Retro is a television trend with new series Pan Am and Playboy Club joining Mad Men in offering nostalgic 1960s era drama. Mad Men made cable television history by winning its fourth Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama series in a row, on September 18, 2011.
Playboy Club and Pan Am have jumped on the 1960s retro, nostalgia bandwagon, with sleek dramas glorifying the Camelot era, the glorified years of the Kennedy White House. Mad Men, Playboy Club and Pan Am are all about the 1960s and the changing role of women in the workplace
It was an era of optimism, following World War II, The Korean War and the boom years of the 1950s. Women were entering the workplace in new roles and men were not sure how to handle the societal change.
Jacqueline Kennedy in Her Own Words
In 2011, viewers can look back 50 years at an era that has been glossed over and glorified over the years. Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was seen and heard on newly released tapes, that had been sealed for 50 years. Jacqueline Kennedy: In Her Own Words, revealed the First Lady's thoughts about life in the White House, shortly after her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. People were surprised at some of the revelations of the soft-spoken, ladylike First Lady.
Mad Men
Mad Men, which airs on AMC, made cable television history by winning the Emmy for Outstanding Drama for four years in a row, breaking a cable television record. Mad Men Wins 4th Outstanding Drama Emmy
The series, which debuted in 2007, centers on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a New York advertising executive. Draper is a skirt chasing womanizer, surrounded by constant temptation in the office. Draper, whose very identity is a lie, started the series as a cheating spouse, but is now divorced from wife Betty (January Jones).
Created by Matthew Weiner, the cast of Mad Men includes:Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elizabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery and Vincent Kartheiser.
Playboy Club
Playboy Club, on NBC, stars Eddie Cibrian as suave playboy Nick Dalton, a top attorney in Chicago, with a key to the exclusive Playboy Club during the glory years of the Playboy Bunny. The key to the Playboy Club was the ultimate status symbol in the fantasy world promoted by Hugh Hefner. The show tries to portray working as a Playboy Bunny as liberating, which may be a hard sell.
The cast of Playboy Club includes Eddie Cibrian, Amber Heard, Laura Benanti, Jenna Dewey Tatum,
Leah Renee and Naturi Naughton. Playboy Club, which debuted on September 19, 2011, airs on Monday nights on NBC.
The real life Hugh Hefner was the subject of a Lifetime TV special. Crystal Harris the Runaway Bride of Hugh Hefner
Pan Am
Pan Am is about the stewardesses of Pan Am Airlines, during an era when air travel was exotic and glamorous. The stewardesses entered the workforce in a glamor field that was not high paying, but offered the considerable perk of free air travel around the world, making it a great career for adventurous women.
The Pan Am stewardesses were educated and all had to be bilingual. The stewardesses had to maintain physical standards of attractiveness, that included regular weigh ins, girdles and even hair length. Their jobs included frequent layovers with the handsome pilots of Pan Am.
Pan Am, which airs on ABC, premieres on Sunday, September 25, 2011. The cast of Pan Am includes: Christina Ricci, Margot Robbie, Michael Mosley, Mike Vogel, Karinne Vanasse and Kelli Garner
Mad Men, Playboy Club and Pan Am all portray women at work in the glamor industries of the 1960s. The women were chosen for their desirability in fields that were attractive enough to be able to select the cream of the crop. The shows do not portray the reality of most women in the workplace during the era.
