CANCELLATION ALERT: The Playboy Club

The first ax has swung in the 2010-2011 season and the casualty was NBC's troubled period drama The Playboy Club.

After a summer of controversy with complaints from parents groups and a refusal to air the show from the Salt Lake City NBC affiliate, The Playboy Club arrived with little fanfare, unfounded controversy (as the show was hardly controversial in content other than the topic), and a dismal five million viewers and 1.6 demo. The show dropped from there and even though Bob Greenblatt expressed a desire for patience last week, the writing was on the wall for this show. From a quality standpoint, it had an uneven start but last night's episode was the best of the three in my opinion. It might have been starting to find its voice. Through three airings, The Playboy Club averaged a paltry 4.2 million viewers and a 1.4 demo.

NBC will air repeats of fellow troubled freshman drama Prime Suspect for a couple weeks in hope of giving that show more exposure and then will debut the new Brian Williams newsmagazine Rock Center on October 31. Of course, the plan for now is still to air Smash following The Voice on Monday nights in the spring.

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