vanasse tweeted a cryptic message about receiving "the call."

"Well, we received THE call, #PanAm is only coming back for one more episode after Christmas," she said on Twitter. "But up to the end, we'll give it our all!" Vanasse's tweet has since been deleted.

ABC maintains the show is still in the running for a second season.

"We are not canceling 'Pan Am,'" a rep for the network said at the time. "We are still in production and will continue to be in production finishing the original 13 episodes plus one more additional one. We have one more original episode this coming week, Dec. 4 and then will return in January with new episodes, airing all of them. 'Pan Am' is still in contention for next season. We won't know about that until our upfront announcement in May."

The freshman drama has struggled in the ratings after premiering to about 11 million viewers. The most recent episode only brought in 4.7 million viewers with a 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

"Pan Am" returns to ABC on Sun., Jan. 8 at 10 p.m. ET.

Comments

[eturoel]

02:50 AM on 01/04/2012

The fact that the ratings are going down says more about the viewers than the show. Anybody who worries about the accuracy of the actions is missing the point. Is there anything wrong with mixing a little imagination with reality ? This is a thoroughly delightful show.
Seeing those four Classy Uniformed Stewardesses with these Chic Caps walking through the Airport in "Formation," their white-glove covered hands extended, their flight bags suspended from their arms and the PAN AM initials all facing in the same direction is a PICTURE OF BEAUTY TO BEHOLD !
Perhaps, for some viewers, it does not contain enough violence and expletives deleted language - I, for one, can and prefer to do without these gratuitous additions. There are plenty of other shows where these appetites can be satisfied.
I hope there will be many more Episodes of PAN AM to come.

[RetireAlready]

02:30 AM on 12/22/2011

It says it's free on iTunes - all nine episodes. But then you open iTunes and it wants to charge $31.
I'm in Canada, but I got the message saying it was free and they KNOW where I live.

One cannot even e-mail apple support - it's a huge frustrating maze.

If anyone has any ideas, would appreciate.

Thx.

[debkey]

09:56 AM on 12/21/2011

This show needs to be given a fair chance. It is totally enjoyable tv.

[forkuu]

09:37 AM on 12/21/2011

cute show but has a lot of mistakes and outlandish acting by cristina ricci is totally not in tone with the era. should be reworked because it has so much possibility...

[ren31]

12:09 AM on 12/21/2011

can we cancel the ratings? i am tired or find decent shows to watch only to have them cancelled over bs ratings. i know tons of people who watch pan am, heros, lost... only to see them cancelled over ratings that we as viewers were never counted in because we didn't have boxes. i think it very unfair.

[jayne rives]

10:04 PM on 12/23/2011

well what do you expect when 25k out of an estimated 110 million tv viewers are all that are counted to make those ratings.

[Air Vice Marshal Park]

10:27 PM on 12/20/2011

To any pilot who was around at the time, this show is so full of errors and clinkers that it might as well have been about Munchkinland. It is equally wrong about the early '60s culture.

Notice that NOBODY wants to take on a factual show about the late '80s?

[ladyrosedeky]

03:55 PM on 12/20/2011

The one thing that is definitely realistic about this show is the weigh ins and the fact that women with perfect figures were made to wear those restrictive girdles. Girdles were an absolute necessity for the well dressed woman of the 50's and 60's. Considering NBC is cancelling a smart, good show like 'Prime Suspect,' it won't surprise me if this show goes bye, bye too.

[66readerwriter]

03:54 PM on 12/20/2011

If networks want to keep viewers, they must air shows consistently during the entire season. Instead, shows are pre-empted for sports, awards shows & other specials. Then a new episode airs--only to be followed these days--by reruns in mid season. People like me literally forget about shows. The excitement of following a story's thread is replaced by disappointment, and then apathy. If I was a show's advertiser, I'd be howling. I do enjoy Pan Am. I hope the show isn't grounded.

[Piglet2]

03:31 PM on 12/20/2011

Sorry, if I'm going back to the 60's I want to go with the incredible cast of Man Men.

[cordyc]

02:56 PM on 12/20/2011

I look forward to this show, which is not something I can say for most of what is on these days. It's well done and really captures the period. It's how people acted in the early 60'ies. These were the Kennedy years and back when you could go to Dodger Stadium and not worry about getting beat up because you cheered for the Giants (that other NY team that moved West).

[kaysings]

02:20 PM on 12/20/2011

Not my favorite show, but good and fun enough to have kept me watching starting with the pilot. I just wish they'd can that stupid spy storyline.

Oh, and PLEASE get rid of Christina Ricci's annoying, mouthy character.

[tootrue]

09:24 PM on 12/20/2011

Second on Christina Ricci. She's really irritating.

[RMS Queen Mary]

02:13 PM on 12/20/2011

Would rather watch this than any of that "reality" crap. While the characters and situations may not be very realistic, the show has a great cast, great music on the soundtrack, and they did a great job with the period details in terms of the costumes and sets. And the fact that the inflight scenes take place aboard a Boeing 707, which remains my favorite passenger jet of all time, add to its appeal. Hope ABC has enough sense to bring this one back for another season.

[DollyGee]

02:04 PM on 12/20/2011

I really like this show.

[HR Mickelson]

01:59 PM on 12/20/2011

For all of us who actually worked in the industry as pilots and flight attendants this show is degrading and is a joke. It should have been cancelled after the first couple of episodes.
The quality of TV shows is continuing its nose low spiral to the ground. We can do much much better than this show for viewers to watch.

[Tecsim]

04:10 PM on 12/20/2011

This show is to the airline industry what Happy Days was to life in the 50's.
Do you really think they are trying to broadcast a reality show, or rather a fictional entertainment storyline? Nobody thinks Fonzie is a real-life character from the 1950s.

[Brett Tonaille]

01:23 PM on 12/20/2011

This is really a very smart show, even if it drops some anachronistic clunkers ("I wanted to express my sexuality" - in the early Sixties?).
Whatever happens, I think it's made Karine Vanasse ("Colette")'s career. The epitome (Quebecoise though she is) of intelligent French sexiness. Just a glimpse of those bright black eyes and knowing smile and you hardly need her to speak.

[forkuu]

09:41 AM on 12/21/2011

this show is clearly written by people who only know about the 60's from books or family... the mistakes abound especially in speech but it still is fun . it is so erractic with the silly spy story line it takes away from the main theme.