[7] The Playboy Club stars Eddie Cibrian, Laura Benanti, Amber Heard, Jenna Dewan, Naturi Naughton, Leah Renee, Wes Ramsey, Jenifer Lewis, and David Krumholtz.

[11] When production wrapped on October 10, 2011, Chad Hodge (the show's creator and executive producer) and Benanti both tweeted that they had finished seven episodes, including the pilot.

[35] Likewise, Playboy Enterprises founder Hugh Hefner reviewed each of the scripts personally, but did not provide much direct input or request major changes.

Chad Hodge said of writing the series, "When I set out to create this show, the first word out of my mouth was 'entertaining'",[35] and cited as influences such films as All That Jazz (1979), Moulin Rouge!

[37] The characters and setting of The Playboy Club served as an exploration of the changing political and moral attitudes of the 1960s, particularly with the approach of the sexual revolution that began in that decade.

[38] Likewise, Chad Hodge said he did not believe there was anything wrong with a woman using her sexuality to get what she wants if she so chooses, adding: "There are different brands of feminism and I don't think it should be boxed into any one version.

"[35] Hodge later stressed, however, that despite his comments about the empowerment of women, he did not believe The Playboy Club conveyed any strong political convictions or intellectual ambitions, but rather was meant to be entertaining.

"[35] On October 4, 2011, Eddie Cibrian injured himself on set after getting his right heel caught underneath a 200-pound steel door, resulting in a deep gash that required stitches.

[48][49] Javier Colon, the first season winner of the NBC reality talent series The Voice, was slated to portray soul musician Ray Charles in The Playboy Club,[50] singing the song "Let the Good Times Roll".

[47][51] Other singers were planned to be featured in the series but never cast, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dusty Springfield,[35] Roy Orbison and James Brown.

[9] Filming for additional episodes of The Playboy Club continued until October 10, as the show's production company hoped to eventually sell the series to another network.

[8] Likewise, Robert Seidman of TV by the Numbers said it was ratings rather than the PTC's efforts had anything to do with the network's decision,[60] and Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter blamed the bad quality of the show itself: "This cancellation wasn't about boycotts.

The magazine had a 1961 theme, which included an old-fashioned visual style, photos of 1960s Playboy Bunnies and clubs, and the same 60 cent price as that time period.

The Walton Street store in Chicago included display windows inspired by the series,[70][71] which were unveiled in September 2011 by The Playboy Club stars Benanti, Naturi Naughton and Wes Ramsey.

[70] The conservative advocacy group Parents Television Council (PTC) began protesting The Playboy Club and calling for boycotts against it immediately after NBC picked it up, long before the series debuted.

[72][74] The group claimed the show objectified and degraded women, advanced an anti-family agenda and helped mainstream the pornography industry through its support of the Playboy brand.

[75][76] The group claimed The Playboy Club underscored the need for President Barack Obama and the United States Department of Justice to fight for the reinstitution of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005.

[75] The PTC sent letters to every NBC affiliate asking them not to air The Playboy Club, warning that if they did, the group would urge members to file complaints with the FCC if any inappropriate material were broadcast.

"[77] The anti-pornography organization Morality in Media established an online petition urging NBC to end the show, calling for advertisers to boycott it and asking supporters to promise not to watch the series.

"[80] The Florida Family Association, a one-man fundamentalist organization "on the Christian right" that says it's 'defending American values,'"[82][83][84] announced it would document all companies that advertise with The Playboy Club and publicize their names online and in e-mail messages to supporters.

"[73][86] The station did not carry the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (though mostly for scheduling reasons more than content),[87] and felt screening The Playboy Club, would conflict with their participation in the "Out in the Light" public affairs campaign, which educates people on the social effects of pornography,[88] NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt rebuffed Willes' claims, stating he would not broadcast the show if he believed it was inappropriate.

[89] Once episodes of The Playboy Club began to broadcast, the PTC asked its members to contact the show's advertisers and encourage them to end their sponsorships with the series.

Citing the show's low ratings as evidence that television viewers agreed with the PTC's concerns, the group encouraged other advertisers to withdraw, including Capital One, Chrysler and Samsung.

[37] Those groups ultimately kept their sponsorships with the series intact, a move Chrysler defended by announcing they were seeking to deliver information about their products to as broad and diverse an audience as possible.

Alan Pergament, former critic for The Buffalo News, said of the show: "The truth is Playboy should have been a pay-cable series because without the sex it is pretty boring and tame.

Lyons wrote, "Playboy can't copy the lyricism or narrative potency that make Mad Men what it is, which is more than a collection of artfully arranged period hairdos and moody pairs of people in front of rectangle-patterned backgrounds.

"[43] Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said the Playboy brand and the lifestyle portrayed in the series was dated and uninteresting: "It was [a] bad show, period.

[94] In an article for the LGBT website AfterElton.com, writer Lesley Goldberg said the Mattachine Society subplot was a "surprising and welcome twist, and indicates Playboy has more on its mind than just women in skimpy outfits".

[40] The series premiere of The Playboy Club drew an estimated 5.02 million household viewers in its original American broadcast on September 19, 2011, according to Nielsen Media Research.

[62] In writing about these ratings, Bill Gorman of the website TV by the Numbers wrote, "The Playboy Club [is] making a move to be the first show canceled of the new season.