TV Show Review: Swingtown
Tonight was the big night for the very first public broadcasting for the Swingtown TV pilot. We are promised one hour of pure 70s sexual revolution in the way of getting to be a fly on the wall in the midst of suburban swingers. The short description in my TV listings promoted the show in this way: “Susan and Bruce Miller move their family into an affluent Chicago suburb and find themselves at the center of the social and sexual revolution of the 1970s“. The series is presented as a drama and from all the buzz on the Internet, most are thinking it won’t last beyond the first airing while others are cringing at the very thought of having swingers becoming the new mainstream trend all due to a new TV show. My guess is that your local swingers club will be very busy this week-end what with all the looky-loos that will be attracted to the lifestyle after having seen this show..that is if anyone besides this author watches it?
On to the review
A post on the Swingers Board asked if you would have watched the show, if you were not into the lifestyle? Well, being the sexual deviant that I am, surely I believe that yes this couple would have watched the show in anticipation of all the sex we would see. However, we’ve now been in the lifestyle for a while and we watched and enjoyed the pilot even though there was no sex and no arrousing scenes either for that matter. The best part of the entire show was clearly the soundtrack chosen to take you back to the 70s. The acting was good enough to make you actually buy into the entire premise. Although they used many stereotypes as would be expected, I was disappointed to see that no large or old people were in attendance at the party that was being thrown in the resident couples back yard. Not sure how they found so many pretty people to attend a swingers party before the days of the Internet, but in true fashion of Hollywood, the ‘regular’ looking folk are nowhere to be found.
Understanding that the premise of this show is a TV drama, you need more content than just swingers, sex and parties so enter the children which in for my taste was a negative aspect of the show. Way too much time spent getting to know the children and their sexual woes…if this show attracts adults interested in the lifestyle why am I feeling a little uncomfortable watching tweens and teens going through puberty while their parents are attending sex parties? Another issue that I wish they had covered was the talk, discuss, talk some more aspect of swinging. This new couple didn’t even so much as discuss the repercussions of what would happen after entering the bedroom with this other couple. Maybe it’s just me, but it’s usually not that simple to meet a new couple and the next night you are hoping into bed with them without even discussing it with your significant other. A scene was required to show the new couple talking about the possibilities and the jealousy.
On a side note, the show did come across as realistic in certain aspects so if you are a couple reading this review and you have never swapped before, this show is giving you a decent representation of what it’s like to be a swinger. As for the best-friend neighbour freaking out bit that seemed a little much, most people we have encountered seem more curious about the lifestyle and no one has ever frowned upon it to our faces. The drugs are there still in today’s swinging world as they were back then in the 70s as shown by the coke addicted mother, but wow are these folks way open about their marriage! To just offer your new neighbour drugs and tell her you are in an open marriage is probably way more than most folk could handle in today’s world, but being on TV, I guess they had to cut to the chase and get to the swinging business. When all four of them get up and walk into the bedroom and then it cuts to the prude neighbour madly cleaning her oven, that scene is bound to go down as a swinging classic! On a closing note, very happy they showed the new couple having a good time by themselves after the swinging event as that’s what it’s about for most swinging couples. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, swinging isn’t cheating it’s about taking your already wonderful sex life to the next level. Most couples in the lifestyle would agree, after a night out playing with another couple, your sex life takes a hit of Nitro and the sex tends to hit a new plateau.
Swingtown is a good representation of what the lifestyle is like in today’s world except that it isn’t that easy to meet a new couple willing to have sex with you. And the fact that everyone got along and everyone was attractive is another ‘real world’ issue that would have to be dealt with. Will we continue watching it? Yes - Will it continue to be broadcast on CBS? Probably not, would be better suited as a late night show on Showtime or Bravo network in our opinion. Bottom line, a good introduction to the world of swinging with a great soundtrack to boot!
