Save Swingtown!!

[K. in Cleveland]

OK, if you aren't aware, CBS has a Swingtown website with full episodes, clips, and a discussion board. The most recent discussions are going around a rumor that Swingtown is going to be cancelled because a few "moral police" groups have complained about it. I'm going to be calling my local CBS affiliate and then writing some letters to CBS Headquarters. This is the only show that portrays the lifestyle in a positive light and actually discusses the issues about the open relationship lifestyle and does not focus on the actual sexual contact or sex acts...

I'm hoping to spread the word to all the Swingtown fans... get your friends to watch it, CBS has a great lack of advertising for the show, then they suddenly changed the night to Friday without notice... they are trying to force it off the charts! Watch it, get friends to watch it, and write, call, and tell CBS to keep this show!!!

BTW, I've had a lot of shows I enjoyed get cancelled... but I've never been actually upset about it.. this time I am. I'm not just one of those people who has nothing better to do than whine about a show going down.

[Dan And Jennifer]

Originally Posted by K. in Cleveland

The most recent discussions are going around a rumor that Swingtown is going to be canceled because a few "moral police" groups have complained about it.

Dan here - warning, personal rant coming.

Well, 2 items here. The show should continue if people like it and it's popular. Yeah, I enjoy it, but I also enjoy other shows. And I like what they've done with it, portraying these people as good, regular people - not automatically evil sinners because they - gasp - are evolved enough to have sex with other people without getting jealous about it.

But here's the thing that's a hot button for me, the whole "moral police" censorship thing. Huh? So a group of people think that their "morals" are better and somehow more close to supreme being because of their PERSONAL choices that they have the privilege to make to believe in whatever religion they choose - which by the way wasn't really possible just a couple hundred years ago? And somehow they think their personal viewing preferences, i.e. "their morals" are so good and God-approved that they get to push them on every one else (i.e. "convert the non-believers")? Huh? Is this like the "God likes me better than he likes you" crowd? Seriously?

While I'm not familiar with what's being said in this one particular issue with Swingtown, this is the exact same mess we heard with the Janet Jackson thing - yes, the most replayed 15 seconds in TIVO history! This is a bit of a tangent, but in case you missed it, here's our live show segment where we actually went over the pros and cons and asked the question...

LIVE - The Naked Truth About Women And Bare Breasts

The issue of pulling a show because of a few loud complainers is very troubling however - mostly because of their reasons for complaining. These are usually religious fundamentalists who want - while they don't use these words - desire to oppress everyone else with their religious views by intimidation and use of government. Censorship based on one person's or a loud group's personal choices (religious believes, personal preferences, etc.) is wrong. That's oppression of all the others.

Religion is great, and there are millions and millions of people who peacefully practice their religions beliefs and believe in peace and love with their fellow man/woman. But there is no room for fundamentalism - these are "the converters", the "save the damaged non-believers" crowd.

Anyone remember the Crusades, where someone thought their religion was better and it was their God-given duty to "convert" the non-believers all over the world? I'd hope that we have evolved just a wee bit more since then. How about witch burnings, stoning non-believers (in the name of God - talk about blasphemy), and many other "proud" moments in our sadly not too distant past a "civilized" society.

Many of these fundamentalists who say "we have better values" when they try to oppress others with their religious CHOICES don't realize that not so long ago they themselves were persecuted, when their religions started out as small cults that were continuously oppressed by the then-stronger religious establishment.

Perhaps it's time we would all respect one another and one anther's PERSONAL choices just a little more. You don't want your kid watching it? Then "parent" and change the channel.

We addressed the fine points of this "my religion is better than yours so we should all follow my morals" business in our Sex Ed - Who's Responsible show recently - and I think it was one of our best shows ever. Check it out here if you missed it.

LIVE - Sex Education - Who's REALLY Responsible?

OK, hope that was coherent, I'm in a bit of a hurry but just had to share my general feelings; those I'm pretty sure came through loud and clear. Oppressing others because you think your religion or personal "moral" PREFERENCES are superior is wrong. Just as wrong as someone telling you that you can't believe in and follow those preferences yourself if you so choose to.

