From Broadcasting & Cable:
CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler confirmed the program’s end at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Los Angeles Wednesday.
“No we are not going back to Swingtown,” Tassler said. “We were extremely proud of the execution – [it] ended up on a half dozen top 10 lists in 2008.
“That show was also a victim of the strike. It was a risk. We took it and are proud of it.”
Despite the flop, Tassler says that CBS isn’t afraid to do another period piece, though nothing set in the 1970’s is on tap at the moment.
CBS tried shopping Swingtown to cable channels last August. Bravo ended up acquiring the first season, but said it would not be ordering new episodes.
An early contender for the “least surprising news of the year” award…
Perhaps so, but our Will Swingtown Be Cancelled or Resurrected? post has generated 317 comments and still gets several a week. Still, I don’t see folks into a wife swapping show getting all Jericho-Moonlighting-esque on us.
The comments that I read on that post were mostly Moonlight fans going on about how it should be canceled.
I love this show..It was different, I grew up in the 70′s and it brought back so many memories for me..the clothes, the music..I was able to get lost back in another time for an hour once a week…I hope this show comes back! What is the problem CBS??
“Swingtown” was not a victim of the writer’s strike. That’s a cop-out and everyone knows it. It didn’t fit into the Crime Broadcasting Station. It was a victim of the short-sighted Nielsen families. Viewers DO NOT matter. I’m done with CBS. I’m sure this will mean that now Bill and Robert will mention it somehow to get more hits such as they do with “Moonlight” and “Jericho.” Nice job fellas. Seriously, CBS should never stray from procedurals. Nobody should ever pitch interesting and different ideas to them ever again. Time and time again they treat these shows like ugly step-sisters. Unworthy of their time? So, why do they pick them up at all? Just to tease us? The only buzz CBS is getting is from the cancellation moves they so relish in. The press doesn’t care about cookie cutter crime shows. Neither do the award shows.
Love Swingtown – I’ve watched the episodes at least 6 or 7 times, and they get better everytime I watch them. With that said, Swingtown was too young of a show for the old stodgy CBS. They care for nothing but their crime procedurals. Their old-timer audience just didn’t follow over to Swingtown, and even though Swingtown could get a good 18-49 demo with a very small audience, CBS didn’t care.
This show had so much more to offer, and so much more story to air. Unfortunately, we’ll never get to see it. Swingtown got shafted one way or another, and it’s a damn shame, because this was the best show of 2008, hands down.
I loved Swingtown. The whole thing was a flash back to the 70′s. It was something different than all the cop shows and mind-numbing “comedies”.
Swingtown is off limits but Desperate Housewives is ok??? Open swinging is bad for children to watch but married couples cheating behind each others back is ok? Now where are the morals really???
I hope someone rethinks the decision. The ratings show someone was watching it.
Right on Tracy, you nailed it. I was a regular on the CBS Swingtown forum for a long time, but can’t say I am an avid TV watcher. Quite frankly, it was a fluke that I caught Swingtown at all as I happened to see a promo and the show was right in my wheelhouse as I was 17 in 1976. The show delivered. I’m a major skeptic and critic, yet the show kept me coming back.
Then I started to read on the forum how people couldn’t believe CBS picked it up, how it was doomed to fail, blah, blah, blah. Then I also read how if it had be broadcast on cable, it would have been a hit and probably wouldn’t have garnered the unwarranted criticism of the PTC, ADA, etc.
Well, there you go. I bow to the wisdom of those who understand network audiences and CBS was the wrong network from get go.
And before posters rag on me about how it was cancelled because, “people didn’t watch it”, I don’t buy it. The fact is CBS’ core viewers didn’t watch it. In fact, it almost seemed like they were boycotting the show so that CBS would give them more pablum like Flashpoint. Well it worked.
I’ll miss this show and these characters because it was stepping into a time machine for me. Only a miracle, like Bravo ordering more episodes, might bring it back, but I’m not holding my breath. Hey, it was just a TV show, but it was a helluva nice ride while it lasted.
Swingtown was a sleazy load of crap – cocaine, quaaludes, wife swapping, leisure suits, porn star moustaches, chest hair and gold chains – all that was the nightmare of the Carter years. Though it was pretty clear it was cancelled when it lost 60% of its audience.
Carol Barbee has 2 stinkers in a row. First she ran Jericho a great series like Jericho into the ground with the crap that was Season 2 then this. Better luck next time Carol. Hopefully the other Producer of Jericho whos doing “Harpers Island” will have something better to offer. Sadly Ricardo Montalban just died yesterday, I was hoping he would do a guest spot on Harpers Island. KHANNNNNNNNNNNN !!!!!!!!
Holly, I second your nomination for least surprising news of the year. I actually thought it had already been cancelled.
johnthemon, while the quotes from Tassler don’t surprise me at all, the fact that she uttered them does. Anytime a network actually admits to something being “cancelled”, as opposed to just not mentioning it ever again, is noteworthy.
i didnt know people still cared about this show
It isn’t surprising because its a bad fit. A swinger-based show cannot be as explicit as it should have on network TV because the the religious zealots and there idea of decency. Melissa, this is that concept that you are missing. When a spouse cheats, he or she is doing something wrong according to their agreement with each other. When swingers swap partners they are not doing any thing to violate their agreement. Some people simply cannot tolerate concepts that people should be free to live their lives in ways that others do not approve of.
Sorry “Name Required” but some women prefer men with gold chains and chest hair. Not those metro sexual chihuahuas who dress more feminine. Or the plastic Ken dolls with zero personality that CBS serves up. Moustaches look good on the right guys.
I’m guessing you didn’t even watch “Swingtown” and hide a bible under your chair while watching those CBS CSI shows.
Then again by your hatred of original serialized shows, I’ll bet you get off on fake reality shows.
Swingtown was a good show that was wasted by CBS on a Summer run. It sort of meandered a bit at times and totally botched the Janet character, but I liked the acting, characters, and production design. I think it would have been a hit on cable where they could be more realistic.
And for those who think Swingtown was sleazy, it was pretty up front about the destructive aspects of “free” lifestyles, in particular the negative impact on children.
I’m so upset…. I loved this show!
Crime Broadcasting Station or System
I like the nickname for CBS.
Love the Show! Too bad, this took me back to when I grew up in the 70′s. Love It! Love It! Love It! Bring It Back……..
Too bad for CBS.
I think that swingtown should not have been cancelled i know of other shows on cbs that should be cancelled ,this show brought back so many memories the music the clothing and furniture , growing up in the 70′s was a great Era i think our new generation should see what the cloths was like and the music my kids loved watching the show with me they are adults but we made it a mom and daughter night they just loved the show ,they are upset because we were left hanging on the marriages and Trinas pregncey. please bring back the show ,
I loved this show. While I was hardly alive in the seventies, that only made it better – I love period pieces. What got me watching might have been that it was period and yeah who doesn’t love sex, but I kept watching because it was only marginally about “swinging” it was more about how couples/families work out conflicts that arise. It was a drama and one that I thought had some heart. I will really miss the show.