‘The Playboy Club’ Is Cancelled, Leaving Many Storylines We’ll Never See

NBC's "The Playboy Club" has had a hard time since before it premiered: It was dropped by a network affiliate in Utah, protested by the Parents Television Council, and lost seven advertisers due to its racy content. All this hoopla would make a better show a cause célèbre for its devoted fans. Unfortunately, "The Playboy Club" is also bad. Or rather, it was bad: NBC cancelled it today.

To the average viewer who never watched this show (statistics say that's most of you), the loss is not really a loss at all. You can't miss something you never had, right? WRONG. Because "The Playboy Club" was set in 1963, there's a good chance that it would go further in its pitiful aping of "Mad Men" by incorporating real-life events into its episodes, and doing a terrible, ham-handed job of it. I mean, we already knew they planned to have someone from "The Voice" play Ray Charles (which may have already happened for all I know, or for all you care). But the tumultuous '60s could have yielded so much more fodder for episodes that will happen. Behold: the lost episodes of "The Playboy Club."

"4 Little Bunnies": Following the deaths of four schoolgirls in Birmingham, Alabama, Bunny Brenda (Naturi Naughton) uses all her savings to buy a bus ticket to attend a protest — but what's a road trip without her three Bunny besties? The only question: How to get Carol-Lynne (Laura Benanti) to sign off?!

"A Club Divided": President Johnson's Gulf of Tonkin resolution sparks bitter feuding between Bunny Hawks (Alice and Janie) and Bunny Doves (Brenda and Maureen). But can they stay professional on the floor — and keep their political debate in the kitchen?

"King of the World": When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (guest star Taye Diggs) wins the Nobel Peace Prize, he decides the best place to celebrate is at Chicago's Playboy Club.

"Gleaming, Steaming, Flaxen, Waxen": Newly minted hippie Maureen (Amber Heard) grows out her armpit hair...and sparks a fierce debate over grooming standards at the Playboy Club.

"Bunny in Space": Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon inspires Carol-Lynne to declare her intentions of being Head Bunny in the first Playboy Club on the moon. (Later, it is discovered that a member dosed her with LSD.)