EXTRA: “Swingtown” not worth outrage

I spent an hour of my life Thursday night watching the pilot of the new CBS series “Swingtown,” which allegedly is about a Chicago-area family that moves into a wealthier neighborhood only to find out that their neighbors are into wife swapping.

The problem is that with the exception of one stock shot of the Chicago skyline and a reference early on that the family that is the focus of the series was leaving their home in Schaumburg, I didn’t detect anything particularly “Chicago” about this show.

I ALSO DIDN’T get into the whole atmosphere of “Gee, they went to such great detail to recreate the fashions of the 1970s,” in large part because I remember the decade firsthand. It wasn’t all that humorous when it was real. Now that it is parody, it is just dull.

In fact, the only thing I found more ridiculous than the show itself was the story on the late night WBBM-TV newscast. The station found Winnetka residents who were surprised to learn that their hometown was being portrayed as the home (three decades ago) for “swingers.”

Of course, I wouldn’t have known it was supposed to be Winnetka that the couple was moving to – except for the story. During the show, there is merely a reference to the couple moving to a “big, rich house on the lake.”

THEN AGAIN, I guess WBBM is required to self-promote their network’s newest show, the same way WFLD-TV goes out of their way to report the “news” of weekly activity on the “American Idol” program.

Basically, this show falls into the category of “I want that hour of my life back,” but not because I was offended by the subject material. I was just bored. Whoever wrote this script came up with a way to make group sex so deadly dull.

-30-

EDITOR’S NOTES: “Swingtown” didn’t go over so well (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-swingtown_0605gl.ART.State.Edition1.469ec1e.html) in Dallas either.

I don’t remember July 4, 1976 being anywhere near as wild as this program would (http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2008-06-04-swingtown_N.htm) have us think it was.