Dan (personal rant) LOL

[K. in Cleveland]

So Dan, are you therefore telling me and the other folks who are pressing CBS to keep the show on, that we are pressing our beliefs on others? I suppose I am if I am asking others to do something that I believe in, although I would not persecute them if they did not... so I guess I'm not a Crusader...

I seriously agree with you though Dan. I believe in freedom of speech and religion and all the wonderful things that make America what it is. Yet, when some group decides their cause is more worthy than others, and wish to extinguish the "bad" groups' freedom to express themselves, then we are really no further than we have been for the history of mankind....

I know it's coming from what may be considered an odd source, but the cartoon character Peter Griffin (from Family Guy) said it best, "Sir, I may not agree with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it." I think this is what the American spirit is supposed to be, or maybe what it once was... when soldiers who wanted to fight for freedom were welcomed home by being spat on and ridiculed...

Perhaps I myself am no better than the religious fanatics who try to impose their morality on others... but I still will beg of the network to keep the show (or another network to pick it up) and will rally others to do the same... but no threats of violence here.

By the way, if you ever get a chance to see the History Channel show Surviving History, you can see some really interesting recreations of medeval torture devices the religious folks came up with to convert or extract confessions with. I sure hope I don't end up turning on a spit because I'm an immoral swinger and I like to play with ropes and cuffs...

[OneDayAtATime]

If you don't like it,don't watch it. You can prevent your kids from seeing it very easily. NYPD Blue was on for ten years i think.They had a lot of partial nudity compared to what had been available from the other free channels. The viewers were warned beforehand . The Swingtown theme is adult nature,yet i haven't seen anything thats less sexual than Soap Operas,talk shows and other CBS,NBC and ABC shows.Nowadays cussing is rapid on shows,so this is getting attention

They changed from Thursday to Friday for a number of reasons. Maybe one was less people would be "
"offended" on that night because they would be out of the house,who knows.

If its dropped on CBS,hopefully FX would pick it up because noone is heavily complaining about the heavily sexual themes on Nip/Tuck,which i love though. Look at the reality shows,like Gene Simmons and Survivor. On the net,anyone can get acess to "objectionable" material and find adult material on many shows. Trying to remove Swingtown for their beliefs is like trying to remove a needle in a haystack.It won't help that cause.

So many shows get cancelled,many for good reason. This show is fun,entertaining,popular and gets people talking. I hope it stays.

[Rachael559]

The problem with the show is that it's A) CBS someone who's been branded a "family friendly" network, i.e. a network that had previously embraced the moral minority's limited world view and B) it was advertising its program in "family friendly" hours of the day i.e. any hour before the show aired at 10 pm and C) it espouses Swinging and Polyamory and next to Homosexuality the very next biggest sin in their minds is probably being honest about your sexual desires rather than lie and commit adultery, which seems to be a favorite past-time of hypocritical pastors everywhere, not that all pastors are, but that there have been more than a few loudly voiced televangelists who have espoused the moral-conservatives values, then cheated. See they know that by espousing conservative morals they can control you the mindless sheep, but if you "wake-up" and think through your own values and morals, you aren't as easily controlled, and that scares them. Seriously that's always been the fear of powerful religious institutions, that the sheep will wake-up and rise-up and go their own way, so any of them that seem to be going in a direction they [the moralists] don't like get brow-beaten back into submission if they can....... Sorry if this was long and soap-boxy but it certainly presses my angry button. CBS started to want to be new and hip and progressive, they got a backlash from the moralists that watched the show, and now they seem to be pulling away. IF the writer's strike had not happened they might have given it a second season, I don't think we'll even get a full 22 epis now, we'll have to settle for the original 13 ordered episodes. Oh and for what it's worth the show was originally shopped to HBO and SHO FIRST and CBS came in with the bid which shocked everyone at the time. I'd LOVE to see FX or USA pick it up, put it next to say Burn Notice and you'd have one VERY hot and sexy evening!
Rachael