The first casualty of the new TV season is The Playboy Club.
October 5, 2011- The Playboy Club, a new controversial drama on NBC, was cancelled after airing just the first three episodes. It was the TV season’s first show cancelled. A news show “Rock Center with Brian Williams” will replace the show on Monday evenings. The news show will air starting Halloween evening, October 31. Between now and then, Prime Suspect, another new drama will take the time slot.
The Playboy Club was set in the 1960s with the legendary nightclub for men being the backdrop and centered round the Playboy Bunnies lives’ and those of their customers. The show was mired in controversy even before the first episode aired. Gloria Steinem, one of the leading feminists in the world, hoped viewers would boycott the show. She had written an article about the club back in the 1960s calling it a tacky place.
The show had been called sexualizing and degrading by the Parents Television Council and it said it was pleased to hear that the show had been given the ax. The small TV watchdog said they took the credit for show being cancelled. It said in a statement, “We called on our members and other citizens to contact NBC and asked the show’s advertisers to decide if their brands image aligned with the show.” Seven advertisers decided to pull their advertising but it is not certain whether they did so in response to the watchdog’s campaign.
