alexpinca-54-791848
It was our loss that the program was not picked up by any network...I can only assume it resulted from the yellow stripe syndrome. I suspect that there is fear on the part of the mainstream, that they might like the lifestyle. :) Many programs that went on to become big hits started slowly and this program would have made it big. Why HBO didn't pick it up is beyond me. It was a nostalgic walk through memories of yesteryear. If you're a boomer or almost a boomer, and not a prude, you will love this program. It is far more than a program on swinging...it is far more about the lives of boomer suburbia in the 70's and how a few found themselves looking for answers in the arms of their neighbor's wives and husbands. If you're not a prude...there will be something to enjoy for almost anyone of the boomer generation...the younger generation shouldn't watch to avoid jealousy of a simpler time, the swinging not-with-standing.
lqueral
This almost makes "Cavemen" look good. It has an incessant 70's soundtrack playing practically all the time, just to remind the viewer, and there probably are only a few, that this ridiculousness takes place in the 70's. It features characters most won't care about and subject matter that is probably improper for kids younger than about 13 years old. I can just imagine the questions that will be asked by pre-teens! This slop is not likely to be renewed for a second season and if it is, it's a sad commentary on the total lack of originality and good writing on TV lately. But - you can now purchase the first (probably last) season on DVD and watch it until you hurl (grin).
fx_gent
As someone who grew up in the 1970s, I found the concept of Swingtown to be interesting. That said, I found the show to be extremely enjoyable and if someone, most likely not CBS, chooses to bring this back for another season, I would watch it. Once I got past the first episode or two, watching the development of the characters was fascinating and how they reflected the changing norms of the time, especially about sex and women's rights. I did catch a couple of errors in watching the series, as a few people have noted on here and I agree one hundred percent that if the show does come back, someone should get their facts straight. Overall, it was the best new show on television this summer and worth watching.
Christopher T. Chase
First off, what I loved about watching the first few minutes of SWINGTOWN, was the mental picture I got of religious right-wingers everywhere clutching their collective chests and reaching for their heart pills. The brainchild of Mike Kelley and executive producers Robert Del Valle and Alan Poul (two of the finest minds behind SIX FEET UNDER), this is a series meant to evoke the mid-'70's and to reflect the sea-change in the Sexual Revolution during that time, on the cusp of the birth of the Disco era. And it does so with a vengeance!!!Kind of THE ICE STORM without the precipitation, we meet two couples: Tom and Trina Decker (former MELROSE PLACE resident stud Grant Show and THE NINE'S Lana Parrilla) and the Miilers, Bruce (Jack Davenport of the PIRATES OF THE Caribbean series and THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY) and Susan (Molly Parker - a long-time favorite of mine from many, many TV shows and film roles, most recently as Tim Olyphant's main squeeze in DEADWOOD.)It's July, 1976. The Millers are "movin' on up" - not to the east side, mind you, but a few blocks away, to a bigger, better house and presumably a slightly more upscale lifestyle, thanks to good fortune smiling on Bruce's career and financial situation. This new turn of events has Susan a little bewildered, to say nothing of the loss felt by their former BFF's/next-door neighbors Roger and Janet Thompson (DAMMIT, JANET! - sorry, I just had to throw that in there), played by Josh Hopkins and Miriam Shor. Although the Millers will be literally just down the street, it might as well be half a world away for the Thompsons. Alas, the two families have NO idea.Because as it turns out, Tom and Trina Decker are swingers. And not the 'just-on-the-weekends' kind, either. They are very active participants in the lifestyle, and being an airline pilot, Tom sees to it that he and his lovely wife (a former stewardess herself, not coincidentally enough), are never fresh out of new "guests" to stay over and party with. In fact, it's just as one of their latest 'friends' is on her way out the door, that Trina spies with her little eye the the attractive Millers, moving in to the house across the street. Let the games begin!CBS has a summer hit on their hands, I think. It's controversial and nostalgic all at the same time. The cast is excellent, with everyone looking terrific in polyester pants, (especially Grant and Lana), and no expense or effort has been spared in getting the details just right. But even more important - and evocative - is the soundtrack, which is chock-a-block with original Seventies chestnuts, and not tired sound-alikes. Just in the first episode alone, we are treated to the likes of David Bowie, Norman Greenbaum, The Captain and Tennille, Gary Wright and The Commodores. I can't wait to see what future episodes have in store. Of course, if the whole plot was just about swinging, that could get old really fast. But interesting subplots abound in the adventures (and misadventures) of the Millers' and Thompsons' kids, reflecting on how the 'sex-quake' of the Seventies affect and inform their lives as well.Based solely on this premiere, I have certainly been convinced to stick around. I hope that creator Mike Kelley and the writers will be as adventurous as Bruce and Susan have become by the "climax" (pun most definitely intended)...
