TVSquad

Things don't look good for our favorite wife-swapping, bad clothes-wearing, Tab-drinking characters: CBS is moving Swingtown to Friday nights at 10pm.

Why, you ask? Well, the ratings have been going downhill, and I think this is the first indication that the show won't see a second season (Friday nights are where network shows go to die). But CBS seems to think more of Flashpoint, the action/cop show that currently airs on Friday nights (in short, it gets better ratings than Swingtown). Flashpoint is going to replace Swingtown in the Thursday at 10pm slot.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I haven't seen Flashpoint. As for Swingtown, although I have a lot of problems with it, I do know that it has had me tuning in every Thursday night (well, OK, on DVR - I have to watch Burn Notice live!). I want to see what happens to these characters.

[via TV Tattle]

(S01E07) "Most valuable lesson: it's all about relationships."

That would seem to be the motto for Swingtown. It is all about relationships. On the marriage front, Tom and Trina's open marriage, which has been the model for marital bliss till now, has hit the rocks. Okay, maybe not the rocks, but there have been some rough waters.

• At 8, CBS has a new Greatest American Dog.
• NBC has a new, two hour Last Comic Standing at 8, followed by a new Fear Itself.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, then a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• HGTV has all new episodes starting at 8: Designed To Sell, Myles of Style, Rate My Space, Extreme Living, and House Hunters.
• Also at 8: Cartoon Network has a new Chowder, then new episodes of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Total Drama Island.
• At 9, TBS has a new Bill Engvall Show, followed by a new My Boys.
• History Channel has a new Modern Marvels at 9, then a new The Works.
• At 10, ABC has a new Hopkins.
• CBS has a new Swingtown at 10.
• There's a new Burn Notice on USA at 10.
• Food Network has a new Ace of Cakes at 10.
• Spike has a new TNA Impact at 10.
• Bravo has a new Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List at 10.
• The new Gong Show premieres on Comedy Central at 10. It's followed by the premiere of Reality Bites Back.
• Showtime has a new Penn & Teller's Bullshit at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

(S01E06) Where would Swingtown be without parties? Every week seems to revolve around some kind of get together; it's becoming predictable. This week it was a country club charity function, and while it was hardly a scene as fraught with sexual tension as some of the other scenes in previous episodes, Tom and Trina did wind up in a three-way.

The menage a trois, which was rather graphically depicted, was not the most interesting aspect to Tom and Trina's marriage. The more we get to know these two and their open marriage, the more we see that they really do love each other and enjoy their partnership. But they also take full advantage of the freedom of the lifestyle they've chosen.

• At 8, CBS has the premiere of Greatest American Dog.
• TLC has two new episodes of Monster Garage at 8, then a new American Chopper.
• Versus has more coverage of the Tour de France at 8.
• There's a new Chowder on Cartoon Network at 9, followed by new episodes of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Total Drama Island.
• At 9, NBC has a new, two hour Last Comic Standing.
• TBS has a new Bill Engvall Show at 9, followed by a new My Boys.
• History Channel has a new Modern Marvels at 9, then a new episode of The Works.
• Hallmark has the new movie A Gunfighter's Pledge at 9.
• At 10, CBS has a new Swingtown.
• ABC has a new Hopkins at 10.
• USA has the season premiere of Burn Notice at 10.
• Also at 10: Bravo has a new Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Advertisers are starting to bail on the controversial CBS drama Swingtown.

This is predictable, if a little confusing. What exactly did the advertisers think they were sponsoring? (In the case of Dannon Yogurt, actually no - they just bought rotating advertising on CBS and didn't know when their ads would appear.) When they were told the show was about swapping, did they think it was recipes? And isn't the show on at 10 PM and come with a warning at the beginning? Proctor & Gamble won't advertise on the show at all.

How much of Swingtown is real and how much is pure fiction? According to Mike Kelley, Swingtown's creator, there are elements in the show that come right from his childhood memories of growing up on the North Shore, a trendy suburb of Chicago. But the sex and the swinging? That's mostly creative license.

So were there really sex parties and swinging in the Kelley home? "You know, it comes from imagination, for the most part."

Inspired by 1976, the era of women's liberation, disco-dancing, the end of the Vietnam War, and sexual freedom thanks to the pill and no AIDS, Kelley balances the fantastic elements with nostalgia.

