NBC’s Salt Lake City affiliate KSL-TV has opted against airing the network’s upcoming fall drama The Playboy Club, citing objectionable content.
The Utah station said Monday that Playboy Club, which stars Eddie Cibrian and Amber Heard in a 1960s-set club where crooners, mob bosses and politicians mingle among Chicago’s elite, doesn’t fit with its mission.
“The Playboy brand is known internationally,” KSL president and CEO Mark Willes said in a statement. “Everyone is clear what it stands for. We want to be sure everyone is clear what the KSL brand stands for, which is completely inconsistent with the Playboy brand.”
The station is owned by Deseret Media Companies — which is controlled by the Mormon church — whose mission is to “champion values that have been cherished by good people from diverse backgrounds for centuries.”
“While we are disappointed with KSL’s decision, we are confident that the show will find another home in the Salt Lake City market,” NBC said in a statement.
Playboy Club, from 20th Television/Imagine Television, is set to air Mondays at 10 p.m. in September.
Looking to assuage advertiser concerns at NBC’s mid-May upfront, NBC entertainment chairman BobGreenblatt told a roomful of media buyers that the show was “tame compared to what you’d see on Jersey Shore.”
