A&E Greenlights Wife-Swapping Show–and Yes, the Switched Couples Will Sleep Together

The Arts and Entertainment Network thinks America is hungry to watch real couples commit adultery on the little screen.

A&E’s fyi channel has just announced something called “Seven Year Switch,” the premise of which is that couples get bored, sexually and otherwise, seven years into their marriage and need a change.

Married couples will swap husbands and wives for a two-week period and do everything married couples do, including presumably having sex, since they will be “sleeping” together, according to the show’s announcement.

The announcement comes on the heals of WE tv’s humiliating failure with Sex Box, where hurting couples had sex in a plastic box on stage and then, in post-coital bliss, discussed their relationship with a counselor. Nobody came to watch. The show went from prime-time to midnight in the blink of an eye and was finally killed when national advertisers made it clear they weren’t buying.

Will audiences want to watch adultery? Polls consistently show that Americans still frown on adultery–and not just a little bit. According to Gallup’s annual values survey, in 2013 only 6% said adultery was morally acceptable. This was down a point from 2001.

Will advertisers want to pay for something Americans find overwhelmingly objectionable? The Parents Television Council doesn’t think so.

Melissa Henson, National Grassroots Director, told Breitbart News, “Clearly this is a horrible idea, a horrible premise, but very much keeping up with trend. A&E had a show called ‘Neighbors with Benefits,’ about swinging couples, that folded after a few episodes. And now they are trying it again.”

Henson said her group had not worked out a plan of action but it would certainly include contacting advertisers. “We will ask advertisers if this is the kind of programming that is a positive image for their brand,” she said.

“This points up the importance of cable choice,” she said. “Those who want Disney or the History Channel are forced to pay for this kind of programming.”