TVSquad

(S01E04) It's only a matter of time before we hear "Love Will Keep Us Together" on Swingtown, because that seems to me to be the theme of this show. Oh, yes, there's some experimentation with open marriage, there's been indications that the Millers could become full-fledged swingers, but it's feeling more and more that sexual curiosity will not trumped abiding fidelity and true love.

So while Susan is talking a big game, she's really more into Bruce and their re-energized sex talk. I don't really think her inviting the Deckers to the Miller cabin by the lake was a move to have a wild weekend, although it sure looked like it was going in that direction -- until the previously invited Thompsons turned up.

How swinging is CBS's new summer series Swingtown? It's not swinging in the Sinatra-Rat Pack-ring-a-ding-ding way. No, this Swingtown is set in an era ten years later, specifically July 4, 1976, the bicentennial. But Swingtown, which premieres on Thursday at 10 PM ET, is not a nostalgic, optimistic wallow. However, It does evoke a time when America was undergoing a lot of change as the college kids from the late sixties were moving into the seven-year-itch of marriage, raising children, exploring boundaries.

Swingtown reminded me of Knots Landing meets Boogie Nights with a dollop of The Stepford Wives thrown in there, too (maybe it was those scenes in the supermarket). Superficially, there are elements of Swingtown, in particular the attention to detail in the production design and music, that are as spot on for 1976 as Mad Men was for 1960. When you see that pop-top can of Tab, you can't help but go back in time.