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This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts & Entertainment

TV Junkie: Gloria Steinem Targets That Show With the Bunnies

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NBC's "The Playboy Club" is getting it from all sides and they're probably loving the extra PR. Here's an idea: don't watch it because it's sexist, don't watch it because it will be crap

One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.

Would love to know: Are any of you readers watching USA's "Necessary Roughness"? What do you think? Is it worth keeping in the listings? What other shows am I missing that you'd like me to keep tabs on? Thanks.
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Women's rights advocate Gloria Steinem wants you to boycott NBC's upcoming "Playboy Club" series because it glamorizes an inaccurate depiction of the 1960s era men's club where waitresses walked around in bunny costumes. Actually, the show should be shunned because it's an attempt by NBC to ride on the stylistic coattails of AMC's "Mad Men" and you know that a broadcast network will not be able to pull off what Matthew Weiner has done on AMC even though they've had years to figure it out. There's about a million shows that should be boycotted because of their depiction and treatment of women, most of them in the 'reality' format: "The Bachelor," "Jersey Shore," "Bad Girls Club," "Keeping Up With The Kardashians," etc. None of those shows are reality - the storylines and characters are crafted and arranged by the producers creating a product that is just as manufactured as any scripted series.
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Yesterday I kind of bitched about the Television Critics Association awards and today I'd like to point you to a great explanation by Deadline for why the Emmys consolidated the Mini-Series and Made-for-TV-Movies categories, thus making one less category for HBO to dominate.
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The TV Junkie Must-Watch Plan: "The Franchise," "Royal Pains," "Rescue Me," "Chelsea Lately," "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" (Actor Joel McHale; actress Viola Davis)

8:00pm The Franchise: A Season With the San Francisco Giants Showtime - Say what you want about the Giants but this is a great inside view of how professional baseball works.

9:00pm Royal Pains USA - Ta Da For Hank searches for the cause of a magician's anxiety; Evan books a segment on "The Today Show."

10:00pm Rescue Me FX - Head Tommy's badge is revoked because of his latest tirade; Sheila's two-pronged attack hits Tommy's critics, clearing the Gavin family name.

10:00pm Necessary Roughness USA - Whose Team Are You On When infighting among the players' wives and girlfriends goes viral, Dani must intervene; Nico searches for a damaging video tape.

10:30pm Jon Benjamin Has a Van Comedy Central - Season Finale Smoking Jon interviews members of a Christian sect whose belief is that Jesus smoked a pipe; interviews a cult leader.

11:00pm Chelsea Lately E! - Actress Bryce Dallas Howard; comic Chris Hardwick; comic Jen Kirkman; comic Matt Braunger.

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11:00pm Conan TBS - Actor Aziz Ansari; reality TV star Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino; Keb Mo performs.

11:35pm The Tonight Show With Jay Leno NBC - Actor Joel McHale; actress Viola Davis; Ximena Sariýana performs.

12:00am Lopez Tonight TBS - Actress Jessica Alba; actor David Koechner; Ellie Goulding performs.

12:05am Jimmy Kimmel Live ABC - Actor Jesse Eisenberg; talk show host Jerry Springer; Incubus performs.

12:35am Late Night With Jimmy Fallon NBC - TV personality Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi; sportscaster Joe Buck; comic Tig Notaro.

One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.

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