by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 5, 2008) A new CBS series, debuting tonight, is drawing fire from decency advocates because it glorifies drug use and sexual immorality.
The series, Swingtown, portrays the lives of several couples living in a Chicago suburb in the mid-70’s who become involved in adulterous relationships. The first episode, according to The New York Times, includes the use of marijuana, cocaine, and Quaaludes; a high school student flirting with her English teacher, and the “neighborhood scold” happening upon a basement orgy and then being invited to join in.
The show premiers at 10:00 p.m., but will be airing earlier in other time zones across the country.
Melissa Henson with the Parents Television Council (PTC) says CBS is irresponsible for featuring this kind of series during prime time. “This is a series that would be more appropriately placed on a premium channel like HBO or Showtime – given the thematic content,” she said.
CBS sees nothing wrong with the series. “We wanted to give people something fun and fresh in the summer,”said Nina Tassler, president of CBS. ‘The summer gives you a kind of different license.”
The series creator, Mike Kelley, is the child of a broken marriage who claims he based the series in part on his own experience in Winnetka, Illinois where one summer, the “neighborhood kind of switched partners,” he told the Times. Not surprisingly, “Eventually most of those marriages broke up.”
The casualties included his own parents, but Kelley claims he was “thrilled” when they broke up. He said the “crazy second adolescence” of his parents “inspired me to be as brave and honest as I can be in my own adult relationships and not worry so much about what other people think or say about them.”
Although the series he created was meant for pay-per-view cable, he’s delighted to be on a broadcast network. Even though he’ll have to tone down the nudity and graphic depiction of sex acts he can be more “culturally subversive” and reach more people.
“I think we’re able to be more groundbreaking and more culturally subversive by putting this on a network, where more people will be exposed to it and where we’ll have to deal with these adult issues in an oblique way,” he said.
The network is calling the series “groundbreaking” but the only thing being broken by this series is the family, says PTC founder L. Brent Bozell.
“The ground that’s being broken here is the family – a foundation of hope and love that proves itself in devoted daily consistency and self-sacrifice. That formula doesn’t make for sassy programming in the plastic world of television, I know, but it works in the real world.”
The PTC is urging parents to contact CBS and register their complaints about this offensive series. Feedback can be sent through their website at http://www.cbs.com/ or by writing/calling Ms. Nina Tassler, President, CBS Entertainment, 7800 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039-2119; (323) 575-2747
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