Swingtown

So, they didn't Marie-Antoinette you!
Although there is an alternate source for that quote (according to Jean-Jacques Rousseau). Supposedly Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV, uttered the phrase "Que ne mangent-ils de la croûte de pâté?" (Why don't they eat pastry?).

Either way ... the rest is history! :work2:

A nice article about Damon and his part in Swingtown. If you go to the url, there are a couple of pictures as well.

Friday, Jun 27, 2008
Posted on Fri, Jun. 27, 2008

http://www.star-telegram.com/arlington_news/story/727312.html
Deli owner gaining TV attention

By PAUL BOURGEOIS
pbourgeois@star-telegram.com
ARLINGTON — Damon Carney is reaching for stardom of the Hollywood kind, but his feet are very much rooted in Arlington.
The part-time actor/restaurateur has a recurring role in Swingtown, a new CBS series that debuted June 5. He has been listed as a "guest star."
But is any of this going to his head?
"Nope," says Bradi, his wife of 18 years.
She said it’s tough to get all Hollywoody when you spend most of your days making sandwiches and duck noises in Arlington.
Yes. Duck noises. And sandwiches. In Arlington.
"This was probably my biggest role," said Damon Carney, speaking during a lull in the lunch crush at the Tin Cup, a cafe/deli that he and Bradi own and operate. The deli is at 1025 W. Abram St. in central Arlington.
"In Swingtown, it was the first time I got top-of-the-show billing," he said. That means that his name was on your screen at the beginning of the show, rather than in that horde of names listed at the end.
Carney’s not exactly an acting newcomer. He’s been working at it for 20 of his 40 years, but he’s starting to get noticed, and better roles are coming his way.
In Swingtown, he plays Bud Green, a guy with connections — usually of the illicit kind — in the swinging ’70s.
Basically, he plays a drug-dealing pimp, he said.
Their children — Rayvyn, 14, and Harris, 11 — say they couldn’t be prouder of their dad.
"We’re always excited to see him on TV," said Rayvyn, who will be a sophomore at Arlington High School. Harris is going into the sixth grade at Swift Elementary.
You’ve probably seen Carney on TV and not known it.
He had two appearances on Walker, Texas Ranger. That was in 2000 and 2001. He played a bad guy. More recently he had roles on Friday Night Lights (he was a coach) and Prison Break.
Before Swingtown, he was often cast as a cop. He’s also been in beer commercials as well as spots for TXU and AT&T. He recalled a forgettable role as a plumber in one episode of the daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful.
He was in the first episode of Swingtown and reappears in the 11th episode, which has already been filmed. Much of the filming was done in Austin. TV network CBS said the series traces "two generations of friends and neighbors as they forge intimate connections and explore new freedoms during the culturally transformative decade of the 1970s."
Carney describes it as The Wonder Years for adults. And he thinks it could be his big break.
Sure, he said he’d like to be a big star, but without missing a beat he and Bradi said they would still live in Arlington.
"But if for no other reason, I’d like to be a star to be better able to take better care of them," he said, motioning toward Bradi, Rayvyn and Harris. "They’ve been through the wringer."
He and Bradi said they moved to Arlington for the schools and to be closer to family. Damon Carney said they also found roots here.
Carney was born and reared in Tyler. He was the 10th of 11 children.
He caught the acting itch after accompanying a cousin to an acting class. He and Bradi, who is from Dallas, met at an acting class at Tyler Junior College. They married in 1990. He was 22, and she was 20.
Not much later, the two traveled to the frozen north where he cut his teeth with the Minnesota Shakespeare Company.
Then they went to New York City for a couple of years, where he waited tables.
From there, he dragged his family to Los Angeles, where he got some parts on soap operas and in commercials.
But they came back to Texas to establish their eatery until stardom arrives. The Tin Cup opened in early 2003 in the former Zap Copy Center.
At first, the two of them did it all at the restaurant.
Now, Bradi pretty much runs the place. Damon provides the entertainment. He greets. He schmoozes. He makes Donald Duck noises for the kids.
There was a time when the showbiz glitz might have blinded, or at least stunned, him.
Not now, he said.
"I know what I have here," Carney said. "This is my life. Acting is my playtime. Here, this is my life."

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More information The Tin Cup, 1025 W Abram St.; (817) 303-5518
Swingtown airs at 9 p.m. Thursdays on KTVT/Channel 11. More at www.cbs.com/ primetime/swingtown.

That's a good attitude to have. And nice for him that he has family support. I wish him a lot of success. :)

Damon has a great attitude and you guys would really like him. He's very centered, knows what he wants but very "zen calm."

We talked today about Swingtown. He says the numbers are still good...holding their own as he put it. He says what makes it work is that each character has their own quirks..I agree with that. Damon appears again on August 14th.

Looking forward to that.

"He says what makes it work is that each character has their own quirks..I agree with that.".........yes, that is true, but hadn't thought of it quite that way, and the eps are getting better. I still like the high school girl who is conflicted over her high school teacher, who seems to be headed for getting fired....and also the girl who's mother is a drunk.

OK, so, the bad news: Swingtown
is so not gonna get renewed. As we mentioned a few weeks back, CBS has
already switched timeslots with it and a cop drama featuring the pink
Power Ranger, which -- and we're no experts here -- never seems like a
good sign. Well, it wasn't; the ratings got even crummier. Now comes word that Grant
Show, the mustachioed airline pilot whose marriage brought the "swing"
to, well, lots of towns (we're guessing) is joining Private Practice.<blockquote>Grant Show — presumably minus the '70s 'stache — will be paying a visit to ABC's Private Practice early in the new season, playing a "charming and flirtatious" doctor with ties to one of the Oceanside Wellness regulars. </blockquote>We'll forego the part where we say how unwatchable Private Practice is and how disappointed we are that Swingtown
didn't live long enough to revolutionize the institution of marriage in
this country like we thought it might and just say "Way to go, Grant."
It's only supposde to be a one-episode apperance, but come on, isn't
that how Heather Locklear wound up owning Melrose Place? And hey, did
you guys read in the New York Times the other day about how Show had to pass up the Brad Pitt role in Thelma and Louise because he was stuck in a Jackie Collins miniseries? Dude, even if he wasn't kind of great (Jake, guys; Jake), that guy deserves to work until the day he dies.Oh, and just so we've left no stone unturned: no, we're not hopeful that CBS will put out a racy, unrated version of Swingtown on DVD. We're guessing that if anybody puts out a special DVD of Swingtown, it'll be these guys.

Poor Damon. We talked last week and he was so hopeful that people would watch his return which starts next week. I thought that the show had been moved because it was opposite Burn Notice and everyone knows that would not have worked.

It came on in the next hour after Burn Notice here, so that wasn't a factor here, but I assumed they moved the night so that more viewers would miss it and ratings would fall and give them an excuse to cancel it. That's a common tactic as we all know..

Damon is on Swingtown tonight so I plan to watch. Haven't talked to him about the series this week...I've just been "the flash in the pan" this week.

I just saw the following at Mediaweek and thought it might be of interest to all of you.

Bravo has acquired the repeat rights to all 13 episodes of recent CBS
summer drama Swingtown. Look for its launch on the cable network in
October.

Thanks CG! That at least is good news. I'll have to talk to Damon and see what he knows.