It probably shouldn’t have been surprising that last month’s Television Critics Association press tour panel for NBC’s The Playboy Club became an ongoing debate as to whether the period drama was empowering or exploitative.

While all of the show’s stars and producers were closely on-message about the idea that employment at the Playboy Club in the early ’60s was a progressive choice, leading lady Amber Heard was particularly passionate on the subject.

At the NBC party that evening, I caught up with Heard (Hidden Palms, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane), who plays Maureen, the newest Bunny at Chicago’s Playboy Club, for a few follow-up questions regarding her take on the show’s message.

HitFix: You guys came out prepared for a little controversy today. It’s almost like you knew to expect it…

Amber Heard: Oh yeah? I thought they were just gonna ask me about my cute shoes.

First of all, we’d like to take a moment to apologise for the lack in the updates. These past few weeks have been incredibly hectic for us so site updates have been slow. But things seem to be calming down so we will be working on catching up with everything, little by little. Thanks for your patience!

The trailer for The Rum Diary was released a couple of weeks back and it features plenty of Amber Heard as the character of Chenault. It looks pretty good! Be sure to view the trailer in high definition below. I’ve uploaded the screencaps as well as a poster for the movie for your viewing pleasure.

Need an alibi? Join the club. The Playboy Club. Monday Sep 19 10/9c on NBC.

The September 19 premiere of NBC’s 1960s-set The Playboy Club will reveal that one of the bunnies is a closeted lesbian married to a gay man. Openly gay series star Amber Heard, who plays the straight Maureen, was surprised to see the original depiction of the lesbian bunny as butch.

“She was originally written to be different from the other girls in the way that she dressed and carried herself — with less feminine grace,” says Amber, who convinced executive producer Chad Hodge to rewrite the character. “I really pushed to challenge that stereotype, because I know firsthand that some stereotypes don’t always hold true. Who you have a propensity to fall in love with by no means determines how you carry yourself!”

Source: TV Guide

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.