The first casualty of the 2011-2012 television season is NBC’s period drama, The Playboy Club, which depicts the young women who work at the infamous gentlemen’s club in the early 1960s and the men who habituate it. The show has been axed after just three episodes with no plans to air the remaining run—which means we’ll never know what happens to the couple bearding for each other who secretly work for The Mattachine Society, an early LGBT activist group.
Sean Maher, who played a closeted man married to a lesbian bunny, made headlines just last week when he announced in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that, like his character, he too was gay. Recently—but before the announcement of the show’s cancellation—Maher told AfterElton.com that he’s thrilled with the public response to his coming out. “I’m still overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support,” he says. “I expected a positive response, but I did not expect such a large scale of positive responses, especially from the media and within the business, too.”
It’s a shame the show got cut—Maher said his character was going to have some interesting storylines. “I do become [Eddie Cibrian’s] campaign manager. So I am in the club a lot more,” he told AfterElton. “Again, still doing the storyline with my wife, and we see the Mattachine Society grow in size, and we’re introduced to my partner, and we see another Mattachine meeting.”
Hey, NBC, why not just make the remaining episodes available on Hulu or NBC.com? They’re just gathering dust, right?
Tigris
This is sad. He went out on a limb, and NBC cut it off. Hope he can fall into another show even better with a network that will give it a chance.
Jim
@Tigris:
The ratings were terrible. Less than 5 million viewers for network primetime. NBC couldn’t support those numbers.
It’s a shame. The show was fun. This is why cable TV seems to be the only place daring dramas can succeed.
jason
Good riddance to The Playboy Club.
Playboy Enterprises is one of the most homophobic organizations in America. It promotes the bisexual double standard through all forms of media, a double standard which says that female bisexuality is acceptable in the mainstream but male bisexuality isn’t. It’s a double standard that demeans male-male sexuality.
Hugh Hefner can fuck off along with his lame organization.
BubbasBack
How about making “The Playgirl Club”? Burp.
Oh Dear (John From England)
The show was really, really bad. Would it survive on cable? Really? Competing with Boardwalk? Mad Men? And on the more light end Suits?
It got worse ratings then White Collar which is on the middle end of cable shows….
Sorry but they need to get rid of Cibrian. You need a better lead. Maher was good though.
Josh
…public response to his coming “put”…
really??? ever heard of proofreading?
Allen D.
This is why I won’t get involved in network dramas. Imagine a show like “Lost” getting cancelled after the third season. Fuck networks.
iDavid
There may be a few more episodes on Hulu but they didn’t shoot an entire season. I wish another channel would pick it up, I really liked it.
Michael Allen
@jason: Jason, do some research. Hugh Hefner has admitted to trying gay sex by letting a guy go down on him. It says A LOT when the publisher of the biggest girlie magazine has even tried gay sex. I’ve read Playboy before and NOT ONCE have I ever gotten any indication it was homophobic and in fact they’ve had interviews where there were pro-gay aspects to it. If you’re reading Playboy and thinking you’re going to see anything but women’s T&A you’re clueless.
Ken S
Omnomnom, I’ve *adored* Sean Maher since seeing him on Firefly. I think it’s lovely that he’s homo 🙂
Luke
@I’m totally with you Ken, its too bad he hasn’t been able to get more work over the years. He’s not only cute but a decent actor.