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There have been rampant rumors this week that NBC is cancelling underperforming new series The Playboy Club and Free Agents. It’s because the shows have logged 2 and 3 low-rated airings, respectively, dropping double-digits week-to-week. Also in danger is the network’s Prime Suspect, which opened with a disappointing 1.9 18-49 rating last week, and sophomore Harry’s Law, stuck at a 1.2 in 2 airings. 
But I’m told NBC won’t be pulling any new series this week since NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt wants to give all freshmen more time to send a message to the creative community that he will give their shows on NBC every possible chance to succeed. (And those are not even shows he had developed.). That is a departure from traditional network MO in the case of fall shows with such underwhelming launches. Last year, Fox’s Lone Star and ABC’s My Generation were cancelled after 2 airings each. 
They drew a 1.0 and 1.1 demo rating, respectively, just before they were pulled. This week, Free Agents and The Playboy Club posted a 1.0 and a 1.3. But Greenblatt comes from the cable world, where series are given a season-long run to find their footing before a decision on their futures is made. In the realities of the broadcast business, keeping a high-end drama or comedy on the air at a 1 demo rating level for more than a couple of weeks is prohibitive. But, since viewers are still sampling shows and tweaking their viewing patterns for the new season, NBC is willing to wait for that process to settle before sacking the biggest underachievers.
NBC’s Greenblatt showed similar patience in mid-season with low-rated new comedy Perfect Couples, though The Paul Reiser show was canceled after 2 episodes as the widely panned comedy started at 1.1 rating and dipped to a 0.9 in the second airing. Historically, there have been a number of shows, including Seinfeld, Cheers and House, which started off very low but went on to become mega hits. As for Playboy Club, there has been a lot of speculation that the new Brian Williams prime time magazine might be eyed as a replacement in the Monday 10 PM slot. While the new program is not quite ready yet, making it unlikely that it can be summoned up right away, it appears its premiere will be well before the original mid-season target date.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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This article would be great if both shows were performing just a tad better, though the ratings would be huge disappointments regardless, with just a smidge higher rating, one might think giving them time might save them
unfortunately both programs are beyond saving
you cant bounce back from a 1.0, NBC is not the CW
cancel it, put whitney reruns instead (shudder) and let the writing staff get a job somewhere else
Exactly. All this is doing is delaying the inevitable.
Then again, if Greenblatt canceled everything on NBC with awful ratings they’d be airing almost no shows.
Agreed. The cancellation is inevitable. More likely they just don’t have a good solution to plug their schedule so they are using “giving the shows a chance” as cover until they do.
It’s a shame. The Playboy Club is a well-done dramatic narrative. Why are American audiences too stupid to watch good content? There’s only so much out there! I just don’t want this to lead to more reality programming on NBC.
Agreed! I am so not the audience for this show, but it is well-done and -cast (Cibrian is the exception) and underrated.
I love Playboy Club-it is probably too expensive for NBC who can probably get away with a much cheaper and worse Real Housewives clone
The first episode was good, the 2nd one, not so much
just cancel PLAYBOY CLUB already and move up one of the mid-seasons. it’s terribly acted. pretty actresses but they can’t act at all. boring.
they should move up Awake, Grimm, or Smash.
One can only watch so many one hour dramas in this day and age who has the time for all of them. The weak will not survive. Truth is, the concept is just ok at best. It’s very one note and the pilot predictable. Annoyingly predictable.
For several years now, NBC has been dreadful in the “find a new show that actually works” category. Playboy club looked bad from the start and Prime Suspect has Maria Bello looking constipated for 44 minutes. Another stinker. The development for this network has been bad for many years now. With the days of domination long gone for this network, NBC may be in need of another internal overhaul.
It’s sad that the ratings for the playboy club aren’t well. It’s a pretty good show.
Network TV can’t do this subject matter justice. This is a premium cable type show. The Rockettes might have been a better fit. They’re all legs and Playboy is all the fun stuff after the legs. Nice try NBC…Oh, and the writing sucks.
The Playboy Club (and Pan Am) are, it seems to me, an attempt to capture the Mad Men crowd. Unfortunately for PC, it is not true to its time period in the way that Mad Men is. There is no way that someone in 1961 would have used the word homeless. They would have called him a bum. That is its undoing, it seems to me.
Oh, and the Mattachines were started in the early 1950′s, not the early ’60s. Mad Men would not have committed such an egregious historical error.
