Swingtown Groovy...and Kinda Gay

Tonight on CBS check out the sexy new '70s flashback Swingtown (10pm ET), a series one might expect to find on FX or HBO. The show is from out exec producer Alan Poul, a man known for gay-inclusive gems like Six Feet Under, Big Love and My So-Called Life. Swingtown's got a disco beat, attractive wife-swapping suburbanites, and cool clothes we haven't seen the likes of since The Brady Bunch. What's missing from this exploration of the post-sexual revolution, for now, is the presence of gays and lesbians.

Cue the crickets? Not so fast. The show is smart and unique and it sounds like there's some gay content on the horizon. With the show's couples exploring the concept of swingers and open marriages, you won't be imagining the sparks between neighbors Trina and Susan. "It was true that within the early days of open marriage, girl-on-girl contact was tolerated to a much higher degree than boy-on-boy contact, which was strictly prohibited," Poul told Advocate.com. There's also the subtext (for now) boy-crush between young Rick and his friend B.J.

Poul reveals that in future episodes, the character of Janet gets a gay BFF who will introduce her to Chicago's gay culture. "The world of the show initially is very white, very straight, and very suburban in the way that suburbia was segregated in those days," he says about the slow build to introducing gay characters. "It takes a while, but we want to get our characters into a broader range of society."

If successful (read: stay's on the air long enough), Swingtown may just take CBS out of its own white suburbia and introduce gay characters the network's primetime schedule so desperately needs.