(S01E05) What does Nadia Comenici, civil liberties, Harry Reems and bowling have in common? They were all woven into this very topical episode of Swingtown, one of the best of this summer series thus far.

The undercurrent of swinging and sex was still there, but the theme of the show was more about choice and control, who makes them and and who has it.

The Millers aren't in synch. In fact, Susan is the first to say it out loud, turning to Trina for guidance. I really like how the women on this show are becoming more real with each episode and less types. Trina is so much more than the wanton from the pilot.

• At 8, NBC has a new, two hour Last Comic Standing, then a new Fear Itself.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, followed by a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• At 9, TBS has a new Bill Engvall Show, then a new My Boys.
• HGTV has a new Rate My Space at 9.
• At 10, ABC has a new Hopkins.
• CBS has a new Swingtown at 10.
• Sundance has a new Live From Abbey Road at 10, with David Gray and Suzanne Vega.
• Also at 10: Bravo has a new Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List.
• At 10:30, History Channel has a new Surviving History.
• Comedy Central has a new Reno 911 at 10:30.

Check your local TV listings for more.

(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.

• ESPN has the NBA Draft all night.
• At 8, NBC has a new, two hour Last Comic Standing, then a new Fear Itself.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, followed by a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• More George Carlin on HBO2 starting at 8: What Am I Doin' In New Jersey?, Doin' It Again, Jammin' in New York, Back in Town, You Are All Diseased, and It's Bad For Ya.
• At 9, TBS has a new Bill Engvall Show, then a new My Boys.
• There's a new American Chopper on TLC at 9.
• HGTV has a new Rate My Space at 9.
• At 10, CBS has a new Swingtown.
• ABC has the premiere of Hopkins at 10.
• History Channel has a new Surviving History at 10.
• Spike has a new TNA Impact at 10.
• Also at 10: Bravo has a new My Life on the D-List.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911.

Check your local TV listings for more.

(S01E03) Consider this episode of Swingtown a case of being betwixt and between. The Millers have been in their new home all of two weeks and so much has happened to shake their foundation; Susan especially seems like the song "caught in the middle with you." Does she want to be the good wife going to church and being satisfied with the way they were, her and Bruce, back in the old neighborhood? Or is she ready to embrace swinging?

She's at first drawn back to Janet and Roger and the old ways. Because she's still perturbed by the business card she found in Bruce's pants from the Playboy Club, the one from Sylvia suggesting a get together, Susan drags her family to Sunday services for a little God-time. Impulsively, when chatting with Janet, Susan announces that she's having a housewarming and wants Janet's help. It's like she's clinging to a simpler past.

• At 8, FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, followed by a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• TLC has a new Overhaulin' at 8, then a new American Chopper.
• At 8:30, NBC has a new Last Comic Standing, then a new Fear Itself.
• At 9, TBS has a new Bill Engvall Show, followed by a new My Boys.
• At 10, CBS has a new Swingtown.
• There's a new Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List at 10 on Bravo.
• Showtime has a new Penn & Teller's Bullshit at 10.
• Also at 10: Sundance Channel has a new Live From Abbey Road, with Mary J. Blige, James Blunt, and Dashboard Confessional.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911.

Check your local TV listings for more.

(S01E02) So, now things are starting to get interesting with Bruce and Susan and Tom and Trina and Janet and Roger. Oh, and there were also Brad and Sylvia who look great doing the hustle, and Paul and Martha who will never be invited back to the Thompsons after that awful dinner.

All in all, I'm getting hooked on Swingtown. It's a soap, no doubt about that. Being in 1976 is a time and a place and a specific social setting, but ultimately this show is about these characters and their intertwined lives. It's a serialized drama and rather addictive. More about the show after the jump, including all the happenings from tonight's show.

• At 8, ABC has another Celtics/Lakers game.
• CBS has a new Million Dollar Password (with Betty White!) at 8.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8, then a new So You Think You Can Dance.
• Also at 8: Cartoon Network has a new Chowder, then a new Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
• At 8:30, NBC has a new Last Comic Standing, followed by a new Fear Itself.
• At 9, TBS has the season premiere of The Bill Engvall Show, then the season premiere of My Boys.
• Bravo has the season premiere of My Life on the D List at 9, followed by The A List Awards.
• Spike has a new TNA Impact at 9.
• At 10, CBS has a new Swingtown.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911.

Check your local TV listings for more.