In the days leading up to June 5th, 2008, many swingers across America were worried. Some began pulling their photos off their online profiles or changing their displayed locations to remote places like Antarctica in order to make themselves less noticable. At the same time, moral conservatives across the country were also in a worried frenzy. The unusual thing is that these two very different groups were worried about the same thing... The premier of the controversial new CBS drama, Swingtown.
That night, swingers across the country were either glued to their TVs or had their DVR's programmed to record. In fact, I'd wager that more swingers congregated together on the Thursday of June 5th than did on the subsequent Friday and Saturday night. As I sat to watch the first episode of Swingtown with a dozen or so other lifestylers, we crossed our fingers and prepared ourselves to be mortified by what we were about so see. Since the announcement of the show by CBS nearly a year ago, many of us have been dreading the ramifications of our cult being exposed to the to mainstream America. Then when it was revealed that the show was going to be set in the 1970s, our fears multiplied as images of cheesy and sleazy swinger stereotypes danced through our collective imaginations. After all, the swinging lifestyle has a long history of being a misrepresented and unfairly derided by the mainstream media. Why should this be any different?
As we watched the premier I was surprised, relieved and even a little shocked to find that Swingtown was very well done. I was intrigued that the show seemed to have gotten so many things right, from the clothing and the music of the 1970s, to the attitudes and motivations of newbies, vanillas and seasoned swingers. The show, which throws an unsuspecting married couple into the burgeoning 1976 swinging scene of suburban Chicago seems to be written by people who definitely have some understanding of the lifestyle, because... I want to live next door to the Deckers.
Lana Parrilla & Grant Show as the experienced swingers, Trina and Tom Decker
Trina and Tom Decker are the 1970s version of the uberswingers of today: rich, beautiful, fashionable, naturally thin, childless, uninhibited, and connected to a great dealer. Their pad—and it truly is a pad—is the ultimate party house, with poolside bar. They are major 'converters.' In fact, coaxing the naughty wild side out of vanillas seems to be Trina's favorite game. And boy is she good at it! Within the first 40 minutes of the pilot episode she’d lured her new neighbors into her marital bed. I was worried at first that the Deckers would be portrayed as shallow sex addicts who ruthlessly wreck marriages for their own sexual satisfaction. But by the second episode, we were shown that Trina and Tom were a perfectly normal suburban couple in every other way. She jogs and goes grocery shopping. He works as an airline pilot and hangs out with his buddies.
Molly Parker and Jack Davenport as swinger newbies, Susan and Bruce Miller.
Swingtown's main focus is on Susan and Bruce Miller, a married couple with two teenagers who move into the house across the street from the Deckers. The entire Miller family was obviously carefully crafted by the writers to make them the most instantly relatable and likable characters on the show. While many of us already involved in the swinging lifestyle will probably relate to the Deckers way of life, the majority of mainstream married Americans will probably see a reflection of themselves in Susan and Bruce Miller. They are "The Everycouple." It is their unexpected journey out of the traditional sexual boundaries of a matrimony that will undoubtedly spark interesting conversations between many couples across America. While I doubt that the show stands to convince millions of vanillas to swap partners... many swinger dating web sites did report a very noticeable spike in their new memberships immediately after the premier of Swingtown in early June.
Miriam Shor & Josh Hopkins as the very vanilla, Janet & Roger Thompson.
Counterbalancing the wild and open nature of the Deckers are the Miller's best friends and former neighbors, Janet and Bruce Thompson. The Thompsons, while good, kind-hearted people, are the embodiment of repression, inhibition and self denial. They're such the polar opposites of the Deckers that in some scenes it's almost impossible not to picture Trina and Janet as a little "Angel & Devil" sitting on Susan's shoulders... the wonderful thing is that it's unclear which one of them is the Angel and which is the Devil. Trina is one side of her, pulling her to open up, to let go of convention and embrace the world as men might. Janet is her other side, pulling her to be the good girl and do as she is expected and acceptable in our culture. While it initially seemed like the uptight Janet Thompson was being groomed to be the show's antagonist, the writers have taken a much smarter and more interesting approach with her. They begin to give us little glimpses of the cracks in Janet's uber-disciplined exterior which hint at a very different person just begging to come out. While I started out disliking Janet for being a typical uptight and judgmental vanilla, I began to find myself feeling sorry for her and even rooting for her because I so badly wanted her to let loose, relax and allow herself to have some fun. I wouldn't be surprised if viewers across the country felt just as thrilled as I did when, in episode four, Janet gets stoned, plays Twister with swingers and goes skinny-dipping. She's back to her old self after sobering up... But that episode endeared her character to me in a way I never thought possible.
