It took years for The Playboy Club to hop into primetime. It took NBC three weeks to kill it.
Quick cancellations are nothing new in TV, but the rapid demise of The Playboy Club might serve as a cautionary tale for programmers as they depend more on familiar franchises and icons to attract distracted viewers.
With so much competition for the attention of viewers, network execs are looking for anything that might give them an edge in marketing and awareness — which is why so many remakes with familiar titles are hitting the air. The Playboy Club wasn't a reboot of an old show, but rather an original series looking to leverage a popular global brand.
NBC liked that the name "Playboy" would at least cut through the clutter of fall TV's slew of new series launches. "Many programmers would look at it and say, 'Here's a huge brand that should be able to...
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The main thing that Chad Hodge wants you to know about his upcoming NBC series The Playboy Club is that it's not about the centerfolds. When Hodge, who last created The CW drama Runaway, was first approached by the studio to do a show about Hugh Hefner's famous Playboy Bunnies, his reaction was, "Is this going to be a scripted version of The Girls Next Door? No, thank you."
But that was before he knew about the rather significant difference between Bunnies and the Playmates. Hef's Bunnies...
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Hugh Hefner's wedding special will take place on Lifetime as planned — only without the bride.
"The marriage special planned for Lifetime TV is now going to have a 'runaway bride' theme & will air in July," Hefner tweeted on Wednesday.
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Kendra Wilkinson may be the second of Hef's former girls next door to compete on Dancing with the Stars, but don't think she turned to Season 8 alum Holly Madison for pointers. "I'm very stubborn like that," Wilkinson tells TVGuide.com. "If anyone tries to tell anything to me, I shut them up immediately. There's only one piece of advice I'll take and that's from [partner] Louis [van Amstel]." So how are rehearsals going for the self-proclaimed tomboy with zero dance experience?
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It's the season of the lookers, the fighters, a rapper, a Super Bowl MVP and a former Fat Actress — but not a one-time candidate for the U.S Senate. Emmy winner Kirstie Alley (Cheers) leads the cast of celebs who'll kick up their heels for Dancing With the Stars' 12th season, which begins March 21 on ABC. "We've wanted Kirstie from Day 1," says executive producer Conrad Green. "She's enormously winning and an absolute hoot."
Check out photos of the Dancing With the Stars Season 12 contestants
She'll be going toe-to-toe with one of the most popular boxers of all time...
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