The Playboy Club: Series Premiere

The Playboy Club tells the story of the Hefner empire in the glamorous 1960s Chicago, the women and men who started it all and how the bunny tail came to be the sexiest icon of all time. It is a great concept, truly. At the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour, executive producer Chad Hodge told a room of reporters, “This show is all about empowering these women to be whatever they want to be.” The idea to depict the Playboy Bunnies as independent, driven women seems easier said than done; especially when they’re all half-naked and the media knows sex sells. And with the first episode laying it all out on the table, force-feeding us with character clichés and copy-cat plot lines, I’m not sure viewers will notice the women’s rights undertone or for that matter, care.  But maybe I’m underestimating the NBC audience; let’s hope.

First off, I’ll state the obvious: The Playboy Club is trying to ride the wave of the Mad Men success; it even has director Alan Taylor in common. If the first episode is any clue, it’s the Mad Men of the 60s: less repression, more cleavage and the same amount of cigarettes and booze. Instead of Don Draper we have Nick Dalton. The girls call him “rich, handsome and dangerous” and the men say he’s the only man around Chicago who knows the mob boss’ face: he’s a key player. Then we have the new bunny, Maureen. She’s the girl who never knew her mother, “always wanted to be a big star” and consistently manages to look attractively vulnerable. The first bunny of the empire, Carol-Lynne, who is perhaps the most compelling, has just given up her big spot on the stage performing to be the “mother” of the bunnies because, as the younger girls say, “You can’t be a bunny forever.” But she has the club wrapped around her little finger, making hems higher, hair fluffier and her boss more like her associate. She serves up a much-needed platter of smarter-than-she-looks, sexy older woman. Hefner, who we expect to be a main character, is, so far, the narrator and remains discreet. The rest of the bunnies look absolutely scrumptious and each have budding storylines, one with an overzealous boyfriend, another is an ambitious African American spitfire and the doe-eyed sweetie of the group is a gay rights supporter. It seems that the supporting characters may offer more interesting stories than Nick Dalton and Maureen…who manages to kill a man with her heel on her first night at The Playboy Club. 

The show does have everything it needs to be successful and satisfying to the viewers it’s aiming for: those hungry for glamour, excitement and comfortably familiar plot twists and turns. I just fear the predictability will harm the show’s longevity. We’ve seen the format before. We’ve got characters we’re used to (anything above sound familiar?) and PG-13 rated Chicago Mob violence: nothing we can’t handle. I, like the producers who hope to send a positive message about Playboy’s women, see so much potential in The Playboy Club and feel it could soar to success. Side note, and we’re all thinking it; I wish it weren’t on network TV. Come on! Playboy Bunnies! Get this stuff on Showtime! Ok, well it’s not on premium networking and it wasn’t their idea. My fear is that the censoring used for networks like NBC could potentially limit the more R, OK NC-17, rated truth behind what actually happened in The Playboy Club in the 1960s: that’s where the story lies. That’s where the strong women overcoming the danger and prevailing will find poignancy. But I could be underestimating Chad Hodge and his team of writers.

I’m crossing my fingers that The Playboy Club does focus on the empowerment of the Playboy Bunny and allows both the men and women to break free of cookie-cutter characters. Please, please allow Nick Dalton to rise above “handsome, rich, dangerous” guy and Maureen beyond “Vulnerable pretty girl.”  If The Playboy Club writers focus on surprising and actually intellectually stimulating their audience, rather than catering to their expectations, we might have something here…something that could exceed the typical I’m-coming-home-from-work-popping-in-a-pizza-and-turning-off-my-brain type of television series.