Swans Crossing

[te.]

I was surprised there's no dedicated thread to this, at least from what I could find, especially since the entire series has been available on streaming for quite a few years now.

I'll have to say that I'm surprised at how it seems to mostly direct itself towards tweens rather than teens - it doesn't really feel aspirational for an average teenage viewer (well, from just watching three episodes) and a lot of the storylines seem to be those you'd find in a kids show (ie living in a sub marine, kids with unfathomable tech skills, cheesy dance and song routines). Compare that to what Beverly Hills 90210 was doing at the same time and you can see how they limited their audience a lot - it's more Saved by the Bell without the laughs.

Apparently Sarah in natural haircolour means she's Queen Bitch. 

 

ETA: apparently it even had a toy line, so I guess the writing falls in line with who they were trying to appeal to: https://diaryofadorkette.blogspot.com/2012/02/toy-chest-tuesday-swans-crossing.html

Edited May 19, 2024 by te.

[dc11786]

I've tried several times to watch and it never goes well. I'm pretty sure I even have VHS bootlegs I bought nearly 20 years ago that I wasn't able to make it through (the video quality was really bad and the stories weren't compelling even to late teen me).  

For me, the single generation of characters is a hindrance. I remember one scene by the pool that suggested there had been antics between the parents generation and I found that mildly intriguing. If they had leaned more into the duality of the parent-child dynamic and how the friend groups had been different, I think I could enjoy it a bit more. 

I found "Tribes" to be a much stronger youth focused show because they embraced the characters families and told stories about the family through the teen characters eyes while also allowing them to experience their own lives. 

in my early internet days, I remember there were several "Swans Crossing" fan sites that were pretty detailed. None for "Tribes." So I think my assessment was either not shared by the general public or syndicated "Swans" had reached a broader audience (I believe the show may have been rerun directly after its first syndication run). 

 

[te.]

From what I can tell, there's a lot of people who watched "Swans Crossing" as children/tweens who have nostalgic memories of it - the issue of course is that the appeal is very much limited towards that crowd. As I said, it comes off as an odd cross between a childrens program and a soap opera; I think it's the attempted action-adventure elements that does it (but they didn't have the budget to properly pull that off either). 

Just look at the difference between it and 90210 that aired at the same time; while 90210 isn't exactly realistic, I think it at least is somewhat aspirational for teens and still manages to relate to a lot of things that teenagers go through (albeit in an OTT manner). Swans Crossing really doesn't have that quality. 

IDK. We'll see if I make it through the entire series. It's up there and it's *only* 65 episodes around 22 minutes but...

----

Here's a fansite: https://www.oocities.org/~missswan/

Includes a press release where they state it was directed towards the pre-teen/teen audience:

https://www.oocities.org/~missswan/prshow.txt

 

Somewhat interesting that it mentions that 130 episodes are "in production" and they had funding for 325 episodes. It must've done badly for them to cut it short (but then again, I think it ended with a to be continued).

Edited May 19, 2024 by te.

[Khan]

I tried to watch SC when it premiered and I just couldn't get past one episode.

[j swift]

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Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the Ryan's Hope Lego playset.  

A little bar with a figurine of Johnny, that you could blowup and and then reconstruct.

[SteelCity]

It's really funny you say that about SMG because it's usually true. Save for Simply Irresistible I guess.

[Joseph]

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Unfortunately the full Playlist with the entire series is no longer available but there's this

[Khan]

Why did they feel the need to tape every scene through several inches of Vaseline?

The general level of acting on this show proves Harding Lemay's point about why he didn't like writing for teens and young adults.

[NothinButAttitude]

It appears the series is now on Tubi! 

https://tubitv.com/series/1050/swans-crossing

[slick jones]

I'm on Tubi now. Thanks for letting us know!

 

[NothinButAttitude]

No problem. I am glad I stumbled across it. I'll hopefully sit and watch them, too.