Shag rugs and shagging
New CBS drama revisits the ‘Swing’-ing ’70s
Despite the polyester, the avocado and goldenrod color palate and the disco soundtrack, actress Miriam Shor has fond memories of the 1970s.
“It truly was ‘the me decade’ for me, because I was a kid. Everything was about me,” the 36-year-old says. “The ’70s is a golden era in my memory.”
Shor is allowed to steep in that nostalgia in her latest project, the new CBS drama “Swingtown.” The provocative series meticulously recreates the decade in a fictional, affluent suburb of Chicago, examining the era’s style, culture, politics and — oh, yeah — sexual liberation. “Swingtown” refers to a change of partners in the bedroom as much as a shift in the
nation’s beliefs system.
Shor plays Janet Thompson, housewife and mother extraordinaire, whose foundation is shaken when her best friend moves to a more well to do community where the neighbors really get to know each other.
“Janet was told you can only be a housewife, and you’ve got to keep the cleanest house and keep that family running like a well oiled machine,” Shor says.
“Now she’s been challenged by her best friend, who is going into a world where everything they’ve accepted is different. That’s an eye-opening, exciting, terrifying thing. I think a lot of women in the ’70s were realizing, ‘Hey, you don’t just have to be a good girl.’”
Shor doesn’t often play any variation on the good girl. A New York City resident best known for her more “weird, f---ed up, slutty characters,” including a dude in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” she admits to initially not thinking she was right to play the Stepford Janet.
“It’s fun to play characters that are very different from yourself. It’s really challenging; I don’t think you can judge a character and play it well,” Shor explains.
“I struggled with that initially. But I’m really starting to identify with Janet — her struggles and how she’s meeting them. It’s not what you’d expect.”
“Swingtown” isn’t exactly what TV viewers expect from the crime procedural-heavy CBS, either.
“[Executive producer Alan Poul] said something really smart: ‘If this show was on HBO, it would be an interesting show. But since it’s on CBS, maybe you could even call it groundbreaking,’” Shor says.
“I just know the show is gonna push some buttons; it’s a little risky. I really feel like [the producers] are trying to elevate the experience of these characters to be fun and entertaining. It’s not Chekhov, but it’s far closer to Chekhov than other shows I’ve done.”
‘Swingtown’ premieres Thursday at 10 on CBS.