The controversial new NBC program, The Playboy Club, has become the year's first official cancellation as poor ratings and a steady barrage of viewer complaints forced the network to shut it down after only three episodes.
According to AOLTV, NBC pulled the plug on the show after viewership dropped from five to 3.4 million viewers after only three weeks. In addition to receiving poor reviews and an enormous amount of viewer complaints, it was also targeted by anti-obscenity groups such as Morality in Media and the Parents Television Council. One NBC affiliate refused to air the series.
The show's dedication to promoting the Playboy philosophy of exploiting women as sex objects even drew the ire of feminist icon Gloria Steinem.
Morality in Media, an organization dedicated to fighting obscenity in the media that led the fight against the show called the notice of cancellation "good news".
"It is great news that the Playboy Club is cancelled after just three episodes. Clearly viewers are not interested in supporting the brand that normalized pornography and caused immeasurable harm to women, children and to the men who became addicted to porn." said Dawn Hawkins, executive director of Morality in Media.
According to Hawkins, key NBC advertisers left the show after receiving more than 20,000 emails just through Morality in Media's web.
"The efforts of Morality in Media, Parent's Television Council, Gloria Steinem and many others lead to the public outrage and ultimate cancellation of the show," said Hawkins.
Playboy, once equated with 'soft-core' pornography, distributes hardcore pornography on pay TV channels and the Internet. Distribution of hardcore pornography can be prosecuted under federal and state obscenity laws, according to Patrick Trueman, Morality in Media president and a former chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.
"We'll use the same public pressure that closed the club to get the attention of the U.S. Justice Department which has not prosecuted one case against pornographers during the current administration," said Trueman.
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