It's a fictionalized version of creator Mike Kelly's adolescence and parents growing up in the 1970's, something they've called Boogie Nights meets Wonder Years to help you figure it out, but basically it's trying to do for 1976, our Bicentennial Year, what Mad Men did for 1960 (Kennedy/Nixon). It's kinda schizo, as the other executive producer and pilot director Alan Poul hails from Six Feet Under, giving it an HBO feel along with lead player Molly Parker (Alma Garret in the very different period show, Deadwood), but it's airing on CBS and also features a welcome Grant Show, who did a brief recurring Six Feet Under role but is mainly known for his work on Melrose Place.
So without the level of creative freedom allowed on basic cable dramas from FX to AMC, but seemingly committed to a fair retelling of the free sex, wife swapping, 'lude popping era, I think the creators are trying a Brechtian storytelling style where class is a salient factor, but the sex is all kabuki-ed up, a rueful comedy of manners masquerading as a family drama. Much as Mad Men (also spawned of HBO creator, Matthew Weiner who wrote for The Sopranos) is a comedy of manners disguised as a workplace drama.
I'm eager to see the second episode to see what direction they take off the pilot. While all the actors are good, Parker and Show are the recognizable stars, and they're pretty great.
Show has the Burt Reynolds 'stache, plays the buff pilot who brings partners home for his sunny sexual predator wife (rejuvenating each morning after with a dive into in her swimming pool). He's the ultimate salesman for the lifestyle of the times -- attractive, responsive in a low-key way, guiding the situation where it needs to be with a wry grin and a feather touch.
Parker continues to impress, here as a mother of teenagers ready to
see some of the world past her husband, married since knocked up at 18, especially if she can take the trip with him. It's interesting to watch her after Alma, who was so worldly by the end of the series, here rewound to a more innocent stage, but already ready for exploration, giving the go signals to her husband at every new experimental development.
But the secret weapon of the show is the kids, wearing the tight tubular '70's polo shirts, biking all over town, trying to escape from a horrifically coked-up mother. Shanna Collins as the budding intellectual, emerging feminist high school daughter of Parker's character has the beefiest role and the most going on, but there's some nasty twists even in the pilot, and it gives the show it's greatest stamp of authenticity.
What people don't remember about the Seventies is that it was kinda horrid being a kid. There were all these freedoms in the air but when the parents enjoyed them, for the first time in their own lives as well as the first time in American history, the kids got left out. Families did not work the same as advertised. And the freedoms all ended up reaching the kids, much less digested than even now, all with mixed messages borne of the newness.
I've got Swingtown lined up on TiVo and will give it a few more episodes at the very least. I'm hoping that the more cinematic side of the show, the show-don't-indicate side most like the best HBO original series, wins out over network politics. If it works, it won't be a show that will trade shamelessly in heartwarming moments and traditional character lessons.
It it can stay on the Brecht track, against a wealth of network television precedent, it's worth getting over any initial off-network snobbery.
It's a great time to remember that time, and it would be a shame not to give the creators the openings to get it right.
And gotta hope they keep the music budget strong.
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