Critic Reviews

A sharply drawn and riveting one from the evidence on hand, and bolstered by a skilled cast. This club should lure plenty of customers, television-viewing variety. They'll have good reason.

A competently made soap with some good actors and nicely staged musical numbers.

The Playboy Club is fun fare. The show could really take off if it chooses to not only be fun, but also explore the various frontiers the 1960s backdrop provides.

The bottom line is this isn't a show you tune into for sophisticated narrative, innovative plot twists and complex characters. It's a sexy, soapy period drama that's as fluffy as the tails on its buxom stars' backsides.

Some might say the show is overstuffed with stories, but I had no problem following the various strands, even if some were less interesting than others.

The Playboy Club isn't in the same league, or even the same galaxy, as the critically adored "Mad Men." While the latter offers nuance and depth and keen insights into its era, the former settles for stock characters, cliches and superficiality, punctuated by a lot of come-hither looks.

The series does have energy and narrative drive, some fun performances, and a glossy '60s eye-candy sheen. That may be enough to hold your attention while Playboy works on some of its problems.

As a kind of CSI: Sleaze City, the show is quite watchable.

NBC, together with Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer ("A Beautiful Mind"), tries to duplicate the success of AMC's "Mad Men" but cribs the wrong details with a woefully untalented cast, mixed feminist messages and a melodrama that is at times laugh-out-loud funny.

The Playboy Club plods forward with no ballast, hoping that the vibrant early '60s music and the miles of bunny cleavage will compensate for the lack of original plotting and characters.