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We all know that TV sometimes isn’t a hive of originality – hello CBS – but sometimes the lack of imagination in the industry does leave me scratching my head!

Take the latest craze – for show’s set in the 50’s / 60’s!

A couple of days ago I posted the trailer for the new Starz series, Magic City, a show based in the hotel industry in Miami Beach in the late 50’s. Now I don’t want to be mean to Magic City and it may turn out to be an amazing show – but it’s hard not to look at the series and make comparisons with a certain iconic 60’s series set on Madison Avenue.

Yep, Mad Men has cast a large shadow on the TV industry and spawned more than its fair share of imitators. Of course we all know about The Playboy Club, the ill-fated NBC series that lasted just 3 episodes before being unceremoniously yanked in favor of Prime Suspect repeats (which are also stinking up the joint!)

Then there’s Pan Am, the Sunday night ABC series that started strong and has been nose-diving ever since. Though there are reports that ABC may keep Pan Am going due to it’s advertising potential I think the show’s days are numbered. You rarely get a second chance in TV these days and it’s clear that audiences sampled the show – and then turned off.

What Playboy and Pan Am did wrong is that both felt like Mad Men also rans. For starters neither was as well written or acted as the AMC series – but they also struggled to convey the complex social norms of the time. The decision not to allow smoking on Pan Am was knuckleheaded at best – and neither show has come close to exploring the complex male / female double standards of the era. Playboy’s other key problem of course was that it was too PG for men and yet too much of a brand turn off for women.

Now who knows – maybe Magic City will buck the trend and become a big old hit. It does after all share some DNA with the HBO hit Boardwalk Empire as well. But I’m just stunned that networks would continue to churn out shows set in the 50’s / 60’s and not expect to come off as second rate knock offs.

Besides why not tackle another era? Look how well Downton Abbey – set in early 20th century England – is faring for example. Couldn’t a network think to create a series set in the grunge era 90’s or a show set around the 1970’s gay scene? Or how about behind the scenes of the 1980’s movie industry – a TV version of You’ll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again. There are so many creative possibilities and I think audiences are crying out for different shows (just take a look at this TV season)

Now to be fair it’s not like the TV industry as a whole is massively original at times! Heaven knows we have too many cop, medical and legal series on our screens – and I’d far rather have too many 60’s shows than more CBS style procedurals.

But what do you think? Do you think there are too many 50’s / 60’s set series at the moment? What era would you like to see on TV? Or are you a fan of the above shows – and think the more the merrier? Comment away…