PILOT REVIEW: The Playboy Club

THE PLAYBOY CLUB

Starring: Eddie Cibrian, Laura Benanti, Amber Heard, Jenna Dewan Tatum, Naturi Naughton, Leah Renee, Wes Ramsey, with Jennifer Lewis, and David Krumholtz
Created by Chad Hodge
Written by Chad Hodge and Becky Mode, Directed by Alan Taylor

The Playboy Club is a controversial new drama from NBC set in 1963 against the backdrop of Chicago's famed Playboy Club. It is a mix of sex, crime, mystery, and romance so why did it feel somewhat boring? And what was the controversy all about? We'll get to that later. As with many dramas, there are many overlapping stories involving many characters. At the center is keyholder and popular lawyer Nick Dalton (Eddie Cibrian) and new bunny Maureen (Amber Heard) who becomes interlinked with Dalton following the accidental death of a mob boss who assaulted her in the back room of the Club. Rounding out the cast is "bunny mother" Carol-Lynne (Laura Benanti) who is involved with Dalton and suspicious of Maureen, Brenda (Naturi Naughton), who is Maureen's roommate and wants to be the first black centerfold, club manager Billy Rosen (David Krumholtz), and Alice (Leah Renee), a bunny who is a closet lesbian in a sham marriage with a gay man.

THE GOOD: The mood is there and the feeling is right. This show is nicely produced and looks and feels like 1960s Chicago. The ambiance is stronger than the story or the performances. I'm a sucker for 1960s material so it was fun to see the era in full including songs, cars, and looks. Amber Heard is an early standout as Maureen. She seems like a good central character to build the show around as she appears to have a mix of beauty and innocence, even though she's clearly not innocent. The story involving the dead mob boss is intriguing and left me curious to see more. There are also many side stories that could be interesting to explore (a black bunny, a pregnant bunny, the sham marriage). If done right and organized well, there is a wealth of possible storylines. After a long middle to the episode, it ended strongly in setting up future episodes.

THE BAD: This show really shouldn't have dragged but yet it did for the middle part of the episode. They seemed to rush in that murder really quickly when they could have taken more time for exposition. If they had done that, perhaps the middle of the episode wouldn't have been such a bore. Eddie Cibrian has his moments but he seems like he's trying too hard to be the next Don Draper. As a whole, the acting is only ok. In the pilot, it was saved by the feel to the show but if they can't pull it together, viewers will lose interest quickly. And what was the big deal about this show? There's nothing in it that hasn't been seen on network tv dramas before. There's not even anything that controversial. It seems like it was simply the title that got people in an uproar.

BOTTOM LINE: I want to like The Playboy Club because I like having more period dramas on TV and there's few eras better than the 60s. I liked parts of it and I will give it another chance but I am skeptical. I feel like with so many interesting things to explore with this plot and concept, it really shouldn't have dragged the way it did. Maybe it's the writing or maybe it's the performances but something's not quite clicking. I'll give it a few weeks to see if the storylines can find their way but will other viewers? I'm not so sure.