NEW YORK - Relax, everybody. Despite its racy come-on, the new CBS drama “Swingtown” isn't pushing recreational drugs and mate swapping, any more than it endorses smoking on airplanes or drinking Harvey Wallbangers, which are also part of the 1970s world it inhabits.
Granted, one of the show's three married couples are swingers, a sexy husband and wife always looking for attractive new playmates.
“Opening up our relationship was the best thing that ever happened to me and Tom,” Trina tells Susan, who, with husband Bruce and their two kids, has just moved across the street in this upscale Chicago suburb.
It's July 1976 - the nation's much-awaited bicentennial - and the party Tom and Trina are throwing is heating up.
In their open marriage they have reached “this whole other level of intimacy,” Trina explains, washing down a pill with a sip of champagne, then offering one to Susan. “Quaalude? It will take the edge off.”
You can probably guess where this is headed, even as you wonder how the heck “Swingtown” landed on CBS and not, say, HBO.
Simple. “Swingtown” turns out not to be “That '70s Partner-Swapping Show.” Instead, it's much more like “thirtysomething” in an earlier era. Call it “nineteen-seventies-something.” It's an entertaining drama populated by likable, relatable people sharing modern life experiences, few of which require taking off their clothes.
Tom (played by Grant Show, one-time hunk on “Melrose Place”) is a dashing airline pilot whose wife (Lana Parrilla), a former stewardess, is among the many stewardesses he's been with. But she's the only one he loves - and the only one to whom he brings other stewardesses for the occasional menage a trois.
Susan (played by Molly Parker) is married to Bruce (Jack Davenport), a commodities trader on the rise. With his latest promotion, he has moved the family to a bigger house in a fancier area.
As with a lot of what she deals with, Susan has mixed feelings about her family's upgraded status. She feels like she's betraying her best friend, Janet, whom she left behind in her old, squarely middle-class neighborhood.
“To be honest, change is good,” Susan rationalizes. “I feel like I'm ready for the next thing.”
But all Janet can see is more of the same thing as wife of milquetoast Roger (Josh Hopkins) and mother of a teenage son who wants his own distance.
What will be the impact of the '70s on Janet and the other characters?
Open marriage?
“It's not cheating,” Trina maintains. “It's the opposite, actually.”
What you see on “Swingtown” isn't risque behavior but the issues underlying the choices made, along with their consequences. Assuming you weren't there for real, “Swingtown” opens you up so you might ask yourself: What would I have done?
That's always a good question for drama to inspire.
On TV
What: “Swingtown”
When: 10 tonight
Channel: CBS
“Opening up our relationship was the best thing that ever happened to me and Tom,” Trina tells Susan, who, with husband Bruce and their two kids, has just moved across the street in this upscale Chicago suburb.
It's July 1976 - the nation's much-awaited bicentennial - and the party Tom and Trina are throwing is heating up.
In their open marriage they have reached “this whole other level of intimacy,” Trina explains, washing down a pill with a sip of champagne, then offering one to Susan. “Quaalude? It will take the edge off.”
You can probably guess where this is headed, even as you wonder how the heck “Swingtown” landed on CBS and not, say, HBO.
Simple. “Swingtown” turns out not to be “That '70s Partner-Swapping Show.” Instead, it's much more like “thirtysomething” in an earlier era. Call it “nineteen-seventies-something.” It's an entertaining drama populated by likable, relatable people sharing modern life experiences, few of which require taking off their clothes.
Tom (played by Grant Show, one-time hunk on “Melrose Place”) is a dashing airline pilot whose wife (Lana Parrilla), a former stewardess, is among the many stewardesses he's been with. But she's the only one he loves - and the only one to whom he brings other stewardesses for the occasional menage a trois.
Susan (played by Molly Parker) is married to Bruce (Jack Davenport), a commodities trader on the rise. With his latest promotion, he has moved the family to a bigger house in a fancier area.
As with a lot of what she deals with, Susan has mixed feelings about her family's upgraded status. She feels like she's betraying her best friend, Janet, whom she left behind in her old, squarely middle-class neighborhood.
“To be honest, change is good,” Susan rationalizes. “I feel like I'm ready for the next thing.”
But all Janet can see is more of the same thing as wife of milquetoast Roger (Josh Hopkins) and mother of a teenage son who wants his own distance.
What will be the impact of the '70s on Janet and the other characters?
Open marriage?
“It's not cheating,” Trina maintains. “It's the opposite, actually.”
What you see on “Swingtown” isn't risque behavior but the issues underlying the choices made, along with their consequences. Assuming you weren't there for real, “Swingtown” opens you up so you might ask yourself: What would I have done?
That's always a good question for drama to inspire.
On TV
What: “Swingtown”
When: 10 tonight
Channel: CBS
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