Review: The Playboy Club (Season 1 - Pilot)

Monday night launched perhaps one of the more controversial series premieres of the 2011 fall season, in hopeful NBC hit, The Playboy Club. Whether it be from the PTC or the Mad Men fanbase, this program has already seen its fair share of critics, but now that the actual pilot has seen the light of day on television screens worldwide, how will it convey intrigued viewers?

The series, set in 1963, centers around Playboy, and the rising upswing of the "Bunnies" in such a time where the scantily clad females we see today were not all that popular. Hugh Hefner provides a voiceover or two, but is portrayed on screen as a younger version who's only viewed from the backside.

The primary character, Maureen (Amber Heard), is not the typical pushover that many of the bunnies are. She refuses to let the perverted gentlemen fondle her during dances, and even has the audacity (gasp!) to inform the club manager that she has an actual name. After accidentally stabbing a member of the mob with the heel of her shoe during an attempted attack on the bunny, Maureen, and Keyholder, Nick Dalton (Eddie Cibrian) dump the body so it can never be found.

From there, we delve into the lives of a few of the other characters. With Maureen hiding out in Nick's humble abode, his wife, and mother bunny, Carol-Lynne (Laura Benanti) believes the two are sleeping together and storms out. One of the other ladies, Alice (Leah Renee), is revealed to be in a sham marriage with a gay male, which hides the fact that she, herself, has feelings for other women...and that pretty much explains most of the pilot episode.

Let's break it down into the trusty review scale...

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What Worked: I did enjoy parts of the premiere. I thought the bit with Maureen hiding out in Nick's apartment was interesting, and helped to dive into a potential story between she and Carol-Lynne. Also, the look of the show was visually appealing, in the sense that I did feel a very old-school vibe from the images, to the music, to the look of the club itself.

The inclusion of the number performed by "Ike and Tina Turner" was also rather entertaining to me. I enjoyed seeing a softer side of Maureen as she got up and shook her cotton tail with the other bunnies, being throughout most of the pilot, she seems rather timid...Of course she did just stab a mob member in the throat with the heel in her shoe, so she does have a valid reason behind her shyness.

The story with Alice also looks to be intriguing. I like that they are trying to establish different characters with the bunnies in a time where most of them probably didn't like to stand apart from the typical "do as you're told" lifestyle. I'm excited to see where it's going between she and her faux husband, and hopefully it continues to shine through in future episodes!

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What to Improve on: Let's take care of the elephant in the room...obviously comparisons to Mad Men can easily be made. I'd be lying if I said at times when Eddie Cibrian was on screen, I didn't think it was Jon Hamm for a moment. There is potential in The Playboy Club, but I hope it can branch out into more of its own show. I know that a lot of things can change from filming a pilot and the rest of the season, so we'll have to wait and see on that one.

Another thing to mention is the death scene...how embarrassing is it to be killed by a shoe? Seriously?! I don't know how else they could have handled that situation, but a shoe seems rather silly. I'm sure Nick Dalton could have easily choked the mob member out as opposed to death by high heel.

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Overall: An okay debut for The Playboy Club in my opinion. I like to give a show a few episodes before I ultimately decide it's fate on my schedule, so we'll see if the program can grow in the upcoming weeks. I do hope it can stray away from being compared to Mad Men, but given the general setting and time period, I'm sure it will be pretty difficult to escape complete comparison.

I would like to see more focus on Alice's situation, and the possible story between Carol-Lynne and Maureen though. Both of those interested me throughout the premiere, and I'm curious as to where they will lead to. The first episode was enough to keep me around, but I'm hoping for a little more so that I stay.

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Rating: 3/5

The Playboy Club airs Monday Nights on NBC 10/9 CT