By Elaine B

First off, thanks to my brilliant DVR for catching this week’s episode at 2am Saturday when our local station decided to air it, since it had been cut for an NFL pregame. This is not odd. This is not indicative of the show’s future, but other things are.

What is of greater concern for fans hoping for a Season 2 is that the storylines are moving toward resolution – and quite nicely – making it unclear what would be left for next year.

And once again, the nicest and best-grounded couple on the show are Tom and Trina, whose advice to Susan and Bruce is right on. Tom notes how parents are always to put their oxygen masks on first, then help their kids. “Take care of yourself first,” he tells her. Trina never really gets a chance to say anything to Bruce, who talks about how he had such well-ordered plans that went all wrong. When she tries to get him to deal with priorities, he interrupts her to say, “God forbid life should throw you a real curve ball.” [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown, Uncategorized by Elaine
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By Elaine B

Back in my early employment days, I landed a job at a small business publication. To be fair, the same cuteness factor that kept me from driving a bus landed me this one. It was not in journalism, my field, but in sales, which I truly hate but any job is better than none. I had a small windowless office and without warning, on about day two of my employment, a heavyset older man wandered in, sat down, closed the door, lit a cigar and said, “Has anyone ever told you that you have a beautiful bosom?” Then he proceeded to silently puff away, the cloud of smoke rising to ceiling where it accumulated and began to grow and fall toward us. Just about the time I was fairly convinced that my visitor and I were going to die of asphyxiation, someone came in and rescued me.

Ah, to have been Janet in that moment, when, though new to her temp job, she had the balls to tell her lecherous new boss at the Daily Sun where he needed to keep his hands, or her husband would come and beat the man up. Roger? She hardly needed him.

Nope, Roger is off visiting the psychiatrist where he confesses that he thinks he is in love with his wife’s best friend. “Friendship and marriage are two different things,” the woman cautiously tells him (probably because, having met Janet, she is terrified of giving him any other advice). But shouldn’t they be the same person? he asks. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown, Uncategorized by Elaine
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By Elaine B
Those of us who came of age in the late ’60s and early ’70s were part of the “accommodating generation.” First, we accommodated our what-will-the-neighbors-think ’50s parents until we broke free and went far away to college where we could accommodate ourselves for a change. There we shed our bras and joined communes and expanded our minds with illegal substances and protested an unpopular war and got arrested. Then the most turbulent generation of the last century settled down and heaved a big sigh of relief that we had survived the mess and went on to become stuffy accommodaters of our children - some of whom now have parents so accommodating that they have not left home to this day.

The problem with the characters on Swingtown is they missed all the fun of accommodating themselves. And now, with children who might be scandalized by their behavior, they are finally trying to find their way in secret. But no one has done as marvelous a job as Janet (and to be fair, Roger) does in the Aug. 8 episode. Hopefully you have DVR so you could watch the incredible Olympic opening ceremony (a dramatic, precise and overblown event that Nazi architect Albert Speer would likely have appreciated) and catch Swingtown, too. If not, CBS.com offers full episodes for viewing on their website a few days after they have aired on the network. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown, Uncategorized by Elaine
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By ElaineB
Near the end of the latest episode of Swingtown, Janet, in shock at what she’d discovered in a single night, confesses to Tom that “I can’t be that kind of woman.” She doesn’t mean loose, though that is a part of it. She means wild, sexy, free. Tom says she underestimates herself, she is a beautiful woman. Then he kisses her. A friend watching the scene with me raised his fist in the air. “Tom kicks ass!” he said. “He’s so smooth … like a white Billy Dee Williams.”

Yes, Grant Show fans, the former Melrose Place star is finally bringing Tom’s character to light and it is good. Tom and Trina are the powerhouse couple on this series for their honesty, their insight and their incredible ability to put people at ease in the most uneasy of situations. But more on that later. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown, Uncategorized by Elaine
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By ElaineB

Last week I assumed that the Bruce who came home, immediately needed a shower and looked so miserable and guilty, must have been doing more than lusting after sweet Melinda. Had my mind not been in the gutter, I would have realized that he was only sweaty, likely reeked of smoke and probably a bit of Melinda’s perfume. And he felt guilty because, gee, he really wanted to do something.

This, of course, is only revealed later in the episode, which features another delightful throwback to the ’70s, the scavenger hunt. But Trina’s Puzzlerama also reminds me of the era of unlocked doors and trusting neighbors. These were people that held potluck marathons (appetizer in one home, salad in the next, etc.), neighborhood parties, and who gave each other housekeys. I still live in a neighborhood like that, but I know how rare and precious they are. So Trina asking Susan and Bruce to step out of their own house was not unheard of and I must say, the game was as charming as she is. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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By ElaineB
Just as I predicted, Swingtown is moving to Fridays at 9 beginning this week (July 25). The Canadian drama Flashpoint which, even if you are not a fan of police dramas, you ought to check out, moves into the Swingtown time slot.

