TV Review: THE PLAYBOY CLUB 1.1, "Pilot"

By D.J. Haza / September 20, 2011

rating: 1

Glitz, glamour and hot Playboy Bunnies dancing in the first ever Playboy Club, Chicago 1963. The Playboy Club follows the new girl Maureen (Amber Heard) as she tries to make friends and a living as a Playboy Bunny. However, things quickly get difficult for her when a punter forces himself upon her and in trying to get away she accidentally stabs him in the throat with her high heels. Aided by Chicago lawyer and Playboy key holder Nick Dalton (Eddie Cibrian) they get rid of the body. Nick advises Maureen to skip town quickly as the person they just sunk into the river was the Chicago mob boss. Maureen gives some speech about working too hard blah blah blah and the usual sob story. The first ever Bunny, Carol-Lynne (Laura Benanti), is the star of the club, but falls out with club manager Billy (David Krumholtz) and finds herself fired. Minutes later she is not only reinstated but made the Bunny Mother after a call from Heff to Billy. Carol-Lynne is knocking on a bit and so cares for the Bunnies rather than singing and dancing any more, but still her dismissal and then promotion was all a little too easy. Maureen clearly falls for Nick as they both try to keep their story straight. Son of the mob boss, John Bianchi (Troy Garity) is looking for his Father and knows that Maureen was dancing with him, but Nick defends her. It soon becomes clear that Nick was a mob lawyer, but has turned his back on them and that he is also smooth, slick, a ladies man and man about town. We know this because everyone seems to mention this to him when they talk to him. Side stories include a couple working within the club who struggle to maintain their relationship as the boyfriend watches all the punters hit on the girlfriend. There€™s also one black Bunny who obviously brings a racial perspective to the story in a time when rights were less than equal. And one Bunny appears to have a husband who picks her up from work etc, but they are both in some secret club with a load of people who are gay, but hide it. The episode ends with a voiceover from Heff telling us how these times were different and women didn€™t have many choices, but as a Bunny they were free to be whatever they wanted to be. Presuming that they want to be groped by men on a nightly basis. It feels from the main story, the side stories and Heff€™s voiceover that he is indeed taking credit for equal rights for men and women, equal rights for coloured people and equal rights for homosexuals. And there was me thinking he was a glorified pimp making soft-core porn?!?! The music used in the show sounds like something out of a cheesy daytime movie you find playing on some obscure film channel and the stories wouldn€™t feel out of place there either. The show does try and make huge efforts to make the stories feel credible and worthwhile, but unfortunately it all feels a little cheap and clearly centred around semi-naked women. Not the strive towards equal rights in an unjust world. I€™m afraid that The Playboy Club appears to be nothing more than an excuse to watch Playboy Bunnies hop around my telebox in less material than you would find on a handkerchief. Watching the show for the story lines would be like saying you read Playboy Magazine for the articles. My penis cannot read. The Playboy Club airs in the U.S. on Mondays on NBC.