Swingtown is an American TV series about social and sexual liberation, which took place in the United States of America in the 70. The impact of changes is shown from the point of view of the residents of 'suburbs'. Swingtown premiered on June 5, 2008 on CBS.
The production created by Mike Kelley, is based on elements taken from his parents life, who were swingers in the 70.
Swingtown lasted only one season causing a lot of controversy and receiving extremely contra dictionary reviews - from "exhibits rare depth" ( Variety ) to "even skillful performances by its largely unknown cast aren't able to hide the lack of character development and the sense that the people in this series are almost self-parodies" (The Hollywood Reporter). Also reactions of the American society for Swingtown were extreme - from worshiping to boycott . Members of the American Families Association sent complaints to CBS trying to convince it to stop broadcasting the show. In effect some companies which were advertising in Swingtown (i.e. Protect & Gamble) decided to withdraw from participation in this production.
Swingtown shows the story of three families living in America in the 70 and the impact of the sexual revolution on people in this country. Episode after episode we can observe in what way the mentality of the characters, their way of thinking, their desires and expectations are changing. We see how particular decisions on crossing social and cultural boundaries affect their lives. On the one hand, we are witnessing emancipation of women, emergence of new pro activist, independently thinking generation, changes in the government (after Watergate), broadly defined social changes (including sexual revolution), and enlarging of generation gap. On the other hand, we see the disco era flourishing, openess towards homosexual people, lives of swingers, partner swaping, free use of drugs, open marriages and (not only swingers) parties lasting till dawn.
Swingtown in interesting way talks about advantageous and disadvantages of living in an open relationship as well as about advantageous and disadvantages of living in a monogamous relationship. Production explicitly shows that no life alternating changes are easy and openness requires courage, patience, determination and commitment of both partners. Interestingly enough, the show has a moralistic message indicating the destructive power of a lie and its consequences. Honesty and openness are the only solution, even though we know it’s not easy. All in all, Swingtown shows a significant difference between a mature, mutual, partnership decision on opening the door to the bedroom and a betrayal.
Apart from all the rest, we appreciate a good acting, great music from the 70's and nice shots that are important parts of Swingtown. We definitely had fun watching this series and therefore, we recommend it to those who didn’t see it yet.