Showing posts with label Playboy Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Playboy Club. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
New Show News
As a commenter pointed out/noticed before us, Up All Night and Whitney have been renewed. The Playboy Club has been cancelled. We are mostly happy with this news. Whitney isn't great, but it's not the worst new comedy this fall. We're looking at you, How to be a Gentleman.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Two Broke Girls and The Playboy Club - pilots (Spoiler-free)
Two Broke Girls
The main thing we were worried about with this show was Beth Behrs’ heiress character, but we shouldn’t have worried. Caroline is a sweet character who has a point about her nasty uniform. She’s likeable. Of course Kat Dennings is likeable too. That makes two leads who pull of their characters in a way that rises above the “types” they are playing and bring laughs. They had good chemistry.
The woman Max nannies for was really funny too, and she was the exaggerated rich girl we thought Caroline was going to be. Fortunately, she’s a side character and not one of the main twosome. A little of that goes a long way. There were some good one-liners. We like the way the leads tease each other. Of course we didn’t like the laugh track. Why do they keep making laugh track comedies? If we need to be told where to laugh, the show isn’t funny. If we need other people laughing with us in order to get us to laugh, the show is not that funny. This one was, for the most part, so it should have ditched the laugh track.
The Playboy Club
The woman Max nannies for was really funny too, and she was the exaggerated rich girl we thought Caroline was going to be. Fortunately, she’s a side character and not one of the main twosome. A little of that goes a long way. There were some good one-liners. We like the way the leads tease each other. Of course we didn’t like the laugh track. Why do they keep making laugh track comedies? If we need to be told where to laugh, the show isn’t funny. If we need other people laughing with us in order to get us to laugh, the show is not that funny. This one was, for the most part, so it should have ditched the laugh track.
The Playboy Club
The Playboy Club is a dumb version of Mad Men. However, it wasn’t as bad as we expected it to be. One thing we liked was the fact that this show has '60s musical numbers and will feature musical guest stars. Adele would fit in just fine. Also, it features Simon Tam as the husband of one of the bunnies! (Ok, when your reviewers recognize Simon Tam, and call him Simon Tam, you know they are the wrong audience for The Playboy Club.) Lastly, it’s nothing to get our panties in a twist about. It got low ratings, so it will probably be canceled soon, and it’s just a lightweight soap.
Hugh Heffner’s voice narrated (just for the pilot) and he called the place he created “perfect” and “a place where anything could happen to anybody.” Well, as a woman, that just sounds like someone’s getting raped. At the end of the episode, Heffner said, “Bunnies were the only women in the ‘60s who could be anyone they wanted, because they had no last names.” That makes it all ok then! If the women enjoy it! (Sarcasm, obvi.) Bah haha. About six minutes in, the mob already got involved and not in a good(fellas) way. In a stupid way, even though it was smart to go for girl power early by having the main chauvinist pig get killed by a Bunny’s stiletto.
We don’t like Eddie Cibrian either. He’s supposed to come across as mysterious, but he really comes across as stiff and uncharismatic. (He should have just told Carol-Lynne the truth about what happened, right? She’s supposedly smart and in love with him, so she could probably be trusted.) Speaking of Carol-Lynne, the resident “aging bunny” with issues about getting old: Her storylines make us laugh, because she could pass for 25. She’s the best character on the show so far though.
This show is about flirtation, a glamorous men’s club, and the girls, who have secrets, schemes, and significant others. Also, it’s about the guys who ride in like white knights to save them, try to marry them to lock them down, admire them, or just try to sleep with them. It’s not horrible, but we are dropping it, because we just aren’t interested.
Hugh Heffner’s voice narrated (just for the pilot) and he called the place he created “perfect” and “a place where anything could happen to anybody.” Well, as a woman, that just sounds like someone’s getting raped. At the end of the episode, Heffner said, “Bunnies were the only women in the ‘60s who could be anyone they wanted, because they had no last names.” That makes it all ok then! If the women enjoy it! (Sarcasm, obvi.) Bah haha. About six minutes in, the mob already got involved and not in a good(fellas) way. In a stupid way, even though it was smart to go for girl power early by having the main chauvinist pig get killed by a Bunny’s stiletto.
We don’t like Eddie Cibrian either. He’s supposed to come across as mysterious, but he really comes across as stiff and uncharismatic. (He should have just told Carol-Lynne the truth about what happened, right? She’s supposedly smart and in love with him, so she could probably be trusted.) Speaking of Carol-Lynne, the resident “aging bunny” with issues about getting old: Her storylines make us laugh, because she could pass for 25. She’s the best character on the show so far though.
This show is about flirtation, a glamorous men’s club, and the girls, who have secrets, schemes, and significant others. Also, it’s about the guys who ride in like white knights to save them, try to marry them to lock them down, admire them, or just try to sleep with them. It’s not horrible, but we are dropping it, because we just aren’t interested.
