EDIT: Unfortunately it was cancelled quite quickly. I enjoyed the show!
I was a college student in the 1960s, and as most college students did back then received most of my "sex education" via Playboy. We all read the articles, of course. But there was always this air of mystery surrounding it. As a young married adult in the 1970s I even went to the St Louis Playboy Club as a guest of a friend. So my watching this new TV series was just a natural development.
So far I am favorably impressed. The acting and stories are first-rate. The opening episode makes a very bold statement, when the local Chicago crime boss gets too fresh with a new Playmate in a secluded back room, she defends herself by kicking, and her spike heel kills him. It was not a murder, it was a self-defense accident, but killing the crime boss would mean the end of her too. If it was found out.
So this event pervades all subsequent episodes, which focus on different new issues each time, but the death and disappearance of the crime boss is never far from the surface.
Eddie Cibrian is Nick Dalton, legal counsel for the Playboy Club and thus hangs around there most of the time. He is also running for a political office, and the connections required for that also create good story lines.
Very pretty Amber Heard, from Texas, is one of the starting Playmates, Maureen. It is she who accidentally kills the crime boss when deflecting his unwanted advances.
Laura Benanti is the Bunny Mother, experienced and slightly older Carol-Lynne. She is also a singer, and entertains at the Club. Plus she and Nick are a couple, but she is often suspicious of his encounters with other women.
In a slightly perverse way my favorite may be Troy Garity as John Bianchi, son of the dead crime boss, who spends much of his attention looking for his missing father. He knows that he was last seen at the Playboy Club and just feels that someone there knows what happened. So he spends a lot of time there too. Many may not realize it, but Garity is Jane Fonda's son. I have seen him in several roles and didn't care for him in any of them. But with his somewhat garbled speaking manner, and his suspicious looks, is perfect in the role of the new crime boss looking for his missing father. He is my "quirky character" in this TV series.
Of note, the scripts take pains to paint the Bunnies as regular girls, clean and wholesome, just trying to make their way through life. Not as promiscuous Bunnies that we often assume are the occupants of the mansion in California. I suspect the characterization for the 1960s is pretty accurate.
MAJOR SPOILERS: When the crime boss was killed Nick Dalton was present, attempting to help protect the Bunny. By duty he should have reported to the police what happened. Instead he and Maureen wrapped up the body, added some weight, and dumped it in a nearby waterway. That is why he vanished. My own suspicion is that the body will be discovered in a future episode, to create additional opportunities for story lines.
I was a college student in the 1960s, and as most college students did back then received most of my "sex education" via Playboy. We all read the articles, of course. But there was always this air of mystery surrounding it. As a young married adult in the 1970s I even went to the St Louis Playboy Club as a guest of a friend. So my watching this new TV series was just a natural development.
So far I am favorably impressed. The acting and stories are first-rate. The opening episode makes a very bold statement, when the local Chicago crime boss gets too fresh with a new Playmate in a secluded back room, she defends herself by kicking, and her spike heel kills him. It was not a murder, it was a self-defense accident, but killing the crime boss would mean the end of her too. If it was found out.
So this event pervades all subsequent episodes, which focus on different new issues each time, but the death and disappearance of the crime boss is never far from the surface.
Eddie Cibrian is Nick Dalton, legal counsel for the Playboy Club and thus hangs around there most of the time. He is also running for a political office, and the connections required for that also create good story lines.
Very pretty Amber Heard, from Texas, is one of the starting Playmates, Maureen. It is she who accidentally kills the crime boss when deflecting his unwanted advances.
Laura Benanti is the Bunny Mother, experienced and slightly older Carol-Lynne. She is also a singer, and entertains at the Club. Plus she and Nick are a couple, but she is often suspicious of his encounters with other women.
In a slightly perverse way my favorite may be Troy Garity as John Bianchi, son of the dead crime boss, who spends much of his attention looking for his missing father. He knows that he was last seen at the Playboy Club and just feels that someone there knows what happened. So he spends a lot of time there too. Many may not realize it, but Garity is Jane Fonda's son. I have seen him in several roles and didn't care for him in any of them. But with his somewhat garbled speaking manner, and his suspicious looks, is perfect in the role of the new crime boss looking for his missing father. He is my "quirky character" in this TV series.
Of note, the scripts take pains to paint the Bunnies as regular girls, clean and wholesome, just trying to make their way through life. Not as promiscuous Bunnies that we often assume are the occupants of the mansion in California. I suspect the characterization for the 1960s is pretty accurate.
MAJOR SPOILERS: When the crime boss was killed Nick Dalton was present, attempting to help protect the Bunny. By duty he should have reported to the police what happened. Instead he and Maureen wrapped up the body, added some weight, and dumped it in a nearby waterway. That is why he vanished. My own suspicion is that the body will be discovered in a future episode, to create additional opportunities for story lines.