Anyone Watch Swingtown?

Juniper · 09-01-2008, 11:44 PM

Just wondering. I got sucked into it, don't know why, I'm not usually a TV watcher. It's rather "adult" in content, so it's not been easy for me to watch it when it airs - since I'm not a usual TV watcher, my family has been like "huh? Mom's watching TV in her room and we can't sit with her?" So I catch it on cbs.com.

Apparently it's just a short-lived one season summer drama. It's set in 1976, I think, and I'm loving all the historical references - the clothes, the decorating, the culture, the music, etc. I'll see something dumb like a green metal cooler and say "I HAVE that cooler!" or "Oh my GOD, that's my mother's Tupperware flour canister!"

So yeah, it's about swinging -- sort of. 70's sexual permissiveness and changing roles, feminism, and all that. I guess I'm about the same age as the folks in this drama, and a lot of my peers' marriages are folding or have done, so I can identify.

Just one more episode, ::sob:: I hate when they set up something interesting and just let it die.

Like Jericho. I know a lot of people thought Jericho was cheesy but I liked it. Yeah, that was CBS too. :shrug:

wolf · 09-02-2008, 12:02 AM

Thanks to richlevy I have now seen at least one episode, and am hoping to catch some more on OnDemand. Although it's not the kind of thing that I usually watch (I'm more of a Law and Order person), I did find it interesting.

I entering high school at around the time that the show is set. I was having some product flashbacks (like seeing the old Stove Top boxes), but there was a glaring (to me) error in the episode I saw (which was the go to the disco have sex in the pool while the kids are playing strip poker episode. Of course, not knowing the program, this could happen in every episode ...)

Anyway, one of the male characters was seeing his shrink, and she was talking about his "mid life crisis." I'm pretty sure that we didn't start having mid-life crises until sometime in the eighties, you know, after preppies, but before yuppies?

It was just plain middle age then ... there wasn't a special name for dumping your wife and buying a motorcycle.

Unless it was "Second Childhood."

And I kind of remember starting to hear about "the male menopause."

Perry Winkle · 09-02-2008, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolf

Anyway, one of the male characters was seeing his shrink, and she was talking about his "mid life crisis." I'm pretty sure that we didn't start having mid-life crises until sometime in the eighties, you know, after preppies, but before yuppies?

This isn't conclusive, but the wikipedia article has a citation for a journal article with "Midlife Crisis" in the title, from 1965.

wolf · 09-02-2008, 01:42 PM

It usually takes a very long time to go from obscure journal article to common usage.

Perry Winkle · 09-02-2008, 01:53 PM

It's attested in a dictionary in the first half of the 70s.

Perry Winkle · 09-02-2008, 01:55 PM

OED gives a NYT article in '72.

Laurie Henderson · 09-02-2008, 04:30 PM

FOCUS PEOPLE!! (just kidding...)

This show is GREAT! I have really enjoyed watching it - music is fantastic and I LOVE seeing the product placements.

Pico and ME · 09-02-2008, 04:32 PM

Back then...it was old guys buying a corvette.

Undertoad · 09-02-2008, 05:13 PM

Men weren't supposed to have any actual emotions until about 1970.

ZenGum · 09-02-2008, 08:51 PM

Middle-aged dude buying a German sports car = Male menoporsche.

09-01-2008, 11:44 PM	#1
Juniper I know, right? Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1,539	Anyone Watch Swingtown? Just wondering. I got sucked into it, don't know why, I'm not usually a TV watcher. It's rather "adult" in content, so it's not been easy for me to watch it when it airs - since I'm not a usual TV watcher, my family has been like "huh? Mom's watching TV in her room and we can't sit with her?" So I catch it on cbs.com. Apparently it's just a short-lived one season summer drama. It's set in 1976, I think, and I'm loving all the historical references - the clothes, the decorating, the culture, the music, etc. I'll see something dumb like a green metal cooler and say "I HAVE that cooler!" or "Oh my GOD, that's my mother's Tupperware flour canister!" So yeah, it's about swinging -- sort of. 70's sexual permissiveness and changing roles, feminism, and all that. I guess I'm about the same age as the folks in this drama, and a lot of my peers' marriages are folding or have done, so I can identify. Just one more episode, ::sob:: I hate when they set up something interesting and just let it die. Like Jericho. I know a lot of people thought Jericho was cheesy but I liked it. Yeah, that was CBS too. :shrug:

09-02-2008, 12:02 AM	#2
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Thanks to richlevy I have now seen at least one episode, and am hoping to catch some more on OnDemand. Although it's not the kind of thing that I usually watch (I'm more of a Law and Order person), I did find it interesting. I entering high school at around the time that the show is set. I was having some product flashbacks (like seeing the old Stove Top boxes), but there was a glaring (to me) error in the episode I saw (which was the go to the disco have sex in the pool while the kids are playing strip poker episode. Of course, not knowing the program, this could happen in every episode ...) Anyway, one of the male characters was seeing his shrink, and she was talking about his "mid life crisis." I'm pretty sure that we didn't start having mid-life crises until sometime in the eighties, you know, after preppies, but before yuppies? It was just plain middle age then ... there wasn't a special name for dumping your wife and buying a motorcycle. Unless it was "Second Childhood." And I kind of remember starting to hear about "the male menopause." __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

09-02-2008, 01:42 PM	#4
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	It usually takes a very long time to go from obscure journal article to common usage. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

09-02-2008, 08:51 PM	#10
ZenGum Doctor Wtf Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Badelaide, Baustralia Posts: 12,861	Middle-aged dude buying a German sports car = Male menoporsche. __________________ Shut up and hug. MoreThanPretty, Nov 5, 2008. Just because I'm nominally polite, does not make me a pussy. Sundae Girl.

09-02-2008, 01:53 PM	#5
Perry Winkle Esnohplad Semaj Ton Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: A little south of sanity Posts: 2,259	It's attested in a dictionary in the first half of the 70s.

09-02-2008, 01:55 PM	#6
Perry Winkle Esnohplad Semaj Ton Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: A little south of sanity Posts: 2,259	OED gives a NYT article in '72.

09-02-2008, 04:30 PM	#7
Laurie Henderson Sentimental Sentient Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 38	FOCUS PEOPLE!! (just kidding...) This show is GREAT! I have really enjoyed watching it - music is fantastic and I LOVE seeing the product placements.

09-02-2008, 04:32 PM	#8
Pico and ME Are you knock-kneed? Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Middle Hoosierland Posts: 3,549	Back then...it was old guys buying a corvette.

09-02-2008, 05:13 PM	#9
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Men weren't supposed to have any actual emotions until about 1970.

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