The Playboy Club, a historical drama about the eponymous club in 1961 Chicago, premiered on NBC on Sept. 19, after months of advanced publicity and discussion. The show was filmed on location, promising ample work opportunities for local actors and crew, while Playboy Enterprises, owners of the Playboy magazine and related ventures, promoted the show heavily, hoping that its success will invigorate its stagnating brand. 

   But, not even a month later, ThePlayboy Club earned a dubious distinction of being the first show of the 2011-2012 season to be cancelled; seven episodes were filmed, yet only three of them made it on the air until it was cut off on Oct. 14. While producers and Playboy Enterprises are hoping that the show will be picked up by another network, this still does not appear to be the case.

   So, despite all the build up, what happened?

   The controversy over the show's content undoubtedly played a role in the show's demise, since the notion of a television program set in a private club founded by one of the world's most iconic adult magazines was always going to be a tough sell. Additionally, the fact that the show conveyed how being a Playboy Bunny was empowering to women only made it worse.

   The show came under fire from both conservative watchdogs, such as Parents Television Council and women's rights advocates, such as Gloria Steinem. The outcry convinced many advertisers to avoid from running the show, undercutting its profitability and making it that much easier for NBC to justify the cancellation.

   However, this only underscores just how ill-suited The Playboy Club was for network television to begin with.

   Because cable channels earn profit from viewer subscription fees, as well as advertising, they are not as reliant on advertising revenue as their broadcast counterparts; this allows them to air shows that push the envelope in terms of content and themes. One cannot help but be reminded of the fate of Southland, a 2009 police procedural that was cancelled by NBC because its violent content and dark themes drove away advertisers. Southland was later picked up by TNT channel, which has been airing it for the past two seasons.

   As of now, Southland's fate does not appear to be the same for The Playboy Club.

   However, the cancellation of The Playboy Club cannot be blamed on content alone. Even when it aired on NBC, Southland had strong ratings and received an overwhelmingly favorable critical response, while The Playboy Club's ratings were fairly low by network standards even when the pilot episode aired, declining each week after. The initial critical response was mixed at best and it did not improve with the subsequent episodes.

   The show was lambasted for cliché-ridden dialogue, under-developed characters and generic plots. If the show had better ratings and the critical response was more favorable, NBC may have been willing to weather the controversy for a few more weeks. Between declining revenues and ratings that showed no sign of improvement, it is easy to see why the network called the show off.

   Would The Playboy Club have done better if it aired on cable? It is hard to say. Cable would have allowed the producers to show more sexual content than network TV would ever allow and, as mentioned earlier, they would have had more opportunity to explore controversial themes. The critical response suggests that the show's writing flaws would have still weighed it down.

   So, while it would have probably lasted longer, chances are pretty good that it would have been cancelled by the end of the season anyway.