PLAYBOY CLUB, THE: PILOT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic television series detailing the lives of the Playboy Bunnies in the very first Playboy Club in 1963 Chicago.
It’s 1963, and Maureen is a new Bunny in Chicago’s Playboy Club. On her first week she is confronted by a visitor whom she wouldn’t dance with, who corners her in the back and attempts to rape her. Nick Dalton, a successful lawyer and Playboy Club key holder, rushes into the back to aid her. Maureen digs her high heel into the visitor’s neck, accidentally killing him. Nick reveals that the man is Bruno Bianchi, a mob boss, and that they cannot report it to the police. They cover up the evidence and dump Bruno’s body in the river.
Nick takes Maureen back to his apartment, calling the club owner Billy to make it appear that he snuck Maureen away for an evening tryst. He lets her clean her costume and shower there. Nick wants to get her out of town for protection from the mob, but Maureen refuses. Carol-Lynne, the first Playboy Bunny and Nick Dalton’s girlfriend, walks in and soon discovers Maureen. She gets angry and leaves. Maureen returns to the Playboy Mansion and to her roommate, Bunny Brenda, who hopes to be the first African-American Playboy centerfold.
The next day, Nick attempts to apologize to Carol-Lynne, but she is having none of it. Billy catches Carol-Lynne snooping through his files and they get into an argument before he fires her. Meanwhile, Nick is going to court when he is confronted by Johnny Bianchi, Bruno’s son. He has returned from Las Vegas to investigate the disappearance of his father. He asks Nick to purposefully lose his court case, but Nick refuses, stating he no longer works for the Bianchi family. Nick wins the case in favor of a housing project for black urbanites. Backstage at the Playboy Club, the Bunnies discuss matters such as Bunny Alice’s unseen husband and Brenda’s aspirations. Carol-Lynne returns, having been granted the new position of “Bunny Mother” as per Hugh Hefner’s request. Her purpose is to watch over and guiding the Bunnies up to Playboy standards, including giving them new outfits.
Maureen is concerned that Carol-Lynne knows about the murder. Unbeknownst to her, she is watched by members of the Bianchi gang in the club. Nick attempts to win back Carol-Lynne, but she refuses and officially dumps him. Carol-Lynne calls Maureen to the back room for a meeting. She says she is worried because of Maureen’s lack of training and that she is putting together a “training manual” for Bunnies. However, Maureen suspects Carol-Lynne has ulterior motives for singling her out. Carol-Lynne says she is on Maureen’s side and wants to help her, but also warns her to stay away from Nick for her own good.
Maureen gets cornered by one of the Bianchi gang, but manages to flirt her way out of it. Max, the bartender, argues with Bunny Janie; he wants her to quit being a Bunny and to marry him, but she refuses. Nick gets summoned to the back by the Bianchi gang. Alice talks on the phone with her husband Sean; both of them are secretly homosexual. Maureen and Nick meet outside the club and she tells him about her encounter with the Bianchi gang member. She told the Bianchis that she went home with Nick the previous night; when Johnny pulls up Nick kisses Maureen to “stick with their story.”
Johnny takes Nick for a ride; he suspects Nick ordered Bruno killed in order to advance to State’s Attorney more easily, but Nick counters that Johnny could have done so in order to run the Bianchi mob. They trade veiled threats before Johnny lets him go. Alice and Sean attend a meeting of the Mattachine Society. Maureen is coaxed out of bed to attend a party in the Playboy Mansion. The episode ends as a pair of city workers find Bruno’s Playboy Club key by the side of the river. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: September 19, 2011 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:42:36
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 106361
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Chicago; Organized crime
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 2011
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Brian Grazer … Executive Producer
- Francie Calfo … Executive Producer
- Dick Rosenzweig … Executive Producer
- Jason Burns … Executive Producer
- Ian Biederman … Executive Producer
- Chad Hodge … Executive Producer, Writer
- Lesli Linka Glatter … Co-Executive Producer
- Karyn Usher … Co-Executive Producer
- Hannah Shakespeare … Producer
- Carol Trussell … Producer
- Robin Gurney … Producer
- Monica Macer … Co-Producer
- Mark Fish … Supervising Producer
- Dieter Ismagel … Associate Producer
- Mark L. Mitchell … Associate Producer
- David Schulner … Consulting Producer
- Luke Schelhaas … Consulting Producer
- Alan Taylor … Director
- Becky Mode … Writer
- David Schwartz … Music by
- Hugh Hefner … Narrator
- Eddie Cibrian … Cast, Nick Dalton
- Laura Benanti … Cast, Bunny Mother Carol-Lynne
- Amber Heard … Cast, Bunny Maureen
- Jenna Dewan Tatum … Cast, Bunny Janie
- Naturi Naughton … Cast, Bunny Brenda
- Leah Renee … Cast, Bunny Alice
- Wes Ramsey … Cast, Max
- Jenifer Lewis … Cast, Pearl
- David Krumholtz … Cast, Billy Rosen
- Sean Maher … Cast, Sean
- Troy Garity … Cast, John Bianchi
- Randy Steinmeyer … Cast, Clyde Hill
- Christian Stolte … Cast, Gus Bianchi
- John Hoogenakker … Cast, Leo Bianchi
- Dan Stearns … Cast, Young Hef
- Adrian Byrd … Cast, Ike Turner
- Katherine Cunningham … Cast, Door Bunny Kate
- Laura Coover … Cast, Naked Bunny Sharon
- Rich Komenich … Cast, Politico
- Derin Idesida … Cast, Ikette #1
- Logan Vaughn … Cast, Ikette #2
- Whitney White … Cast, Ikette #3
- Erin Breen … Cast, Woman
- Michael Collins … Cast, Joshua
- Tim McCarthy … Cast, Young Trader
- Andrew Goetten … Cast, Trader #2
- Andrew Teamer … Cast, Louis Wilson
- Michael Vieau … Cast, City Worker
- Phil Ridarelli … Cast, Paul
- Karen LeBlanc … Cast
- Steven Pasquale … Voice, Young Hef's Voice (1961)