CBS Paramount Shopping Swingtown to Cable Nets
... from broadcastingcable.com

The on-screen grownups of Swingtown are not the only ones exploring their options, as CBS is courting a new partner for the couple-swapping rookie drama.

The show, produced by the CBS Paramount Network Television studio, has had disappointing ratings in its first season on the CBS network this summer. But it has many fans within the company who want to see it return, whether on the broadcast network or somewhere else.

So the drama is now being shopped around to potential cable buyers in the event the network does not renew it for a second season.

A CBS spokesman for the network and the studio declined to comment on the show, which is about a neighborhood of swingers set in suburban Chicago in the 1970s.

Swingtown was a pet project of CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler, who picked the show up for last season when the network was trying to put forth an edgier face. Tassler told television critics last month at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills that while she was a fan of the show, she was disappointed in the ratings.

CBS demoted the show at the end of July from its Thursday 10 p.m. time period to Fridays at 10 p.m. Prior to the move, the show averaged 6.7 million viewers and a 2.3 rating in adult 18-49 demo. Following the time-period relegation, the show predictably fell to an average of just 3.9 million viewers and a 1.3 average rating in the demo.

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Why cable? It makes perfect sense to just put this show on 'sister network' Showtime. I know that Showtime has a tiny viewership; is a show like Swingtown too expensive for them?

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Originally posted by Obveeus:
Why cable? It makes perfect sense to just put this show on 'sister network' Showtime. I know that Showtime has a tiny viewership; is a show like Swingtown too expensive for them?

No no no. Basic cable is good enough. I can handle the show still being "watered down" because the sex aspects are not what made it fun. Its simply the excellent group of characters. I know CBS has virtually no cable nets within their family for this besides Showtime but perhaps they could work out a deal with a net like Bravo or USA.