NBC’s biggest primetime gamble just became the first cancelled show of the season: The Playboy Club has been pulled from the network’s schedule.
The move is no surprise and, indeed, was expected months before the show premiered. The industry had low expectations for the 1960s set drama, which attempted to replicate a retro Mad Men vibe but for a wide audience and on a network with plenty of content restrictions.
Playboy Club premiered to low ratings and then dropped for each of its three telecasts, with last night hitting only 3.4 million viewers and a 1.2 rating in the adult demo. Despite having relatively tame content, the show wasn’t helped by conservative group the Parents Television Council vehemently protesting the show. And sharp-eyed Playboy Club viewers got a hint last night something might have been up last night when NBC didn’t air a promo for a fourth episode.
NBC will fill the Monday night slot with repeats of new police drama Prime Suspect, which likewise needs some assistance in the Nielsen ratings. There are no plans to run off remaining Playboy Club episodes in another time period.
The move comes as NBC announced full-season pick-ups for new comedies Whitney and Up All Night, with one comedy’s fate yet to be announced — Free Agents, whose most recent number was below Playboy Club. With Free Agents scheduled to air tomorrow night, NBC likely wants to wait for the new episode to air before revealing any plans about its fate.
Their fault was airing it after Family friendly The Sing Off. No compatibility whatsoever!
They should honestly move Harrys Law back to 10 on Mondays but they decided to put Prime Suspect repeats until Rock Center starts up Oct 31st
Ultimately, I think it would've been canceled anyway, regardless of the day or hour, but I agree with Lee! for the most part. Having it air right after 'The Sing-Off' was such a bad idea from the get go, not to mention TSO's ratings, so the lead-in was already going to be dismal.
WHY ARE DOING THIS TO ME NBC? YOU GIVE ME MY DREAM MAN EDDIE CIBRIAN PLAYING A SEXY RICH WOMANIZER IN THE ****ING 60s, AND THEN YOU TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME LIKE THIS, WITH NOT EVEN AN ENTIRE SEASON???
NO MA'AM, NO ****ING NO!!! I WANT MY EDDIE BITCH!! THAT THE GODS BRING ALL THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT ON YOU NBC, BUR IN HELL FLOP ASS CHANEL!!!
I actually liked this show. I hope they air the rest of the episodes in some capacity or another.
