• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 4, 2011

 

Protesting NBC's "The Playboy Club"? That only makes me want to see it more. The trouble is, it might not be as titillating as some would hope.

When I asked NBC's executives during their upfront presentation "Hey, isn't 'The Playboy Club' kind of like AMC's 'Mad Men'?," the answer was easy: "We hope!" One TV pressure group is thinking about the show in a more scandalous way, as if TV networks were operating in 1965 when viewership was big, fat and influential.

Somehow a 1960s-style brand -- "Playboy" -- has got people up in arms in 2011, some 50 years later -- when the world has not only changed once, but several times. From the several summer promos I've seen about the show, we don't have to worry that NBC is turning into a late-night Cinemax channel.

We only have to worry about reactionary TV pressure groups getting emotional over what a 1960s brand means today. For some, it's nostalgia -- and not the good kind --- when sex was bad, could make you crazy and forgetful about your family. A Mormon Church-owned Salt Lake City station already has stated its case -- and will not air the show. But another station in that market will.

We are pretty sure NBC has sold some inventory in the show to national TV advertisers and that its content keeps within FCC rules -- no swearing and possibly a lot less revealing skin than expected.

Mind you, we didn't hear about protests concerning the multiple Emmy award-winning drama "Mad Men" -- a very similar-looking show. Why not? Because it's a cable network program, you say?

It turns out that more than 90% of U.S. viewers get broadcast networks via retail program distribution companies -- cable, satellite or telco. That means consumers have made a choice -- and it includes the likes of AMC and NBC.

Those consumers are also required to make another choice -- what to watch on Monday nights at 10 p.m. this fall, when "Club" will air. In 2011, consumers need to weed through hundreds of channels -- each with scores of programming -- to find broadcast network shows.

Fifty years removed from its big-brand heyday, Playboy still elicits a strong consumer reaction. Although it says something about brand value, it's not the same thing. That goes for NBC as well. Media agencies say 1o p.m. shows this season will lose perhaps more than the expected 6% to 7% ratings erosion of normal prime-time programming -- all due to DVR playback.

Still, some suggest "The Playboy Club" will have a dramatic and negative effort on society. I say that when you are in the business of protesting, you need stuff to protest.