CBS May Have Trouble With New ‘Swingtown’
CBS new hit drama ‘Swingtown’ aired the pilot episode last night. The new show surrounds a conservative couple in 1976 that move into a new neighborhood where drugs and free love are everywhere.
Bruce (Jack Davenport) and Susan (Molly Parker) Miller are the new kids in town. Before they can unpack, their sex-crazed neighbors Tom (Grant Show) and Tina (Lana Parrilla) Decker show up at the front door. The Deckers invite the Millers to their all-you-can-mate picnic.
The Millers, like a pair of actors in a sleazy porn movie, are pulled into the world of free love and spouse swapping. This causes problems with their old neighbors, the Thompsons (Miriam Shor and Josh Hopkins), who are so conservative they make Bewitched snoop Gladys Kravitz look like a swinger.
Swingtown is full of dialogue that, while it might have sounded hip in the ’70s, today sounds like a bad Saturday Night Live skit. The series might eventually redeem itself as the consequences of all the sex, lies and drugs begin to unfold. Problem is, Swingtown’s not good enough to survive as a drama and not campy enough to be a guilty pleasure.