As if NBC’s The Playboy Club didn’t have enough problem with their ratings, the Parents Television Council is calling for the TV show’s cancellation. They’re upset with the way that the series “objectifies and degrades” women.
Interestingly, the group’s action could actually cause an increase in viewership. Not many people have watched the first two episodes and this hoopla might get a few more people interested to see what all the fuss is about.
Here’s the press release:
PTC Calls for Immediate Cancellation of NBC’s “Playboy Club”
LOS ANGELES (September 27, 2011) – The Parents Television Council® is calling for the immediate cancellation of “The Playboy Club” on NBC following the second episode in the new season, which drew even more abysmal ratings than the premiere. PTC is also asking members to contact Capital One, Samsung, and keep the pressure on Chrysler until they cease sponsorship of a broadcast television program that is mainstreaming the pornography industry.
Before the first episode, PTC issued a letter to potential advertisers asking them not to support television programming that objectifies and degrades women. PTC then continued aggressive advertiser outreach efforts following the premiere. Seven of the sponsors featured in the first episode did not reappear in this week’s episode and communications have begun with those companies that sponsored the second episode.
“What has been clear to everyone outside of NBC must now be clear even to those inside NBC: ‘The Playboy Club’ is a commercial disaster and must be removed from the airwaves. We call for the network to cancel this degrading and sexualizing program immediately,” said PTC President Tim Winter.
“As a licensee of the public airwaves, NBC has breached the public trust by airing what amounts to a weekly advertisement for a pornographic brand. As demonstrated by the Nielsen ratings for ‘The Playboy Club’ the past two weeks, any further airing of the show not only pushes an anti-family agenda, but is a profoundly bad business decision.
“Until the program is removed from the public airwaves, PTC will be calling on its members and other concerned citizens to contact the sponsors. Today, we ask Capital One, Chrysler and Samsung if their corporate values are in step with those of the Playboy brand,” Winter concluded.
What do you think? Should Playboy Club be cancelled because of its content? Do you think the show’s fate will be impacted by the PTC?
Image courtesy NBC.
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Go away PTC!!!!! This is America!!!! There’s nothing wrong with The Playboy Club. It only depicts the way life was back then. I find the show quite enjoyable.
What country are we living in? Come on, Americans. This show is NOT the Playboy magazine and is less controversial than most television programs. It is depicting a time in recent history. Or are we burning books next? Are we surrendering all of our rights without a fight at all?
@Chris well since you’re 21, looks like you were thoroughly indoctrinated by your guilt ridden liberal, graduate school educated parents. At your age you have no idea….and guess what the “misogynistic behavior” didn’t start in 1963, nor did it ever stop. I was a key holder, and I know what the clubs were like. They were NOT like people who have never visited one, think they were, or people who weren’t even ALIVE in the 60′s and 70′s think they were. Yes, they wore “bunny suits.” But guess what? There are places where you can get a snack and see live music today where the girls wear outfits some people don’t like. There’s one, in fact, that starts with an “H” that so many people get fired up about, and again, they don ‘t even know what goes on in there, the girls wear that outfit, therefore it must be a bad place.
Also you talk about misogyny…all making a fuss about these places does is contribute to limiting the choices where young women can make a decent living. If they are adults 18 or older in most states, they have the right to work there, and make better money than $10 an hour sitting in some office, if they wish to.
Errr..JJ-in ‘The Honeymooners’ Jackie Gleason’s character constantly threatens to punch his wife “to the moon, Alice”-hardly considered acceptable now but the past is a Foreign country, they do things differently there.
I had a Playboy Club key and I’ve read Playboy, but that doesn’t mean I think it should be mainstreamed on network TV. As I’ve grown older, hopefully, I’ve also learned a little more, which leads me to conclude that kids, teens, and young adults are already being sexualized more than enough and from every direction, without adding to it and glorifying it. This comment could also apply to a lot of the trashy sitcoms that rely on an endless supply of sex jokes. In fairness, some of them are cleverly and well-written and very funny (e.g. Two-and-a-Half Men), but I could just as easily live without them. Many of the older sitcoms (Honeymooners, Jack Benny, etc.) were every bit as funny and didn’t have to rely on sex jokes.
It should be pulled, for several reasons, but mainly because it is so turgidly boring.
Chris,
Good, don’t watch. That’s your choice and I’m glad you stick to your convictions. Everyone, including the PCT has that right. But what they don’t have the right to is telling others what they can and can’t watch. How about letting others decide for themselves and use something called judgement and RESPONSIBILITY.
America is doomed as long as we let censorship groups decide for us what we can and can’t do.
What this guy said. You remember back in the 80s with the PMRC complaining about the lyrics in metal music? That was a crock too. Hey PTC get the F**k off your high horses.
I’m a male who’s 21 years old and believe this show degrades women. The television show celebrates the misogynistic behavior which is prevalent in the Playboy magazine. I won’t watch this show again.
Members of PCT are going to keep this show on the air probably longer than it deserves. I hope while they are trying to shape how we think and influence what we can watch on TV they check their kids rooms once in a while to see what is actually going on in their own universe.
I was a member of the Playboy Club back in the 1970′s. My mother gave me the membership as a birthday gift.
I would like PCT to focus on the the dangers of all that unprotected butt sex being tacitly approved of every night during prime time. They could research proper lubrication, how to recognize anal tearing, dangers of disease from body fluids and caution those kids about condom use during casual oral sex. I think it’s a better lesson than attacking a period drama.
I’m pretty sure The Playboy Club is just a boring mob drama with poor writing. Not anything worth boycotting about. But, meh, I won’t tune in either way.
It’s clearly set in a past venue where women were treated differently. Tons of TV shows do the exact same thing. If the show wasn’t called Playboy Club I highly doubt they would care as much.
Meh. PTC boycotts everything. They’re boycotting Dancing with the Stars because Chaz Bono is on it, for example. Who cares what they think?
If they had any sense whatsoever they would try to get Playboy Club canceled due to it’s terrible plot and writing.
Oh whatever. Get over yourselves. It’s on at 10, not 8 or even 9. And with all the V-chip things out there, just set the password and shut the hell up.
Well, the ratings have been weak as you’ve acknowledged, so the PTC will get their wish anyway. And then they’ll brag on and on as if their involvement had anything to do with it.
Personally, I have not bothered with the show itself, so I cannot judge it.
While the PTC announcement may bring in a few more viewers next week, in the pathetic hope to see something salacious, nobody is going to watch this show for long just to see the women in bunny suits. It just isn’t worth it.
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