We really aren’t digging the main plot with the mob, the lawyer, and Maureen. We also think it will be a waste of time to watch a show that premiered to only 5 million viewers and will probably be off the air soon. It's like a Lifetime movie: A crowd-pleaser for the mainstream. It's not good enough to make us forget that we don't like the Playboy brand.
Two Broke Girls Grade: B+
The Playboy Club Grade: C+
Two Broke Girls Grade: B+
The Playboy Club Grade: C+
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
New Show: The Playboy Club
The Playboy Club
NBC. September 19, 2011.
Starring: Amber Heard (Zombieland, Pineapple Express), Eddie Cibrian (Sunset Beach, CSI: Miami), Naturi Naughton (Fame, Mad Men), and Sean Maher (Firefly, Serenity).
Plot: This centers around the lives of the employees at the first Playboy club. It’s possibly an attempt to rip off the style of Mad Men, but you can say the same thing about Pan Am (a show that both of us really want to see). We’re not really clear on the plot thing. What’s the story, exactly? Some girl murders a perv and has to hide it? There’s an attractive guy that none of the women can bag? Is there a story here, or are we just supposed to tune in for the Bunnies? There’s a lot of potential for this to just be silly.
Why We Are Excited: Visually, it looks nice. It looks like they spent money on the club and costumes. There is a lot of potential here for smart social commentary, stories about friendship, memorable characters, fun back story, and dark comedy with a premise like this. We both hope the show takes advantage of all of its opportunities. Also, if you are a guy just looking for some eye candy, this is one of the places you can turn come fall.
Why We Are Not Excited: One blogger doesn’t consider Playboy or that brand to be groundbreaking or helpful in any way. Call her a prude (which you shouldn’t, because she’s a Deadwood and Sex and the City fan), but this blogger is just over it when it comes to this topic. A show portraying the Playboy brand as glamorous has a LOT of work to do to win one of us over. When you buy things from the sex industry, you’re not “challenging social mores” or “updating a culture,” you’re supporting an industry of objectification and slavery that will not only cheapen everyone involved, including the viewer, but will also ruin your actual sex life. (See also the porn chapter of "The Brain that Changes Itself" by Dr. Norman Doidge.) Yeah, Playboy isn't exactly hardcore stuff, but it paved the way. Feminist activist Gloria Steinem said, “the series "normalizes a passive dominant idea of gender. So it normalizes prostitution and male dominance" and one of us couldn’t agree more. This show is great advertisement for the Playboy company. HOWEVER, we have not seen the show. Message is more important than content to us. If the show is actually empowering or intelligent, it can win both bloggers over.
Preview:
Anticipation Score: 1.5/10
Be sure to click on the "##Upcoming Shows## link in the cloud so you can stay apprised. And let us know if you think you will be watching any of them!
NBC. September 19, 2011.
Starring: Amber Heard (Zombieland, Pineapple Express), Eddie Cibrian (Sunset Beach, CSI: Miami), Naturi Naughton (Fame, Mad Men), and Sean Maher (Firefly, Serenity).
Plot: This centers around the lives of the employees at the first Playboy club. It’s possibly an attempt to rip off the style of Mad Men, but you can say the same thing about Pan Am (a show that both of us really want to see). We’re not really clear on the plot thing. What’s the story, exactly? Some girl murders a perv and has to hide it? There’s an attractive guy that none of the women can bag? Is there a story here, or are we just supposed to tune in for the Bunnies? There’s a lot of potential for this to just be silly.
Why We Are Excited: Visually, it looks nice. It looks like they spent money on the club and costumes. There is a lot of potential here for smart social commentary, stories about friendship, memorable characters, fun back story, and dark comedy with a premise like this. We both hope the show takes advantage of all of its opportunities. Also, if you are a guy just looking for some eye candy, this is one of the places you can turn come fall.
Why We Are Not Excited: One blogger doesn’t consider Playboy or that brand to be groundbreaking or helpful in any way. Call her a prude (which you shouldn’t, because she’s a Deadwood and Sex and the City fan), but this blogger is just over it when it comes to this topic. A show portraying the Playboy brand as glamorous has a LOT of work to do to win one of us over. When you buy things from the sex industry, you’re not “challenging social mores” or “updating a culture,” you’re supporting an industry of objectification and slavery that will not only cheapen everyone involved, including the viewer, but will also ruin your actual sex life. (See also the porn chapter of "The Brain that Changes Itself" by Dr. Norman Doidge.) Yeah, Playboy isn't exactly hardcore stuff, but it paved the way. Feminist activist Gloria Steinem said, “the series "normalizes a passive dominant idea of gender. So it normalizes prostitution and male dominance" and one of us couldn’t agree more. This show is great advertisement for the Playboy company. HOWEVER, we have not seen the show. Message is more important than content to us. If the show is actually empowering or intelligent, it can win both bloggers over.
Preview:
Anticipation Score: 1.5/10
Be sure to click on the "##Upcoming Shows## link in the cloud so you can stay apprised. And let us know if you think you will be watching any of them!
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