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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.
Swingtown
EMAILPRINTSERIES: CBS, Thursday 10:00p (60 minutes)

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 107 votes
Read user comments
Rate this show >
Show Info
Genre(s): Drama
Created By: Mike Kelley
First Air Date: June 5, 2008
Summary
Starring Molly Parker, Jack Davenport, Grant Show, Lana Parrilla, Miriam Shor, Josh Hopkins, Shanna Collins, Aaron Howles, and Brittany Robertson
CBS attempts to turn up the heat with a drama about three couples in suburban Chicago who experience the cultural revolution of the 1970s.
Episode Guide & More Info: More about this show at TV.com
Also On The Web: Official Show Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
TimeJames Poniewozik
It's also, judging by the pilot, flawlessly art-directed, full of well-chosen period music and--for a drama about a country searching for its bearings in its bicentennial year--a lot of fun.
Read Full Review >VarietyBrian Lowry
This series about suburban angst circa 1976 exhibits rare depth for the procedural-packed web, and includes plenty of nifty touches, from the pop-song score and "Boogie Nights" fashions to the first-rate cast.
Read Full Review >Washington PostTom Shales
It's rather a bold, retro step for CBS to attempt this kind of show in the era of reality television and domestic fights that appear to be actual and spontaneous rather than cooked up by a writer. But the airwaves are so choked with reality that a return to fantasy seems strangely refreshing and, ironically, even more realistic.
Read Full Review >Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart
Once you get beyond the show’s homages, both to 1970s style and “Desperate Housewives,” this proves to be a groovy little summer soap opera.
Read Full Review >SlateTroy Patterson
The relative tameness of Swingtown makes the unease it provokes more inviting: You tune in to see the bodies and stick around for the minds.
Read Full Review >USA TodayRobert Bianco
The show itself, sad to say, is not done well enough to work. But it's not dull, and it's worth watching if only to try to figure out what CBS could have been thinking--beyond, "No one's going to confuse this with NCIS."
Read Full Review >The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Swingtown has ’70s mystique, but not much mystery.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara
Swingtown walks a fine line between being a period piece, down to the pudding cups, baseball shirts and snatches of the old "$10,000 Pyramid," and parody.
Read Full Review >Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Kelley's fascinating concept--the personal and sexual politics of an open marriage--is stifled by CBS prime-time superficiality and an inability to intimately explore intimate subject matter.
Read Full Review >New York PostLinda Stasi
Swingtown could have been great. Instead it's a hit-you-over-the-head production--with product placement and wardrobe so obvious it begs us to scream, "That's so authentic!"--best forgotten.
Read Full Review >Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
The sex is all implied rather than shown, as is much of the drug use. It's a very PG-13 approach to potentially R-rated subject matter--and that's the problem.
Read Full Review >Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Swingtown isn't just misguided because it's on the wrong network. The show's bigger problem is that the resident "squares" are much more interesting characters than the swingers at the core.
Read Full Review >San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Swingtown was created to portray a broad but nuanced picture of '70s suburban America, but it might be too ambitious.
Read Full Review >LA WeeklyRobert Abele
Swingtown is far from a great show, but until it feels obligated to give killjoy lip service to the downside of sexual freedom--note the transformation on Molly Parker’s postcoital face at the end of the pilot--here’s hoping it has its chance to be rompish and fun and a pain in the side of standards and practices.
Read Full Review >New York MagazineJohn Leonard
Since Swingtown isn’t even peekaboo, much less dirty, I wish I could say that it’s played for laughs. But I don’t know what it’s played for.
Read Full Review >NewsdayVerne Gay
Swingtown can't decide whether the '70s were transformative or deformative; there's a distinct ironic edge, applied mostly through the use of music.... But that edge isn't nearly sharp or funny enough (unlike "Weeds"), which tends to muddle the point of view.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Sadly, though, there's nothing quite that earthshaking going on in Swingtown, which boasts the same eye for detail that characterizes AMC's early-'60s drama "Mad Men"--from a woman smoking on an airplane to another sipping a Tab--but none of its style.
Read Full Review >SalonHeather Havrilesky
Basically, the whole thing is stylish and '70s-sexy but also shallow enough to feel like a less funny, hollowed-out combination of "The Wonder Years" and "Boogie Nights."
Read Full Review >Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Even skillful performances by its largely unknown cast aren't able to hide the lack of character development and the sense that the people in this series are almost self-parodies.
Read Full Review >TV GuideMatt Roush
No one is more than skin-deep, so there’s little in the way of irony or metaphor to disguise the fact that Swingtown is so determined to be shocking it seems a little quaint.
Read Full Review >PopMattersMichael Abernethy
With so much going on, one would expect Swingtown to be exciting, but it’s not. Behavior that was scandalous in the ‘70s isn’t today.
Read Full Review >Wall Street JournalDorothy Rabinowitz
It has one thing going for it--the essential thing. That is, deft writing that yields the kind of suspense that causes people to want to know what comes next. That's no small achievement for a series whose characters are so entirely devoid of, yes, character--or anything resembling an interesting thought.
Read Full Review >The New YorkerNancy Franklin
Swingtown is a little too fond of the seventies to reveal anything about them that we don’t already know.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
It's ugly and bloated, too, bringing back memories of tawdry times, tasteless fashion and terrible music.
Read Full Review >Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
There are vivid reminders of the era's ugly clothes and hairstyles. But the writing is obvious and ham-handed.
Read Full Review >Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
Kelley's compulsive fascination with erratic eroticism turns everything in Swingtown into hypersexualized sleaze.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this show is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 107 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jenny V gave it a10:
This was a well-written, funny, smart, creative show. My husband and I love this show and are disappointed that it's cancelled. We found Swingtown on Netflix; and had we known we would have tried to prevent its cancellation. A network should pick this up and keep the show going. There are a lot of fans.
Bhavesh M gave it a10:
This show is just great, superb cast, intelligent writing and well thought out. It is a shame to see this show go, with so much possible potential for seasons 2 and 3, would love to see another network pick it up (preferably Showtime) and continue the story of these interesting characters.
Phoebe S. gave it a10:
Loved it .to bad cbs cancelled it we need more tv shows like this so sick of watching all these reality shows where people back stab each other for money ,and some of these comedy shows that are not worth watching and so sick of watching reruns.Bring back swingtown.
Laura C. gave it a10:
I loved Swingtown. This is the second time CBS has cancelled a show I like after the 1st season. What do they expect when they put it on during the summer? They didn't even give it a chance. May be time to stay away from CBS.
Michelle M. gave it a9:
Love it! Characters are interesting. Love the music and the nostalgia of the 70's. Television actually worth watching amist a plethora of bad "reality" shows.
Stacey K. gave it a10:
Best show all summer. The writers keep us guessing. I love it - please bring back for another season.
Dean gave it a9:
It's fun.
