NBC’s The Playboy Club [Mondays,10/9C] lacks nudity, but tries to make up for that by shooting for ‘60s cool – emphasis on the word ‘tries.’ Points given for death by high heel…
The Playboy Club is centered on successful, ambitious lawyer/ladies’ man/knight errant Nick Dalton [Eddie Cibrian], rookie Bunny Maureen [Amber Heard], Playboy Club manager Billy Rosen [David Krumholz], and the first bunny, Bunny Carol-Lynne [Laura Benanti].
In the premiere, Bunny Maureen is saved from being raped when Nick comes to her aid, but accidentally kills the would-be rapist – who turns out to be the head of the Chicago mob – when he fends off Nick and attacks her again. Nick helps her cover up the death and dispose of the body – leading to his girlfriend, Bunny Carol-Lynne, believing he had picked her up for other, jealousy-inducing, reasons.
The aforementioned Bunny Carol-Lynne is the queen at the first Playboy Club. She can take the stage for an allegedly erotic torch song and even being caught stealing can’t get her fired – much to Billy’s frustration and disgust [as manager of the club, Krumholz seems to have been given little more than frustration to play].
The problem with The Playboy Club is that it wants to be an HBO show, but is on NBC. As a result, it’s all surface. The Bunnies are gorgeous but [mostly] empty-headed [except, of course, for the feisty Maureen and the resident witch, carol-Lynne]; the violence is PG-13 [the way the rapist/mob boss dies, you’d expect a ton of blood, but we get none], and for all the references to the bold life of the women of The Playboy Club – they talk about parties at the mansion, and how there are no suits allowed in the pool – everything seems very ‘Oooh! Aren’t we being naughty on a broadcast network!’ – without actually being naughty.
Even the club’s penchant for progressive practices in hiring entertainment acts [Ike & Tina Turner and a Supremes clone in the premiere] somehow manage not to sizzle [if the screener had had credits, I would have applauded the Ike & Tina performers for at least trying], but not even the music – or the other Bunnies’ ambitions and secrets [oddly enough, bulimia is not a secret – one of the Bunnies refers to it as ‘this new diet I heard about’] have enough weight to hold my interest past the premiere.
Frankly, CBS’ failed summer series Swingtown was far better – and hotter.
Final Grade: D
Photo by John Russo/courtesy of NBC