NBC’s Newest Pilot Sounds Sort Of Like MAD(Wo)MEN

NBC has ordered a pilot called Playboy, to be about the lives of a group of bunnies working at the original Playboy Club in New York in the 1960s. It will be, Deadline says, ‘set against the background of the political and moral changes in the 1960s.’

Just like Mad Men. Except on standard network TV.

If you watch Mad Men you’ll remember that the characters actually hit the Playboy Club; Lane Pryce met his (scandalously black) girlfriend there. I wonder if that episode didn’t put an idea into someone’s head.

There are a couple of things about this show concept that bugs me:

1) It’s got to be sanctioned by Playboy, so I wouldn’t expect too dark a portrayal of the life of Playboy Bunny. I bet Hugh Hefner is shown to be just the nicest man!
2) Mad Men already did this, and it’s handling the struggles of women in the 60s with amazing storytelling and characterization, and has mostly avoided simply showing off skin (which would be on constant display in a show set in the Playboy Club).
3) It’s network TV, so it won’t be too smart or edgy.
4) Mad Men already did this.

NBC has committed to the pilot, and we’ll see where that goes. It would be nice if they went out of their way to hire actresses who look like they belong in the period - ie, no fake boobs, no rock hard abs, no lips full of silicone. It would also be nice if they hired some good writers who understood that Mad Men works because it doesn’t get too on the nose with the period events and details.