Television hasn’t been this interested in the 1960s since, well, the 1960s.

And even in the 1960s, a lot of what was popular on TV seemed to be a throwback to another era. The Andy Griffith Show? The Beverly Hillbillies? Petticoat Junction? Gomer Pyle? Bonanza? Gunsmoke? The Flintstones?

But in 2011, the ’60s are hot stuff.

Call it “delayed Mad Men mania” on the part of the big networks.

The Playboy Club, a drama about the bunnies and clientele at the iconic nightclub, debuts Monday, Sept. 19 on NBC and Citytv.

Pan Am, a drama about airline stewardesses working for the iconic carrier, debuts Sunday, Sept. 25 on ABC and CTV.

Nostalgia and cool clothes rule.

NBC presented its new fall drama The Playboy Club to the Television Critics Association with a controversial reaction. The producers found themselves found themselves defending the show, but it was star Amber Heard who best articulated the empowering position of playing a bunny of Hugh Hefner’s ‘60s clubs. She plays Maureen, an ambitious up and coming bunny who will show the viewers what the clubs offered women of 1961. Heard learned from former bunnies themselves.

“There are entrepreneurs,” Heard said. “They’ve talked to us about their experience. I’ve yet to meet an ex-bunny who’s disgruntled about their experience. I haven’t talked to them. On the other hand, I’ve talked to many who look back fondly on those experiences, are thankful for the money [they were able to earn.]”

The show will also deal with an African-American bunny and a closeted bunny, because those were the issues of the era. “The backdrop of the ‘60s and the club is going to be important to our story because everything was about to happen,” Heard continued. “This was right before the bubble burst. It’s pre Stonewall in relation to there being out lesbians, pre-women’s lib, pre civil rights, right on the cusp of where everything started to blow over. That’s going to lend itself well to our piece.”

The Playboy Club on NBC is a one-hour drama from Academy Award-winning

executive producer Brian Grazer, about the world of the Chicago Playboy Club.

It’s set in the ’60s, and explores the lives of a group of working-class Bunnies, each of whom has some kind of secret that will be revealed as the show unfolds.

The show is based on some of those stories from a book called The Bunny Years by Kathryn Leigh Scott. Some famous women who were once bunnies, including Gloria Steinem, Barbara Walters, Lauren Hutton, Deborah Harry, Susan Sullivan, Sherilyn Fenn, even NBC’s own Barbara Bosson, the star of “Hill Street Blues,” was a Bunny, as well as Federal Judge Kimba Wood, and Dr. Polly Matzinger, a world-renowned immunologist.

The series will take a look into the Mob and the backroom politics of the Mayor Daley era, plus we’ve incorporated musical performances into the club, several of which will be from Tony- winning actress Laura Benanti who plays the mother Bunny Carol-Lynne.

Earlier this week we posted some highlights from Amber Heard’s upcoming Playboy issue and now you can read the full article in our library.

PLAYBOY: You came out of the closet last December, sharing details of your relationship with photographer Tasya Van Ree. As a Hollywood sex symbol, did you notice that the announcement had any effect on your career?
HEARD: First of all, to say I came out implies that I was once in. Let me be straight about that—no pun intended [laughs]—I never came out from anywhere. I’ve always lived my life the way I’ve wanted and have been honest with myself and everyone around me. It didn’t really affect anything in my career. I don’t think the producers and directors I’ve worked with care one way or another. The only frustrating part has been all the media attention. For someone like me who prefers to keep her life as private as possible, it has been disconcerting to have to define so much about myself. I don’t want to be labeled as one thing or another. In the past I’ve had successful relationships with men, and now I’m in this successful relationship with a woman. When it comes to love I am totally open. And I don’t want to be put into a category, as in “I’m this” or “I’m that.”
PLAYBOY: Gay marriage continues to be a contentious issue. If it ever becomes legal, would you be the first in line to get married to Tasya?
HEARD: It’s an important issue, and I’m fighting for the right to get married. [pauses] For other people.

The parade of cross-promotion continues for NBC program The Playboy Club and Playboy magazine.

The most recent iteration is in the September 2011 issue of the magazine where Amber Heard participates in their “20Q” (short for 20 Questions) section. Heard, the show’s main character, plays Maureen, the recently-hired Bunny.

Heard seems to have been well trained by network publicists on dealing with the controversy surrounding the show, echoing the messages of female empowerment executives have been trumpeting.

Here are some highlights of the interview:

On the Bunny costume: “If it got any tighter, we wouldn’t be able to sit upright. I’m ­serious–it’s that intense. But it looks great when you’re wearing it.”
On staying in shape for the show: “Back in the 1960s it was fine to have curves. Do you know how happy I am that I get to keep some of my curves? For once I don’t have to starve myself.”

We learned via www.amberheardofficial.com that our lady A takes the cover of the September issue of Angeleno in a gorgeous new photoshoot. The interview is available via our library. If someone is able to provide us with larger quality scans at some point, please contact us. I don’t think I can pickup this magazine anywhere.

You put everything on hold and make this character come to life, and it’s like saying goodbye to a friend or a lover. What’s even more disheartening is when you see the movie come out and it doesn’t read at all how you filmed it. Now, with The Playboy Club, I can see this character grow and work on her for a long while.

John Carpenter fans have had a long wait between films from their favorite genre man. The director of cult favorites like Halloween, Escape From LA and The Thing has been on a hiatus of sorts but finally returns to multiplexes after a 10-year absence with this week’s The Ward.

This psychological thriller takes place in a special ward in a mental hospital and revolves around new arrival Kristen (Amber Heard), who has no idea how she ended up institutionalized. As she slowly gets to know the other patients, played by Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Lyndsy Fonseca and Laura-Leigh, she realizes they are all hiding a terrible and deadly secret.

When MTV News caught up with Carpenter and Heard to talk about their thriller, we asked how much of a creepy factor was added into the film simply by the practical effect of their filming location — an actual abandoned mental hospital.

“It was in an abandoned building on a campus with crazy people in a mental institution, the criminally insane,” Carpenter explained of their set.

“We were cozily sandwiched between the prison for the criminally insane and the hospital for the mentally insane,” Heard added. “We had this prime little location right between the two. We were fenced in.”