Set in 1963, “Pan Am” (9 p.m., ABC, ) certainly takes itself seriously. So much so that it often borders on parody. You get the feeling that its creators, Jack Orman (“ER”), Thomas Schlamme (“The West Wing”) and Nancy Hult Ganis (“Akeelah and the Bee”) were too high-minded to have ever watched “Airplane: The Movie.”

Taking place during the infancy of transcontinental jet travel, “Pan Am” leans rather heavily on the symbolism of the airline stewardess as a new breed of woman without borders and without limits. At one point, an airline co-pilot makes rather pretentious bar talk about these gorgeous air hostesses as symbols of Darwinian “natural selection.”

”Pan Am” packs a whole lot of backstory into its first 45 minutes, but it does so with so much self-important majesty that you often get the feeling this show is going nowhere. Almost every scene dissolves into some musical montage, accompanied by either period pop songs or a grand, stirring background score that screams, “This is important!” to the audience. I was often reminded of James Cameron’s “Titanic,” another “voyage as metaphor” bit of entertainment that, despite its blockbuster status, was a staggering bore.

To be fair, this first episode offers so much information, it’s bound to be a tad overwhelming. Christina Ricci stars as Maggie, a Greenwich Village bohemian who dons a girdle and uniform for the money. French stewardess Colette (Karine Vanasse) is shocked to see an old paramour traveling with his wife and son. Flashbacks reveal that Kate (Kelli Garner) has been recruited as a spy by U.S. intelligence. And that she, in turn, recruited her pretty younger sister, Laura (Margot Robbie), as a Pan Am hostess after Laura got cold feet at her wedding.

The flashback to Laura’s runaway bride moment sums up everything wrong with this show. It’s supposed to seem spontaneous, rollicking and liberating. Instead it’s a predictable, forced and meticulously choreographed scene. Much like the rest of “Pan Am.” l As “Boardwalk Empire” (8 p.m., HBO) enters its second season, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) is in trouble. And so is “Boardwalk Empire.” While still smart, rewarding and beautifully produced, “Empire” doesn’t seem as fun this time around.

For starters, all of the major female characters, who were so rebellious and even dangerous in season one, have been domesticated by events. But hey, the Roaring ’20s have just begun, and that can’t last forever. I just hope viewers stick around.

Tonight’s season premieres

• “The Amazing Race” (7 p.m., CBS) resumes.

• Kiefer Sutherland guest-voices on “The Simpsons” (7 p.m., Fox).

• Separating the real from the phonies on “The Cleveland Show” (7:30 p.m., Fox).

• Alicia takes on a hate crime case on “The Good Wife” (8 p.m., CBS).

• A sudden windfall on “Family Guy” (8 p.m., Fox).

• Guilt bubbles to the surface on “Desperate Housewives” (8 p.m., ABC).

• Hot tub hijinks on “American Dad” (8:30 p.m., Fox).

• Horatio is the only thing between Natalia and death on “CSI: Miami” (9 p.m., CBS).