LOL. You must be connected with the show. The Playboy Club is truly awful. And I would love to like it too, but it’s got nothing. It’s better than the revamped Charlie’s Angels, but that’s not saying much. I had to actually force myself to watch the second episode because after the first I just couldn’t get excited about it and after the second it is off the DVR list for good.
Isn’t he the next Brandon Tartikoff for NBC? I mean Tartikoff put on some bad shows like Knight Rider. But, he also put on some great programming. NBC’s Prime Suspect, Awake and Smash feel like the type of shows Brandon Tartikoff would have done. I don’t think Playboy Club deserves saving though.
I actually think Free Agents has some promise. It just needs a little tweaking. Hank Azaria is very funny on the show. Reminds me a little of Bob Newhart in his reactions to his situations at times. Bump that up, bring in his family life. If not, then let it go. But who knows what NBC would replace it with.
I agree. Free Agents has potential and should be given room to grow. Playboy should be yanked now. A comedy can find its way given time, but that kind of drama is what it is.
Totally agree.
Free Agents is slowly finding its voice and Hank Azaria is great. Don’t like the chick though (making a squished face is NOT funny).
Playboy Club is just atrocious.
Hank Azaria will never successfully headline a TV show. The audience has already rejected him a number of times. The whole comedian-with-the-overpumped-body angle was the death of Joe Piscopo’s career, too.
Free Agents does need some tweaking, but it’s better than Whitney and the New Girl.
I can’t comment on the Playboy Club… perhaps I’ll clear it off my DVR before wasting any time…
Charlie’s Angels is practically unwatchable, Prime Suspect… I liked the pilot, but not sure if Bello was the best choice (and why is the character’s last name so difficult to pronounce?)
Also, don’t forget that Tartikoff had almost no hits prior to 1984.
I saw Prime Suspect. Maria looked terribly old and tired.
You’re on crack. She looks gorgeous and beautiful — sorry if she’s not 22, perhaps you should switch to the CW.
She does need to lose that hat, though.
She doesn’t look old, she looks strung out and exhausted. Just watching her makes me feel like garbage, out of sympathy I guess.
Granted that the one-sheets for SUSPECT looked insipid but the show itself is good. Make that very good. The dialogue is witty, and Bello’s character is smart and real and fallible. Vulnerable too. Unlike most “bad ass” TV heroines, SUSPECT acknowledges that even a woman who is in very good shape would get her “bad ass” handed to her in a fight with a male fugitive, which is what happened in the pilot. This nod to reality was very un-PC and therefore unexpected from the Peacock network. (I bet they didn’t like it).
Playboy Club and The Event are examples of edgier shows not always being good,
How is The Playboy Club remotely edgy? It is the opposite if anything.
“The Event” was edgy? “Playboy Club” is edgy?
The gloves are off Bob. You picked those two garbage shows. He better pray Smash hits or it’s just more of the same. I mean now he’s picking up Western projects. You can’t program like this is Showtime. Showtime has no viewers at all.
Up All Night is a fail too. Week 3 with a 2.1 demo. Big names, but no matter. They’ll keep it on because it’s NBC, but seriously, this schedule has been a disaster.
Hi, Jeff Zucker!
This is good news. I just hope he can weather the storm. Most of these shows will never find their way but when one does it will make it all worthwhile.
We also have reached a point where people don’t invest in shows that might get canceled which means any show that does not start strong is dead. The network tv biz has turned into the movie business.
I actually enjoyed tpc and free agents enough to watch them but their imminent demise has had me postpone it. Maybe now i will give them another shot.
I have seen more than a few shows use their first six episodes or so to find their way and hit on their show success formula.
Finally pilots can be problematic. Breaking bad and Dexter both had bad pilots in my opinion especially relative to the amazing shows they are. Had they run on network tv they might have dropped enough in week 2 to never see a week 3.
I know Greenblatt is not doing this but I would love for NBC to give any new series a minimum of six episodes to prove itself. It may cost them money in the short run but could be hugely beneficial in the long run
These are excellent comments. Let us remember the lessons of Hill Street Blues and Cheers. Both of these shows started off very badly, but Brandon Tartikoff insisted on keeping them on, and they both really took off in the second season. Perhaps lightning can hit twice.
I agree. People are shying away from the brand name (Playboy) but it’s actually a pretty good show! I didn’t expect to like it this much and I really hope its numbers increase. People are knocking it too hard.
