Channel Surfing: “Pan Am” takes flight, new season of “Vampire Diaries”

By: Sanah Faroke/Columnist

Drama: “Pan Am”

ABC, Sundays

10 p.m.

Incorporating good ol’ Frank’s “Around the World” and “Come Fly with Me” places viewers right in the 1960’s, when glamorous jet traveling was an unbelievable reality. “Pan Am” is an everlasting dream full of perfect bobs, girdles, mile-high club flings and even sticky CIA entanglements.

The show follows four Pan Am stewardesses: Maggie, an urban city girl who likes to bend the rules (like ditching the girdle, oh no!); Kate, who took up the CIA gig on the side; Laura, Kate’s sister and runaway bride and Colette, a French lady who realizes that she’s part of a love triangle – her lover, his wife and herself. C’est la vie!

The show was so enjoyable; it was almost unreal that someone could get so plugged into a pilot. The drama was intriguing, the plot was mature and the tunes were classic. Nearly every scene felt like a reminiscent daze.

The suspense left me with my jaw dropped, but it wasn’t overdone – a tendency that many pilots resort to. The usual motive is to fill the pilot with all the juice possible to convince viewers to tune in. Quite frankly, it usually backfires because it’s too extreme. “Pan Am” had just the right amount of emotional climaxes to set up the joyride foundation for a much anticipated show.

Oct. 9th’s episode features a flight of journalists flying Pan Am to cover President Kennedy’s speech in Berlin. Maggie, the flightless bird is determined to meet JFK  after previously campaigning for him. Kate is off to her CIA business again, trying to help a woman escape East Germany and Colette is forced to face her painful past of WWII.

Comedy: “Up All Night”

NBC, Wednesdays

8 p.m.

One of the coolest couples on the block, Reagan and Chris Brinkley, who were both accustomed to late night drinks and a fast-paced work ethic are now hit with one of the biggest living complications – Amy, their newborn baby. “Up All Night” focuses on the couples’ lives being thrown off course; Chris becomes a stay-at-home dad and Reagan struggles to get back in tune with her former life and working for Ava, a talk show host with a fan base as big as Oprah’s (well, not anymore, but you get the picture) who is as demanding as, well, a baby.

Starring Christina Applegate, Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph, the comedic trio seems to make a good group. The show’s approach is a baby story, minus the teen mom feel.

I’m two episodes into the show and I can’t help but wonder if the show is going to last past the first season. Applegate and Arnett’s performances are as good as they could be but their characters are just not that funny.

Ava is a little too overdramatic for my taste, but it is only a problem if this overdramatization is due to Rudolph’s acting and rather than her characterization.

In the Sept. 21 episode, Reagan and Chris spy on the new “cool” neighbors, envying their retro hairstyle, harp-playing hobby and British accent.

Juggling their lives as parents and party people, the duo realize they don’t have to be the coolest people on the block – as long as they’re not the dweebiest.

Next week, Chris tries to be “cool” in the bedroom and Ava realizes that her ex is now engaged and she blames Reagan for her relationship advice, which led to their breakup.

 

Sci Fi: “Vampire Diaries”

CW, Thursdays

8 p.m.

 

Mystic Falls doesn’t know what’s in store this season. The vampires and brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore are constantly competing for Elena Gilbert, a mortal with a big heart and an annoying need to save everyone.

Sounds just like “Twilight,” but Twilight’s vampires are no match for these manslaughtering night creepers.

The show follows 17-year-old orphan Elena and her younger brother Jeremy. In her circle of friends, Elena is one of the only mortals; Bonnie, Caroline, Tyler, Stefan (her boyfriend) and Damon are either a vampire, a witch, or  a werewolf.

The incorporation of all three supernatural entities makes this show one of my favorites. Unlike MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” the graphics in “Vampire Diaries” are believable. I judge this based on the fact that I don’t stop to laugh at a serious, graphic scene.

The show portrays a battle of good and evil. When Stefan tries to save his brother from death by helping Klaus, a hybrid vampire and werewolf; we see that there’s a little bit of bad in everyone.

While Elena is determined to save Stefan, her persistence is mindless. She doesn’t fully think out scenarios- all of which could result in her death. If she doesn’t care, I won’t, but we do see her care in the second season’s finale for Damon on his unfated death bed.

In last week’s episode, Klaus and Stefan head to Chicago. Stefan encounters an old vampire lover who is clearly not over him.

In the upcoming episode, while the boys are still in the windy city, Klaus tries to find the solution to why his uncanny superiority complex plan isn’t working.

Caroline struggles with emotional issues while she tries to soothe Elena and Bonnie.

Channel Surfing is a weekly  TV review column. Look for it every other Monday this Fall.