Pan Am, the ABC Show

What a great show. They put a lot of effort into making the visuals match the time period, but what especially intrigues me is the introduction that the government used Pan Am employees for intelligence gathering.

This reminded me of a story that I developed when I covered the bankruptcy of Air Florida back in the 1980s when I was with WTVJ in Miami, which was then a CBS affiliate.

As I looked over the Air Florida bankruptcy court filing I noticed an entry that Air Florida got its first jet from Evergreen International. That was the first piece of the puzzle that led me to some others.

Evergreen was the airline company that provided a jet for the Shah of Iran to leave Iran when he was deposed in the Iranian revolution and at the time there was talk that Evergreen was a "CIA Airline." The link was never proven but it was mentioned so many times everyone just assumed Evergreen was a CIA airline.

So that piece of the puzzle put Air Florida and Evergreen and the CIA together. The next piece of the puzzle came when Air Florida suddenly decided to start up a bunch of routes flying in Central America. Central America? Why?

The Central American routes of Air Florida were never profitable, yet they continued.
And one of the reasons why Air Florida failed was that reason -- it expanded too quickly from an airline that flew budget travelers from New York to Ft. Lauderdale to an airline that also flew throughout Central America. And Air Florida also established routes to London and to Miami, and they just had too much going for a small airline.

And all of this gave rise to the speculation that Air Florida was also a CIA operation that was helped to start up by Evergreen which was said to be a CIA Airline. That was the other piece of the puzzle that I put together.

So, I contacted the CIA for comment, and yes the CIA does have a communications department to handle media inquiries. And the CIA media person in a phone call with me denied any connections with Air Florida.

Of course I wasn't surprised.

Anyway, one of the founders of Air Florida was Ed Acker who was involved in the expansion of Air Florida into Central America and who later went on to be chairman of Pan Am.

Damn, it's a great show!!!

There are various TV promotional announcements that I've seen to award "Pan Am bags" to viewers. As part of a report on King Richard's Antique Center in Whittier I found a dealer there who had some on display and for sale. I'm sure the TV show added to their value. And I wonder if more Pan Am collectibles and keepsakes will be hitting the market soon because of the TV show? Here's the video, the Pan Am bags are shown for just a few seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-jg...el_video_title

I watched Pan Am last Sunday after its holiday break and I see that the show is taking a harder turn towards being a soap opera filled with spies, sex, love affairs... What I loved about the show when it started was its nostalgic look at the early 1960s and at Pan Am. I sure hope they can keep up the nostalgia.

I hope Pan Am is coming back in its next season. Another show is taking its time slot starting in one week.

The show did not end with a cliff hanger... just the main characters watching the ball drop on New Year's Eve to welcome in 1964.

They could end the show right there... but I hope they don't.

So far I haven't seen any news about it being canceled, but thee were some industry reports in early January that Pan Am was a long shot for a second season.