According to CBS, the new slot will remain in effect for the rest of the season for both shows. Some believe this is the beginning of the end for our weekly flashback to the seventies.

At the Television Critics Association press tour last week, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said of Swingtown, “I love the show. Everybody knows how passionate I’ve been about it. I wish the ratings were better … but right now, we’re behind the show and we are proud of it.”

On the other hand, ratings don’t need to be quite so good on Fridays, something of a throw-away night for the networks, so keep your fingers crossed that it isn’t canceled or, if it is, the network at least ties up the story line. If anyone out there was a fan of the aptly named Vanished, they know how quickly – and how badly – a series can end.

If Swingtown does have a full run, it will end on Sept. 26 as a new fall show premieres in its time slot a week later.

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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By Elaine B
There’s one magical thing about oppressive summer heat. When you’re too hot to move and too sweaty to think about anything beyond showers, life slows down and you get introspective. This is an episode featuring plenty of sweat and deep thoughts and deceptions (most of them anyway) revealed.

The heat certainly gets to Trina, who pulls out her collection of her old photographs, finds a particularly nice one of Tom and, feeling lonesome, calls him in Tokyo. Unfortunately, he’s not there so Bobbie the stewardess answers his phone. From the background noise, Trina knows that Tom’s room has become party central – and she has a pretty good idea of what will happen next. To his credit, as soon as Tom gets home, with his crew and the buxom Bobbie with him, he confesses. Things are icy between the couple in spite of the heat. “You cheated,” she says. He tries to disagree, citing Bobbie is on their list. “Open and honest is how it works … and why it works,” Trina counters. She begins flirting with his co-pilot, and the outcome could make life awkward between the two pilots in the cockpit.
[Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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By Elaine B
Oddly, what struck me the hardest was the ads that aired during this episode of Swingtown. Great songs of the Sixties (and I know them all). One for a Perry Mason DVD. Perry Mason? What’s next, Viagra and nursing home insurance, local funeral parlors? Sometimes, it’s bad enough reliving the stupidity of my youth without being reminded of how loooong ago that was and how really ugly all that scalp and facial hair was. Better to try to sell us Corvettes and BMWs, the best of Saturday Night Live (with a clip on the Bass-o-Matic) or George Carlin DVDs, and a whole lot of image and self-improvement stuff because, frankly, anyone who watches Swingtown is not likely to have loved Perry Mason, even when they were 12. These ads indicate that you may be watching Swingtown on Fridays, if it renews, because that “old” demographic is home to watch.

But enough on the ads. This was an awesome – or dare I say “groovy” – episode, the best since the first one. Near the end of last week’s show, Susan commented to Bruce on the changes in their marriage, “It’s not about us, it’s about me.” This week, the same could be said for all the women. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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By ElaineB

Sometime in the ’70s (and it is probably a good thing I can’t remember exactly when), I got invited to my first Tupperware party. The young mom hosting it was, at that time, a lot like Janet – still trapped in expectations reminiscent of her own mother’s. I got as far as her front door. There her husband and mine and few other guys had congregated with a couple of six packs since they had nothing better to do and the house was off limits. I hung out with them for most of the party, then, like Trina, I just placed an order. The host became one of my closest friends because she changed, too. Once she confessed to me that after the party I did not attend, she thought she would never come to like me because we were so very different.

So are a lot of the characters on Swingtown. Susan, from the hair to the clothes, is a woman just made for flower power, but she got married too early and missed the heartbreak and fun. Janet, as noted, thinks life in the 50s was just fine, but there is a mélange of change in the air and she is more than a little curious. Roger just wishes his sex life was better, especially now that we know he only gets some every other Friday. And he lives with this because ….possibly because he has that old chivalrous view of wives. They set the schedule. He could try flowers, chocolate, spiking her brownies. Nope, he just lives with it and looks longingly Susan’s way. Here, it’s Bruce’s turn to be the conservative one, and though Susan is not liberated enough yet to notice, his attitude is dangerous.

[Read more →]

Tags: Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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By Elaine B
Funny how you post a recipe (or write it on a wall) and women start commenting on it. Possibly, it’s in our genes. Men hunt. Women gather. Men bring home large hunks of meat. Women start up the fire. That didn’t even change after women realized they could “bring home the bacon, and fry it up in a pan and …” well, you know the rest of the line. Women, for the most part, are still the organizers of nearly all social events except their own surprise parties (and a smart hubby will consult his wife’s closest girlfriend to help organize the guest list), and if guys are lucky, their wives will let them in what they are doing during the upcoming weekend.

In last night’s episode of Swingtown, Roger tries to back out of Janet’s weekend plans to head up to Door County with Bruce and Susan. He’s trying to distance himself from them after hearing from Bruce about that night of passion with their new neighbors. Roger says he has the flu – which, of course, is actually heart sickness that his worshipped-from-afar Susan would crawl between the sheets with a sleaze like Tom – and Janet bought it. [Read more →]

Tags: CBS, Drama, Swingtown by Elaine
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