CBS Paramount Shopping Swingtown to Cable Nets

CBS Paramount Network Television-produced drama had disappointing ratings on broadcast network.

By Melissa Grego & Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/22/2008 1:14:00 PM

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.

Several potential cable networks have been contacted about picking up the show, as has DirecTV -- which is partnering with NBC on Friday Night Lights this fall -- but sources said no deal is yet imminent anywhere.

Sources also said the pitch to cable networks is that with the show’s concept, a freeing from the Federal Communications Commission regulations that restrict broadcast networks could allow it to really grow creatively and from a buzz standpoint.

The show’s concept is more typical of a premium cable outlet such as CBS’ own Showtime. One executive who does not work at CBS said the show in fact screamed pay TV from the outset. “I read the script and was like, ‘This should be on HBO,’” the executive said. “But they already had their polygamy show [Big Love].”

And if Swingtown appears to share a sensibility with Showtime programming there’s good reason: Showtime Networks Entertainment president Robert Greenblatt and Swingtown executive producer Alan Poul were both executive producers of HBO series Six Feet Under.

A Showtime spokesperson declined comment.