Susan and Bruce take their first steps into swinging while at Trina and Tom's 4th of July party.
The actual "swinging" scenes in Swingtown are exceedingly tame. I suspect that the producers wanted to make sure viewers would sign off on the mere concept of the show without beating “These people have sex with other couples!" into their heads too much. I hope that as the series progresses they spice up the sex scenes a little.
One of my biggest fears was that Swingtown would have a misogynistic tone to it. Much to the contrary, Swingtown does a more than decent job of reminding us of the women’s lib issues of the day. Susan, when asked her occupation by a successful female lawyer, says in a somewhat ashamed tone, "I'm just a housewife." The show is as much about Susan’s awakening as a female being—someone with power, someone with a voice, with ideas and ambitions beyond her house, her children and her husband—as it is about the sexual revolution as a whole. Susan is the women's movement boiled down into one heart and one mind.
The surprising lack of sexual chemistry between the women on the show thus far is a lost opportunity for the producers and writers. To me it’s the show’s loudest misfire into the swinging culture. The majority of real lifestyle women are bisexual, yet all the couplings on the show thus far have been purely heterosexual. They haven't even shown so much as a hint of bisexual behavior on Trina's part... and so far, she hasn't been the type of character to bottle up her thoughts and desires. Hopefully that will change as the season progresses. By showing even a glimmer of sexual attraction or interaction between the women on the show, the writers of Swingtown would nudge open a door that might allow tens of thousands of female viewers across the country release the deep shame they feel about their sexuality.
Swingtown has some interesting secondary story lines involving the Miller's teenage daughter, Laurie, and son, B.J. (Whose name strikes me as the writers' way of playfully saying "Fuck You" to the network censors). Their stories involves first love, obsession and other typical coming of age themes. It's interesting to me that every member of the Miller family is involved in some form of 'forbidden love' (the parents with the lifestyle, B.J. with the neighbor girl and Laurie with her high school teacher). I like that the Millers have children, because we get to see them balance their private adult activities with parenthood, just as so many real life swingers do. But I wouldn't mind seeing a little less of it … and more hot swinging.
You may have noticed that I haven't spoken much about the men on the show. Maybe I’m too distracted by Lana Parilla, who plays Trina Decker with luscious, sticky perfection, to notice the husbands. Compared to the women, the characters of the three husbands seem somewhat flat. But that may be intentional. After all, in the real swinging lifestyle it is typically the women who get most of the attention.
Other lifestyle themes that swingers should be pleased to see that the show got correct include: The amazing sex that spouses have with each other after a swinging experience. Unexpected jealousy and insecurity, even from the most confident of people. The honesty and openness in a relationship that can result from entering the lifestyle. How swinging makes you loosen up in general and teaches you not to take life so seriously. The writers even get some of the lifestyle’s subtler nuances correct, too.
Regardless of how you feel about the quality of the show or the story lines, Swingtown is a major step forward for people in open relationships everywhere. For the first time, swingers are being portrayed as human beings with feelings above their belts, and heads on their shoulders. It's ironic that CBS, known for being the grandparents' channel, may be responsible for a paradigm shift in American culture's unhealthy attitude toward sexuality. Will Swingtown survive beyond the summer season? The jury’s still out on that. Frankly, I'm both amazed and encouraged that it has managed to survive past the first episode, without CBS studios being buried in an avalanche of morally righteous hate mail. Even if the show gets cancelled, seeing swingers portrayed as complex, multifaceted people has been a moving and vindicating experience for many of us. For decades, the swinger community has gotten used to being constantly misrepresented by the mainstream media, regarding us with disgust and slander. But with Swingtown... it feels like we finally won something.
Thank you CBS... It's a nice feeling.
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