This Friday CBS will air the last episode of Swingtown, but the question of the future for the show still remains unanswered. Is this the series finale or just the season finale? Fans are concerned and I've been contacted by one who has started a petition online to present to CBS, beseeching the network to give Swingtown a second season. If you want to sign up, click here.I've been reviewing Swingtown since it premiered earlier this summer and I've liked the show. In fact, it's grown on me and if I were in a position to make the call, I'd give Swingtown an order for 13 more episodes. Yes, the series has not been a ratings hit, I'll give you that. However, it has created a lot of buzz and media coverage.
To me, Swingtown is the kind of show that given time could develop a strong following. It's worth noting that not every hit show is a hit out of the gate. Seinfeld was nearly canceled in the first season. The Office had terrible reviews and was looking like a pale imitation of the BBC version. If you want an example of a primetime drama, rather than a sitcom, Dynasty didn't take off till Joan Collins showed up.
These Swingtown fans aren't asking for blood, peanuts or trees like the Moonlight, Jericho and October Road folks, respectively. I don't know what would tie in with Swingtown... Any suggestions, or do you think signatures on a petition will do?
One final thought, CBS president Nina Tassler has championed Swingtown from the start. She seems to be fighting for the show, and recently, there's been some talk that the network is looking for a home for Swingtown on cable. I hope it stays on CBS, but cable might be a better outlet for Swingtown. The rating's expectations wouldn't be as high and the censorship wouldn't be as tough.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-02-2008 @ 3:22PM
Bob Sassone said...
How about cans of Tab?
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9-02-2008 @ 4:30PM
JFTA said...
Or maybe quualudes?
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9-02-2008 @ 4:34PM
MarcDom7 said...
Question marks (like in the scavenger hunt episode)
Or condoms! (OH NOES!)
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9-02-2008 @ 4:44PM
Wanda said...
Save this pile of promiscuous garbage? You have GOT to be kidding me!
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9-02-2008 @ 5:13PM
Carissa said...
Hey Wanda...please tell me you don't watch Mad Men. That will make me happy.
9-02-2008 @ 10:12PM
MarcDom7 said...
If that's all you think the show is, Wanda, you clearly don't watch it.
9-02-2008 @ 5:29PM
Argus said...
If thiis gets a renew when Moonlight didn't I will be most crushed. Booo Nina.
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9-02-2008 @ 6:14PM
Stacie said...
What about mini disco balls?
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9-02-2008 @ 6:33PM
MERVE-THE-PERVE said...
You just know Naughty Nina is holding out for sex toys. She is going to be so disappointed if all she gets is a lousy petition. Any petition or mail she gets goes straight into the trash. But send her a few thousand 'neck massagers' and you just may have a shot.
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9-02-2008 @ 8:20PM
lucyfan62 said...
I've got some old 8-Tracks I could send! And you forgot to mention that KNOTS LANDING also didn't take off until season two with the introduction of Donna Mills as Abby - and that show went on to run for 14 seasons and only 13 episodes less than DALLAS! SWINGTOWN started out in KL's old time slot so I was hoping CBS would see the potential it has to grow. Shifting it to Friday was a mistake.
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9-03-2008 @ 12:51PM
MARILOUISE KAMPPI said...
How about an aids epidemic? This show needs removed from the air forever.
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9-03-2008 @ 1:35PM
MarcDom7 said...
Once again, it seems you do not watch the show, otherwise you wouldn't be so quick to judge it based on premise alone.
9-03-2008 @ 8:17PM
Greg69Sheryl said...
Swingtown is a period drama set in 1976, several years before AIDS was identified, so the disease is not relevant to the show.
9-03-2008 @ 2:05PM
Patti said...
I see the angry Moonlight mob is here again.
I would love for this show to stay on the air, hopefully on a network/cable venue I subscribe to. It is much more than just swinging and sex, its a window into the past that brings many fans much needed relief from death, dismemberment, and treachery that is on every CSI episode. I hope Nina Tassler can pull this off.
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9-03-2008 @ 2:40PM
rechercher said...
Also the only prime-time CBS viewing at our HUT. Based on the first few episodes, we had low-to-no expectations for this show (frankly, thought it would be off by now)--and it's still not *great* television--but it is pretty good, and we are invested enough in the characters to wonder what might happen in a second season.
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9-03-2008 @ 3:10PM
ProgGrrl said...
Dang, tough room in here ! o_0
I really like this show, I'm gonna miss it. And, as I and many of us have noted several times during its run as ratings slowly went down: if this had been on cable, it would get renewed. The number of people who watched it LAST FRIDAY on CBS would be a through-the-roof ratings hit for cable.
I hope it survives, it's nice to know that CBS's Tassler is rooting for it. All I've ever heard reported of her saying about it is "the ratings are dissappointing"...but seriously, do they think any serious, thoughtful, adult drama like this will be a ratings gangbuster? It's quality, not quantity, of viewers that counts with these shows. Viewers of shows like this should be catnip for high end advertisers. Is the sexy subject is scaring some of them away?
Then again, that's the argument we made for STUDIO 60 too...and that didn't end well.
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9-03-2008 @ 6:25PM
auriana said...
Are you kidding me?! This show was awful when it began and just got worse as it went on. CBS does need to get out of the CSI rut but please, not by keeping this on the air.
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9-03-2008 @ 8:09PM
Greg & Sheryl said...
Swingtown is the only prime-time series that we wacth on CBS. We'd hate to see it go. Although it could be a little racier on a cable network, we're happy with the show just the way it is.
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9-04-2008 @ 2:27AM
francis said...
The buzz of swingtown is mostly negative. So if the handful of fans want to save it, go on. I don't give it much chance.
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9-04-2008 @ 4:56PM
xerxes said...
Wow, I don't even understand why the Moonlight lovers are even slagging Swingtown any more. They have "True Blood", what else do you want? They kind of remind me of that Rodney Dangerfield joke, "our football team was so tough, after they sack the quarterback, they went after his family."
Give it a rest already. BTW, CBS is asking fans for their input of favorite scenes so they can prepare a compilation "to tide us over" according to the site administrator. Hope that means "tide us over" till they announce a renewal. Also, we've heard from a CBS affiliate insider that clips of Swingtown have been sent with the fall package, which he says is never done unless a show is coming back. Methinks there is good news on the horizon when CBS tells the PTC, the ADA, and the Million Mothers to get out of town and the horse they rode in on. BTW, hope they take after 90210 with the same zeal after they showed a teen giving a blowjob in a car -- something that was never even remotedly hinted at on 'Swingtown'. Go figure.