"Playboy's Penthouse" and "Playboy After Dark"

[Ultimajock]

...these were Hugh Hefner's two single-season attempts at a syndicated variety show. The first was ostensibly set at Hef's Chicago penthouse apartment (before the original Playboy Mansion on Chicago's Gold Coast, or perhaps in addition to it?). It was actually taped at WBKB-TV (now WLS-TV), the ABC-owned station at State & Lake in Chicago. Lasted only the 1959-60 season. Ten years after that, Hef tried a color resurrection of the show under the new title "Playboy After Dark" (Penthouse magazine had popped up in the interim), this time taped at CBS' Television City studios in Hollywood. Lasted only the 1969-70 season......Hefner claimed in an interview a few years back that neither series was picked up by any stations in the deep south because he made it a point to have a racially-integrated "guest list" on each program (on the first "Playboy's Penthouse," the guests included Nat "King" Cole and Lenny Bruce). Do any of the TV Guide collectors around here have any listings for any of the episodes, and info on exactly which markets and affiliates carried the shows? Aside from WBKB-TV/WLS-TV/7 Chicago carrying both and "After Dark" being on KCIT-TV/50 Kansas City, WTVJ/4 Miami* and KABC-TV/7 Los Angeles (despite being taped at CBS' L.A. facility), I'm out of info on it...*I recall seeing an ad in an old issue of Playboy listing WTVJ as one of the affiliates. If anyone around here is a Playboy collector as well, perhaps this memory can be confirmed or debunked ;-)

 

[Stanislav]

...Hefner claimed in an interview a few years back that neither series was picked up by any stations in the deep south because he made it a point to have a racially-integrated "guest list" on each program (on the first "Playboy's Penthouse," the guests included Nat "King" Cole and Lenny Bruce).

I only recall ever seeing one episode of the 1969-70 revival (don't recall which station carried it), but I do remember Bill Russell was one of the guests. In the late 60's, showing white Bunnies fawning over a black basketball player would have been a little too much for the South to stomach.