When new bunny Maureen begins working at the club, she quickly gets caught up in a dangerous situation with life altering consequences. Coming to her aid is Nick Dalton, one of Chicago's top... Read allWhen new bunny Maureen begins working at the club, she quickly gets caught up in a dangerous situation with life altering consequences. Coming to her aid is Nick Dalton, one of Chicago's top attorneys and a regular at the club -- despite the tension this situation creates with hi... Read allWhen new bunny Maureen begins working at the club, she quickly gets caught up in a dangerous situation with life altering consequences. Coming to her aid is Nick Dalton, one of Chicago's top attorneys and a regular at the club -- despite the tension this situation creates with his girlfriend Carol-Lynne. Meanwhile, the other bunnies, Janie, Alice and Brenda each deal ... Read all
Photos
- Janie
- (as Jenna Dewan-Tatum)
- Hugh Hefner
- (voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe first-ever Playboy Mansion, acquired back in 1959 by Hugh Hefner, is still located in Chicago's exclusive Gold Coast neighborhood at 1340 North State Parkway.
The Chicago Playboy Mansion was a 70-room classical French brick-and-limestone, Victorian-style mansion built from 1899-1903 and designed by James Gamble Rogers as the primary residence for Chicago-area surgeon, Dr. George S. Isham.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner turned the home into the first-ever Playboy mansion, using it primarily for parties and events from 1959 until the mid-1970s when he relocated to Los Angeles.
During the early '70s, Hefner lived in both the Chicago Playboy mansion and another Playboy Mansion called "Mansion West". (Mansion West was originally built in 1927 in the Gothic-Tudor style and is located at 10236 Charing Cross Road in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles.) Hefner later moved full time into the California mansion in 1974.
After Hefner decamped for L.A., Playboy Enterprises leased the Chicago mansion to the Art Institute of Chicago, which it used for student housing until the early '90s. (In 1989, Playboy donated the mansion to the Art Institute.)
Just like Hefner, who became burdened by runaway expenses associated with the upkeep and maintenance of the Holmby Hills mansion, the Art Institute found it financially prudent to sell the Chicago Mansion, which it did in 1993 to Chicago real-estate developer Bruce Abrams. (Abrams gutted the mansion and renovated it into seven separate units. As of 2011, only one unit in the building leads directly out to the property's garden and private patio. (The three-bedroom 3,900-square-foot condo still retains its beautiful architectural details like ornate moldings, built-in shelving and curved archways, and runs for a mere $2.9 million dollars as of 2011.)
As in the movie, the Chicago Playboy Mansion actually did have an embossed brass plate at the front gate above the doorbell with the Latin inscription, "Si Non Oscillas, Noli Tintinnare", which translates to "If you don't swing, don't ring". According to legend, Hefner's intention of using this shibboleth was to serve as an expedient way in determining which potential Playmates were products of a Classical education or not, as he found the combination of beauty and brains to be an aphrodisiac.
- GoofsSean and Alice attend a meeting of the Mattachine Society in 1963. The Chicago chapter of Mattachine wasn't established until 1965.
- Quotes
Billy Rosen: [to Nick] You're the only man I know who puts his hand up a girl's skirt looking for a dictionary.
To tell the truth my only worry was that the show would be too heavy on gratuitous nudity. If you were expecting the bunnies to strip or act like escort girls well you will be quite disappointed. Indeed the show isn't an arrogant feminist statement but these sexy animals are clearly on the verge of empowering their kind to prevent male hunters from killing them one after an other. In some way the characters reminded me of Showgirls starring Elizabeth Berkley. They're used to cover topics from homosexuality to racism and of course how a beautiful young woman with a dream is supposed to survive in a man's world. Racism because how could you possibly insult a girl as cute and nice as the chocolate bunny ? You should enjoy the energetic performance from a band composed of black women. I couldn't help thinking about Tina Turner and all these fabulous artists that changed history forever. As for the young woman I was referring to it's Bunny Maureen played by the fresh and ravishing Amber Heard. It's easy for a man to lose his objectivity when it comes to gorgeous pin-ups but like Berkley's character I appreciated the fact that in the end she was just a girl, like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. It was specially obvious when she fantasized and saw herself on stage in a red dress singing like Tina to make people smile and dance.
It leads us to Bunny Mother Carol-Lynne portrayed by the stunning Laura Benanti. Her singing and charming act at the beginning was perfect to switch from reality to fiction and like Maureen the viewer is invited to enter a world of wicked fantasy. Both the actress and character impressed me because there's just something inspiring about the Mother. She's only thirty something and knows a Bunny life doesn't last forever so she's trying to rebound before it's too late. Even better she's eager to transmit her experience to her girls to avoid them from doing the same mistakes than her. Of course they're only bunnies so don't expect them to change the world but the speech she gave to a skeptical Maureen was interesting. Actor Eddie Cibrian is a perfect match for her because as Nick Dalton, a lawyer and apparently club owner, he's quite convincing. I mean he has the whole apparel of a womanizer that's why I never get why he played Russell Varon in Invasion. His performance as a ranger wasn't bad and probably shadowed by William Fichtner but he never grew on me. Here it wasn't really the case either because I couldn't relate to him, even if I could definitely be featured in Playgirl, but at least he made a believable gentleman. Indeed even if he has a thing for pretty ladies it appears he has moral values but considering the issue they had to deal with things aren't just black and white.
As for the story don't expect it to blow your mind but it succeeded in introducing the characters and opening some intriguing arcs. The mob and thieves are part of the journey and won't surprise you but the triangle between Nick, Maureen and the Mother has potential. However as a demanding viewer, some people would even call me picky, I couldn't help noticing a few inaccuracies. For example the girl who was attacked should have screamed but somehow she remained silent. I wish the writers had come up with a more authentic script instead of choosing an easy way out. It also applies to easily lost objects or people hiding the truth just to make things more dramatic than they should be. Otherwise it's nothing to worry about as they served the story and made it more entertaining in the end. So even if it has reashed elements, because we have already seen it dozens of times, and that it's not specially intriguing the pilot still convinced me to watch the second installment.
In fact on top of all these juicy fruits the real strawberry on the shortcake was the creativity in my opinion. Of course the production is not as award-winning as Mad Men but the scenes are well executed enough to plunge you in the club. Switch off the light and you'll become a keyholder for forty something minutes. The diverse settings, like the famous mansion but also Nick's luxurious apartment, are designed with enough details and it also applies to the bunnies colorful and shiny outfits. The songs performed should make your immersion even deeper so I found the soundtrack quite refreshing compared to the tasteless pop music we have to digest in some other shows. Last but not least beside a cute furry tail I don't know which memory you will put behind your pillow but mine is definitely the oneiric sequence featuring Nick and Maureen before a colorful wall that reminded me of Piet Mondrian's abstract pieces and shadow play. We only saw their silhouettes for a few split seconds but the light glowing through the windows made them magical.
- igoatabase
- Sep 24, 2011