The Playboy Club is a great show! NBC needs to promo it with the interesting story-line so the great plot will look like people would want to tune in to watch it! It’s really a good show with excellent acting!!
i’ve seen tons of promos for this show, so i don’t think that’s the problem. the problem is the “plot” is boring and predictable. nothing intriguing about it. acting is okay…i find the supporting actresses better than the leads. but that’s not going to get us anywhere, now is it?
Greenblatt is doing what most of us have been clamoring for – give a show a chance! Don’t cancel it after 3-4 weeks. Let it find an audience. People like “Brick” are just impatient. Common sense and patience may return!
Compared to the plethora of mindless reality shows on the air that people are tuning into in droves, The Playboy Club looks like a masterpiece. I actually enjoy the show because I know what it is. It’s escapism. Charlie’s Angels (the original) did it in the 70′s. Dynasty did it in the 80′s. Critically acclaimed shows have their place, but so do escapism shows. I think people take this stuff way too seriously. I’m all for giving tv shows a chance.These days the good shows get cancelled and the garbage stays on the air.
Not this week, next week they will be cancelled.
Paul Lee needs to do the same thing at ABC, that is be patient with the shows.
Giving them a few weeks is okay. There’s no use putting in reruns this early in the season and they’re not going to pull Awake or Smash this early unless they really tank.
I do think it’s more possible NBC takes Grimm out of Fridays before it premieres to plug a hole on either Monday or Wednesday night.
Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter didn’t like The Playboy Club. So, it must not be good.
https://twitter.com/#!/sutterink
Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter didn’t like The Playboy Club. So, it must not be good.
https://twitter.com/#!/sutterink
“we BEAT the playboy club in 18-49 demo. it was fucking awful. felt like a bad madmen parody. bad writing, mediocre acting. nbc is fucked.”
I love the show. I think it really has a feminist take charge attitude. It’s just awful that people just want to write it off because it has the name playboy in it. I think if people actually gave it a chance then it would do well. Also why hasn’t there been a big promotional push? I think if you had the stars go around the late night tv circuit it could cause more awareness for the show.
Looks like someone remembered that Cheers and Seinfeld were both considered ratings failures their first season.
This is really great to see some patience instead of just filling the schedule with temporary filler. I actually really enjoy Free Agents, but the only way it and Up All Night are going to even have a chance is if they get them off of Wednesday. They are in an awful timeslot and would have more of a fighting chance against the Monday CBS comedies or Glee.
I agree. Move FREE AGENTS and give it a chance. It has so much going for it. So far its been up against premieres and the X Factor and baseball. I like that they’re not in any rush to cancel a show in its first few times at bat.
Let’s wait and see what happens this week, when both shows drop below 1.0 in the 18-49 demo and see if Bob will continue to support those shows in order to find a following.
Let’s be honest, most people checked out from The Playboy Club from episode 1 and the other 5 people that watch it will surely check out this week. As for Free Agents, well is not that bad, but it seems people are not willing to embrace it.
Keep in mind, The Playboy Club is produced by 20th Centure Fox Television, so NBC has no reason in keeping this dud, as for Free Agents is in house produced – Universal Media Studios, so they might be inclined to give it a couple of weeks before it gets the eventual axe.
Either way, for those that like the shows, enjoy them while they last.
The Playboy Club can only work on premium cable in this country. Maria Bello on TV? How did did that happen?
You know, LuigiDaMan, I don’t have a problem with you (or anyone) not liking a TV show. However, personal attacks are not necessary. It just shows what kind of person you are.
uh, she started on “ER.” I think she’s great. I’m giving “Prime Suspect” a chance.
I love Maria Bello on Prime Suspect. She’s an incredible actress. The writing is strong and the look of the show is amazing. It’s on against Shonda and The Mentalist. It needs different competition.
I hope it stays on so it can grow.
The pilot of Smash is my favorite pilot in years. Can’t wait to see it in series. Glorious.
They can’t cancel these shows yet. They have virtually nothing on tap to replace them with yet!
I DVR’ed the first ep of Playboy Club, than saw the ratings and knew it was going to get canceled.
I gave it one more week and of course the ratings went down, so now I’ve erased the show.
I suspect a lot of people do the same as myself. It’s commendable that Bob is giving both shows more time but it’s pretty clear both are on the way out. After all the press and promos for Playboy if it can’t hit straight away why would people come on board down the line? They’re obviously not very interested in the show – and with the ax hanging over it who’s going to invest in a series that sooner or later will be cancelled.