Way back in July 2007, TV Squad wrote about a bunch of shows CBS previewed and were slating for the upcoming season, including Swingtown. It was supposed to premiere in mid-season, but then mid-season came and it was nowhere to be found. The network will announce today their plans for the serial drama; it's going to run this summer. Instead of taking that move as a lack of faith in the show, executive producer Carol Barbee told The Hollywood Reporter that a summer run creatively suits the project. "A summer launch is perfect for Swingtown since the pilot takes place on the Bicentennial Fourth of July," Barbee said. Barbee has most recently been working on Jericho.Swingtown is a continuing drama set in 1976 about the lives of some suburban Chicago couples who decide to try "swinging." You know, swapping partners, sexual experimentation, key parties. The pilot has some familiar faces, including Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean), Grant Show (Melrose Place), Molly Parker (Deadwood), and Josh Hopkins (Brothers and Sisters).
Since Swingtown is a continuing drama, like Lost -- but with a lot more soap, it should play better straight through, which was CBS's original idea for the mid-season run. That was before the WGA strike. The strike shut down production in November. They have only recently resumed filming.
Swingtown will premiere on Thursday, May 29, 10:00-11:00 p.m.
[via TheFutonCritic.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-05-2008 @ 4:25PM
Seth Brower said...
I will check this out for Mr. Davenport, I am a great fan of his work on the BBC series Coupling, not the horrid NBC attempt at the same thing.
I was rather amused when I placed him in the Pirates movies watching it in the theater.
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3-05-2008 @ 4:38PM
mike m said...
having seen the pilot, i can tell you that his american accent(when you've seen him act in coupling) isn't extremely believable like Hugh Laurie's.
3-05-2008 @ 9:39PM
bc said...
Yes, but neither was William F. Buckley's, and he was born here. I'm not sure I entirely understand TV executives' certainty that Americans won't accept stars who speak with accents, since there's quite a bit of regional variation in US speech as well. Sure, someone speaking their native Geordie or Glaswegian might be harder to understand than RP, but then so would someone speaking Gullah or Cajun.
3-06-2008 @ 2:50AM
mike m said...
BC,
you miss my point. Having seen the first episode, I can tell you he speaks with an American accent. The problem is, it isn't really a very good one. It would be like an American doing a generic English accent in a show that took place in Manchester. The accent just doesn't cut it. It's still good, but as someone that KNOWS Davenport's work, it was hard not to hear it, and it stuck out. Laurie, who I knew from the J&W days as well as the "A bit of..." days, has a very believable accent.
Personally, I don't understand why they didn't let Davenport use his native accent, or a variation of it like Sarah Alexander did for her role in the US version of Teachers.
3-05-2008 @ 4:37PM
mike m said...
I've seen the premier...it's pretty good. I'll tune in.
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3-05-2008 @ 6:30PM
jordancda said...
I was thinking the same thing...that I'd give it a whirl because of Davenport even though the plot doesn't fascinate me.
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