Mad Women

Mad Men with a gender twist, you could call the new offerings this Fall from NBC and ABC, which attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the AMC series. Whereas Mad Men focuses on the male-dominated world of advertising in the 1960s, Pan Am (ABC) and The Playboy Club (NBC), give the women more play. Like Mad Men, both shows are set in the early Sixties, but seem to be more focused on the exclusively female world of stewardess and Playboy bunnies.

I haven't seen the networks jump on period pieces like this since 1974 when they were all scrambling to get out shows set in the 1950s after the success of movies such as American Graffiti, The Lords of Flatbush, Let the Good Times Roll and the Broadway show, Grease. If looking back to what happened in the mid-70s is any indication of what's to come, we can expect a whole lot more. Although most of the TV shows set in the 1950s were short-lived, there were quite a few including Happy Days, Sons and Daughters, Laverne and Shirley, M*A*S*H, The Cheerleaders, The California Kid (TV movie) and James Dean (TV movie), not to mention all the 50s-set theatrical releases that followed.

The Playboy Club debuts Monday, Sep 19, 10 pm, NBC
Pan Am debuts Sunday, Sep 25, 10 pm, ABC