'The Playboy Club': Former Playboy Bunny Blasts NBC Show

Whether from competition, a poor lead-in or plain disinterest, the public didn't show much adoration for "The Playboy Club" on Monday night, with the show taking a distant third place in its time slot. As it turns out, the show, based on the famous 60s upscale private lounge that featured women servers dressed as skimpy bunnies, didn't do much for some former employees of the club, either.

The new NBC drama, shot in dark "Mad Men" tones, features Eddie Cibrian as a charming club keyholder and Amber Heard as a new bunny, and is dominated by sexy images of servers dancing with customers and shady clientele. Though alluring, those depictions were factually inaccurate, according to one former Bunny.

"The first thing that was incorrect was the dancing together—we never danced! The Bunnies danced together, but never with a customer. It was a rule," Marilyn Miller wrote in a letter to Vanity Fair. "You couldn’t dance with the keyholders. They couldn’t touch you. You couldn’t date them, or you’d get fired. The Bunnies enforced the rule themselves—they didn’t want to get hit on all the time.

"Another thing the show got wrong was that there weren’t any mobsters or politicians at the club," Miller continued. "I didn’t like the whole show. I thought it was cheap, it was degrading, it was demoralizing. It makes the Bunnies seem silly...
Not one Bunny I know liked the show. Everyone is hoping it gets canceled."

For much more from Miller and on the show, click over to Vanity Fair.

Comments

[RaquelB]

04:32 PM on 11/19/2011

I want the show back on! :( My mom and I enjoy watching it! And btw she is an ex playboy bunny from that era... If you don't like it change it.... I'm a mother and if there is something inappropriate for my baby to on I change it. Violence and sex today on tv is worse than a women in a bunny outfit. I loved the show the makeup, costumes and the actors... nice to see a little old Hollywood.

[LINDA HAGAN-SMITH]

08:03 PM on 10/13/2011

MY HUSBAND AND I ENJOYED AN ADULT TV SHOW REFLECTING AN ERA WITH WHICH WE ARE FAMILIAR. I'M HAVING A HARD TIME BELIEVING THERE WERE NO MOBSTER OR POLITIC MEMBERS. WELL, AT ANY RATE, IT WAS NICE TO SEE SOME HEAT IN A LUKEWARM SEASON - AGAIN!!

[Marion Stein]

04:02 PM on 10/11/2011

The show was so bad, so kitchen-sink: Mobsters, politicians, tough dames, stealth lesbians, undercover reporters, and an a torch-singing belting bunny sometimes backed up by Ikette impersonators. I was really hoping it would last a little longer. This is kind of campy over-the-top badness is rare these days in television. If they played it casting drag queens in the bunny roles and woman in the men's roles it would have been a terrific fringe comedy.

[Marion Frank]

11:35 PM on 10/01/2011

get a life miller...its a tv show...we need mobsters and politicians at the club....BTW...the sopranos didn't make Italians look bad...it also was a tv show

[Jenny1552]

10:25 PM on 09/26/2011

Okay, some people are saying the writers of the show didn't do their homework, but obviously it was this former Bunny who didn't do her homework. She claims that the first thing they did wrong was showing one of the Bunnies dancing with the keyholders. But that character was a new Bunny who hadn't learned the rules yet, and was immediately told off for what she did.

Also, she says the key holders couldn't touch the Bunnies. Well, in the show, one tried to, and the Bunny moved away. She didn't tell him to do it, nor did she let him continue to.

So if everyone were to take a closer look they'd see the former Bunny and the writers of the show actually agreed on the rules!

[nancynancy]

07:01 PM on 09/25/2011

I watched the first two minutes and then changed the channel. Totally unwatchable.

[jalowe1957]

11:36 AM on 09/22/2011

Who needs the Parents' Television Council to torpedo a show like this when it did it all by itself through bad execution and also by not doing its homework?

[IClois]

10:00 AM on 09/22/2011

I am sure the show won't make it in the long run!!

[janeyre]

08:48 AM on 09/22/2011

I didn't watch the show. I do know from experience though, the PB Club in LA... Had some very good mixed drinks... The dinners were also very good... They had entertainment also. I was once a key holder... I remember the club was located on Sunset Blvd... The club in St Louis, was located on Lindell Blvd... I guess they liked the Blvd...

[StevenM]

06:12 AM on 09/22/2011

Re: "I thought it was cheap, it was degrading, it was demoralizing. It makes the Bunnies seem silly... "

Now they have standards.

[TaxpayingVoter]

02:46 AM on 09/22/2011

I think the former bunnies should forward their corrections to the producers of the show so they can fix the problems. It would probably have a better result than just whining about what they got wrong.

[ChiGuy]

10:07 PM on 09/21/2011

It's FICTION, Lady.
Look it up.

[GirlInNYC]

07:55 AM on 09/22/2011

Do you know that your HTML tags show? I see is code followed by words. Not sure how it looks on your end -- just letting you know.

[AnnVictoria Hanson]

06:16 PM on 09/21/2011

OMG the former "bunnies" who are like what in their 60's now are complaining that it wasn't accurate? Pleeeze. Who freaking cares? It's a TV show! It's made up!! And I watched it and loved it. No mobsters? Are you kidding me? I worked in Chicago for a guy who was the former manager of the Playboy Club and after the club closed he opened up a 50/60's club and we had mobsters there and it was a very light fun atmosphere.

[LeoChild]

05:55 PM on 09/21/2011

Were there really black bunnies back then? Or did they just add that black chick character to be the less attractive sassy token?

[ChiGuy]

10:11 PM on 09/21/2011

Less attractive? Is that how you saw her? Really?
You either chose your words really poorly, or you're an - - - h - - -.

personally, I thought she was one of the better looking ones on the show.

[Margo Arrowsmith]

06:52 AM on 09/22/2011

In the 70's, I lived next door to a Playboy bunny who worked at the short lived North Jersey club.   She wasn't ugly or fat, but she sure wasn't a beauty.  So frankly, its always been over hyped. 

I haven't seen the show and won't, but I like your answer,  Faved.

[GirlInNYC]

07:52 AM on 09/22/2011

Sorry, but I find her less attractive also. She's a cute girl, but the non-black bunnies are highly attractive. This a deliberate casting pattern.

The black women in predominantly black shows like Girlfriends and Single Ladies...even Basketball Wives are as attractive if not more attractive than the white actresses on the primetime major network shows. But the networks hire short, chubby, less attractive black actresses so that the white ones shine. Examples can be seen on The View, Glee, Community and now The Playboy Club.

There are a couple of exceptions like Parenthood, the yet unproven Charlie's Angels and Desperate Housewives, but in most exceptions, the black actresses have high levels of Caucasian ancestry. The only ones who see them as black are their family members and the casting director whose deliberate tactic is to attract multiracial, Latino and black fans in one mixed actress who conveniently fills the black quota. She can be cute because she's not 'too black.' Dark sistas...gotta be the chubby pal of the prettier non-black women. Don't get mad at me. Turn on your TV and see.

[mspittypat]

05:51 PM on 09/21/2011

Watched the first show and thought it was great.Looking forward to next Monday for the next.