NBC is putting together a period drama set in the 1960s at a Playboy club, according to Variety. Playboy (catchy name!) “would center on a group of women working as Playboy bunnies in the New York Club,” which would serve as a lens for the “changing mores” of the time. Chad Hodge (Runaway, Tru Calling) is the executive producer.
Iiiiiinteresting. Network television doesn’t have a great track record for period pieces in the last several years — CBS’s Swingtown met a premature demise, Life on Mars never took off — but of course, Mad Men is the gold standard now. Could Playboy be more in that vein? We’ve seen a little bit about the Playboy clubs this past season (oh, Lane), and it’s such an identifiable brand and concept I guess I’m not too surprised to see a show set there. I just really, really hope the show digs deeper into the sexual politics of the time, and doesn’t just glamorize and romanticize women wearing skimpy outfits and catering to men.
This isn’t the only ’60s-set drama in the works. Starz recently picked up Magic City, a Miami-set swinging ’60s show, too.
Would you watch a show set in a Playboy club, PopWatchers? Or does your interest in the ’60s only extend as far as Don Draper’s gaze?
No it’s not the Next Mad Men, because I have lost all faith in network tv’s ability to develop amazing and thought-provoking dramas. How about you leave the heavy lifting up to the cable networks?
CBS has The Good Wife. Fox has Fringe. Maybe it’s time for the Peacock to come up with one too.
Amen… NBC does fair with its sitcoms on Thursdays, but to me all the over-exposure on the promos before the shows even start turn me off.
The last NBC drama I felt like investing my time and energy into was Southland… the networks don’t have the patience to put the time and energy into something.
Maybe I’m naive, I don’t think we should give up on them. I think they’ve seen what cable can do, and how successful they’ve been, and want to match it. They’ll keep trying until they get it. I really have hope they will.
I’m kind of with you.
I have serious doubts as to a show like this could ever be as good on network TV as it could on cable, but I’m willing to give NBC a chance.
The reason the network is a punchline has more to do with their spectacularly boneheaded decisions behind the scenes more than it does the quality of their content, as far as I’m concerned. We all know about their great Thursday comedies, but they also have two of the best dramas on TV in “Parenthood” and “Friday Night Lights.” (Well, not for long on FNL, but still…)
To me the biggest problem is that the big networks try to fill 25 episodes a season while the cable shows only do 6 to 12 shows per year. Quality over quantity.
Whatever NBC can do, AMC can do better.
I hope this doesn’t turn into a “Lost = tons of failed attempts at recreating Lost” debacle. I think the idea of the show is great. Chad Hodge doesn’t have a great track record for making truly quality programming, but I’m still hopeful. Serialize it, though. No “sex of the week” crap.
Ah, that’s right. Let’s bring back sniggering, covert T&A. I’d be amazed if this had any quality. NBC hasn’t been know for its great TV decisions in the past few years.
I think it sounds good but I have been fascinated by playboy clubs since Laverne and Shirley. I also liked Swingtown though.
Me too, Laura–I thought I was the only person not working for CBS who liked Swingtown.
Add me to the list. I LOVED Swingtown. I watched the ’08 summer run as well as the DVDs when they came out, and it was just as good the second time. With all the hanging plot threads, it killed me that there wasn’t a second season!
No thanks.
For the record, I *loved* Swingtown. :S
This story does not sound like it will have much longevity, or be interesting, really.
Swingtown belonged on Cable. There would have been more territory to explore. This sounds like a good idea but if it is not PG like The Wonder Years, I doubt that it will work on network tv.
Fun fact: Carol Bongiovi [yes, Jon Bon Jovi's mom] was a Playboy bunny.
‘Swingtown’ was a summer mini-series, not meant to last.
for real? it was a series..
It was supposed to be a series, being given a summer tryout. But then it got cancelled and did kinda turn out to be a miniseries afterall.
Yeah, unfortunately Swingtown was a series without an ending and I was really bummed. Show runners should prepare for cancelation or pickup for another season at the beginning so by the time they know for sure what their status will be they can air the appropriate episodes. Each time they prematurely cancel a show without closure is just one more nail in the network coffin.
To be accurate: Swingtown was supposed to debut midseason (during the ’07-’08 season–the same year CBS got crazy and greenlit Moonlight and Viva Laughlin). Some conservative groups got upset with the rumored content (though they hadn’t seen the show yet, of course) and CBS blinked. They pushed it to the summer, where to be fair, they did run all the episodes. But the minute it was pushed from January to summer, it was obvious Swingtown was being burned off. So yes, it WAS supposed to be a series, but it WASN’T being given a summer tryout–it was sent there to die. Which is sad and ironic, considering that the show was actually pretty tame.
Netowrk period shows always get songs wrong. They will play songs from future times in a scene taking place long before it.
Example, once on “the Wonder Years”, they played “I Can See Clearly, Now” a hit from 1972. But, the episode was supposed to be fall 1969!
Well yeah, they did that with Swingtown. Hot Child in the City was 1978 not 1976.
I think the idea sounds great, but NOT on NBC. As the major networks seem to shun sexuality and creativity while showcasing violence, something like this would fare better on cable.
Oh, Lane… lol
Yep, Lane Pryce and his “Chocolate Bunny” were the first things I things I thought of when I saw this headline.
Ditto. Or Bridget Jones….
I think people tend to forget that while Mad Men is a hit in cable terms, those numbers would get it canceled on a network. The Walking Dead gets almost three times as many viewers as Mad Men on the same network! Even if Playboy does the same numbers, it won’t last a season.
The concept is great! It would be interesting to see if the writers add in all the famous people who regularly went to the club in NYC.
Sounds good (I love Mad Men) but why can’t this be on cable? Even if this show is good it’s not going to reach its full potential given the type of show without the lack of restrictions cable allows.
Sounds like it would be better if it was on cable (AMC, HBO, FX?) so that they can be a bit edgy and push some boundaries. But they’ll likely recreate the 60s as chessey as Cold Case did in their flashbacks.
“But they’ll likely recreate the 60s as chessey as Cold Case did in their flashbacks.” I doubt it. NBC recreated the 60s several years back for the show American Dreams, and they did it wonderfully.
NBC does period okay if it is a good concept. I loved American Dreams and it was taken away way too soon. The attitude of some that network CAN’T do period is what dooms these projects. For the record. I don’t miss Mad Men.
Just to clarify…I watch every episode of Mad Men.
Networks don’t have the patience or the guts to do a show like this properly. They would never have the courage to inject any realism into the show because they fear the sponsors and the FCC too much – concerns that the cable guys don’t have to spend as much time worrying about.
Mad Men on a conventional network would be less interesting show and probably would’ve been cancelled after the first season.