As far as LGBT inclusion goes NBC’s swiftly canceled The Playboy Club was heads and bunny tails above pretty much all of the television season’s new shows what with a lesbian and gay storyline that included the historical Mattachine Society.

But the drama, starring out actress Amber Heard, got the ax after just three episodes as the retro show about Playboy Bunnies in 1960’s Chicago failed to secure an audience. Now, the show’s creator Chad Hodge tells Out that he wished he taken the show to Bravo, a network that has a solid fan base of women and gay men.

“I think NBC gave up too soon,” Hodge said. “Had NBC stuck with the show I think many more millions would have eventually shown up. Those who found the show realized it wasn’t what they expected—it was good. It was entertaining, sophisticated, and dazzling. It dealt with social mores and moral ethics. And it was an intentional guilty pleasure.”

But Hodge says he hasn’t given up hope that the show could get picked up by another network. “For weeks now, I’ve been saying we should move over to Bravo. This is a fun, sexy, soapy show, and our core audience is women and gay men. No brainer for them. Bravo has wanted to get into scripted programming for years now. I’d love them to pick up the show. If one million people watched our show on Bravo—a quarter of our NBC audience—it would be a runaway hit.”

NBC has canceled freshman drama The Playboy Club.

Brian Williams’ newsmagazine show, Rock Center, will take its place beginning Oct. 31. Until then, repeats of Maria Bello’s Prime Suspect will air on Mondays at 10 p.m. The move to air Prime Suspect in Playboy Club‘s time slot is a clear sign of Bob Greenblatt’s desire to make the series, which is closer to his cable sensibilities, work.

Playboy Club‘s cancellation comes after the drama premiered Sept. 20 to underwhelming ratings, attracting 5 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. The second episode of the series from showrunner Chad Hodge and 20th Century Fox Television, tumbled 19 percent, luring only 3.8 million viewers and a 1.3 in the demo. Its most recent episode dropped even more, attracting 3.2 million viewers and a 1.2.

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.

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.”