Unfortunately Swingtown’s First One is its only season. This program opened to bad press and criticism from groups that anticipated depravity and licentiousness paraded and glorified with the intent of corrupting today’s youth.
In actuality, Swingtown was a fairly accurate historical drama for a time when there were a lot of new ideas about life and living and people were naturally curious to explore territories with expanded boundaries.
Swingtown follows the lives of four families in the summer of 1976. Susan and Bruce Miller (Molly Parker and Jack Davenport) with their daughter Laurie (Shanna Collins) and son B. J. (Aaron Howles) are the pivotal family.
Bruce is a futures trader, and Susan is a wife and mother. Laurie develops a relationship with her summer school philosophy teacher Doug (Michael Rady), and B. J. meets an eccentric but intriguing girl next door.
Bruce and Susan become friends with Tom and Trina Decker,(Grant Show and Lana Parrilla) a couple they soon learn have an open marriage. Tom is a pilot and Trina was a stewardess when they met and married, and they introduce the Millers to the idea of following their exotic lifestyle.
This friendship poses some problems with the Miller’s other close friends Roger and Janet Thompson (Josh Hopkins and Miriam Shor) who live in the old neighborhood but aspire to the upscale life the Millers now enjoy.
On the surface, one might think Swingtown is only about experimentation with free love, but it has more depth and meaning in the episodes. The stories explore relationships, and attitudes more than just physical attraction, and reveal what the characters are thinking. This was a time of change in many areas and the drama reflects this in stories about women’s attempts to leave the traditional mother/wife /housekeeper role and have a career outside the home, and their family’s response to this action.
It also takes a look at how people viewed themselves in society, and the difficulties they had overcoming adherence to stereotypes and exploring what they actually wanted out of life. These are well written episodes and acted with skill giving the characters a life-like quality not often seen in today’s dramas. It is a shame this series was cancelled before it had a chance to gain a wider viewership.
Swingtown is presented on four discs in widescreen format, with a running time of 547 minutes. There are some very nice special features included with this set, The Spirit of ’76: The Making of Swingtown featurette explores the production of a historically accurate drama; Have a Nice Revolution: Sex & Morality in the 1970’s takes a look at what was happening in these times and gives another perspective to the show.
There are audio commentaries for episodes, a gag reel and deleted scenes. This is an excellent dramatic series, set in a historical time period, much less blatant sexually than most reality shows or teenage angst dramas on television today.
I would rate it “adult” because it is complex and well written, and requires thought to appreciate fully. Like the “Roaring Twenties” the 1970’s were a time of change when people had an opportunity to explore the realms outside the traditional.
Swingtown does not suggest that these exporations were good or bad, they just happened, and this show takes a look at some of the factors that existed that allowed these changes to occur.
Swingtown – The First Season is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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