'Pan Am,' 'Playboy Club' take viewers back

Much has been made about this fall’s two new 1960s-set series.

First were the complaints that both networks were trying to cash in on the popularity of "Mad Men."

Then came reports that the flying folks on ABC’s Pan Am won’t be smoking, thanks to an edict handed down by ABC-Disney ("It’s the one revisionist cheat," executive producer Tommy Schlamme told Entertainment Weekly).

And various groups are already boycotting NBC’s Playboy Club for its risqué subject matter.

After watching both series ("Playboy Club" debuted on NBC this week and is back with a new episode at 10 p.m. Monday, and "Pan Am" premieres at 10 p.m. Sunday), I think it’s all much ado about nothing.

I honestly don’t see "Playboy Club" lasting very long, not because of those boycotting groups but because it isn’t very good.

The series takes place at the famed Chicago club, where "everything was perfect," Hugh Hefner himself told us in a voiceover during the pilot. "Where life was magic. Where rules were broken and fantasies became realities. … It was a place where anything could happen to anybody. Or, any bunny."

Give me a break.

Then we met Maureen (Amber Heard), the latest gal to join the bunny ranks. But she isn’t very good at her job; within minutes, she’d abandoned her gig as cigarette girl to dance with an overly handsy patron.

Later, the man found her and wanted a lot more than just dancing (see photo, above). A tussle ensued, and Maureen ended up killing him with the heel of her stiletto.

Oh, and it turns out the guy was a mob boss, so Playboy Club regular Nick Dalton (Eddie Cibrian), a lawyer with state’s attorney aspirations, helped her cover up the crime.

Their cover story? That Maureen went home with Nick (if you know what I mean). Not the best plan, considering that Nick’s girlfriend, Carole-Lynne (Laura Benanti), is the first Playboy bunny and, apparently, this means she wields some serious power within the club.

By the end of the episode, she’d taken over as the "Bunny Mother" ("Like a house mother in a sorority or Mother Superior in a convent," she explained to her new charges).

We also met club manager Billy (David Krumholtz, who is definitely slumming here) and fellow bunnies Janie (Jenna Dewan), whose boyfriend works as a bartender at the club; Brenda (Naturi Naughton), who wants to be the first black centerfold; and Alice (Leah Renee), a lesbian who hides her sexuality with a sham marriage.

Other than the narration, which comes from the real Hef, the only glimpses we get of the show’s "Hef" are from behind and in phantom phone calls to employees.

The show is full of cheesy dialogue and silly situations. I’ll be shocked if it finds an audience.

"Pan Am," on the other hand, is a fun show; it captures a time when a flight attendant’s only worries were if she had any runs in her stockings or if she forgot to wear her girdle (apparently a pretty serious offense among the Pan Am elite).

Here, our new girl main character is Laura (Margot Robbie), who runs out on her wedding to travel the world as a stewardess, just like her older sister, Kate (Kelli Garner).

Christina Ricci also stars as rebellious flight attendant Maggie, who is grounded for not wearing her girdle (see, I told you).

Writers also throw in a little espionage. Rumor has it that, back in the day, some flight attendants worked as spies because they could travel the world without arousing suspicion. In "Pan Am," that job falls to Kate, who takes over for another girl in a storyline that actually grabbed my attention.

I’ll have to see another episode before my final "Pan Am" verdict is in, but I’ve made up my mind about "The Playboy Club." Skip it.