Ed Martin Live at TCA: Sexy Stewardesses Help ABC Take Off at TCA

As I write this column I39m near the end of the last full day of a media marathon that began 19 days ago at ComicCon and continued through the Summer 2011 Television Critics Association tour amp8230 and during that time I don39t think I have seen any broadcast network do anything so effectively to support a new show as ABC with its eyecatching promotional efforts on behalf of its fall arrival Pan AmAs critics yesterday entered the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the first of ABC39s two days at the tour they were greeted by two stunning stewardesses as they were known back in the early 3960s when Pan Am takes place poised behind a ticket counter and handing each critic a bag emblazoned with the logo of the longdefunct airline Behind the counter was a screen with the scheduled start time for each of the network39s press conferences and other eventsThis display took me back to the massive San Diego Convention Center last month at ComicCon where a much larger Pan Am display drew a steady crowd of fanboys and amp8211girls who wanted to be photographed with a stewardess or in a replica of a Pan Am cabin I thought at the time that an appealingly nostalgic drama like Pan Am which likely won39t resonate with viewers 40 or under was an odd choice for floor space that had been occupied in previous years by such recent ABC sciencefiction series as FlashForward and V Nevertheless beautiful young women in the skyblue Pan Am flight attendant uniforms of the Mad Men era proved an irresistible drawSimilarly the Pan Am display in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton snapped critics out of the stupor they were in Sunday it being the morning after the TCA Awards ceremony the night before and the final full day of TCA press conferences It didn39t hurt that the smiling stewardesses were handing out those Pan Am carryon bags either All in all a classic example of a network skillfully propelling one show out in front of dozens including those of its competitors and creating some much needed buzzThis extra effort by ABC made Pan Am stand out in a long day of panels that began with ABC Entertainment Group President Paul Lee introducing his network39s new fall shows taking questions from the press and then sharing the stage with Marc Cherry the creator and executive producer of Desperate Housewives Cherry was brought in to field a few questions about the upcoming eighth and final season of his iconic primetime serial This was another smart move yesterday by ABC The cheery Cherry has been a favorite of TCA since 2004 when Housewives made its debutLee had much to say about his new fall series amp8211 and the shows ABC is holding to midseason including the adventure mystery The River and the comedydrama Good Christian Belles Overall critics appear to be far more impressed with those two shows than with ABC39s fall freshmen though there is growing support for Pan Am and not only because of the sexy stewardesses and the nifty bags This show actually has something to say One of its executive producers noted that after the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 the very first case filed was by stewardesses Who knew Most interesting were his comments about the strange fantasybased mystery Once Upon a Time about a small New England town inhabited by fairy tale characters It39s actually way more complicated than that but it doesn39t lend itself to brief summation The premiere of this show will be later in the fall Sunday October 23 quotto make sure we can really throw the network at it as we used to do in cablequot Lee saidquotI think it39s an extraordinary piece of storytellingquot he continued quotMy only worry was how do we sustain it in series We39ve had episodes two and three so I39m now fully confident we can sustain it for three episodes because they39re brilliantquot Many critics were already confused about a number of plot points by the end of the pilot so ABC has its work cut out for it with this oneLee was similarly candid later in his session when he responded to a question about the upcoming midseason comedy series Work It about two men who dress as women to find work which has critics hissingquotYou know when you pick up pilots there are many reasons that you decide why am I going to pick this up39quot he said quotYou think 39Who is the showrunner What39s the slot going to be Where39s this going to go Does it fit my brand39 And sometimes you pick up a pilot because it makes you cackle with laughter So I make absolutely no excuses for that show It makes me cackle with laughter and I think it39s going to get noticedquotquotWe didn39t think this room would like it and there39s some pleasure in thatquot he addedquotDid I say that out loudquot he asked once the laughter subsidedYou are receiving this email as a corporate subscriber to Jack Myers Media Business Report Redistribution in any form except among approved individuals within your company is prohibited As a subscriber you have full access to all archives 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Ed Martin Live at TCA: Sexy Stewardesses Help ABC Take Off at TCA

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