$#*! My Dad Says

Yesterday I watched my first promo for this new series, and I have to comment. It’s a moral imperative. For those of you who don’t know, it is premiering on Thursday, September 23 at 8:30 PM (7:30 PM Central time). It’s a sit-com based on the wildly popular twitter account of Justin Halpern. It stars William Shatner, Jonathan Sadowski, Will Sasso and Nicole Sullivan.

To be honest, living in LA and seeing all the billboards around town, I was sick of the show long ago. William Shatner, to me, is really just “Captain Kirk,” always and forever…even TJ Hooker was “TJ Hooker, starring James T. Kirk,” and as an author, it should be, “Get a Life by James T. Kirk” and “TekWar by James T. Kirk.” Sorry, dude…I know I’m so wrong, but I discovered you on re-runs when I was 4.

And word-of-mouth…well, it was bad. Everyone I knew told me this show was not worth watching. “Shatner is stiff and bored,” they told me.

But, as I said, I saw the promo online yesterday, and it looked great. And not because of Will Sasso or Nicole Sullivan, both comedy veterans of MADtv, the Cleveland show, Family Guy, Scrubs, etc. (see their IMDB.com profiles for their full credits). I thought Bill (May I be so bold, Mr. Shatner?) really looked like he could carry this show:

“Son, if it looks like manure and smells like manure, it’s either Wolf Blitzer or manure.”

“Why do I have to keep identifying letters?? I’ve been driving for 60 years and I’ve never been rear-ended by a gigantic E!”

“I’m sorry that I was rude to you…you didn’t deserve that. You seem like a very nice ho-mo-sexual.”

“Ed Goodson?” “Very common name!” “Edison Milford Goodson?” “A somewhat common name!”

Okay, in text it’s a bit dry: it’s just as funny (or as unfunny) as the twitter feed. But Bill really does a great job of delivering the lines. I believe he is a loving dad who just grew up in a time when men did not show emotion (same era in which Kirk was raised, I expect). He loves his son(s), but can’t show it, at least not in the way we would expect.

But I have to say, CBS…you’ve got the title all wrong. You shouldn’t call it “Bleep My Dad Says.” You should call it what it is: “Shit My Dad Says,” and just actually BLEEP the first word.

I don’t know if it will make it into my normal TV routine, but I will certainly watch the pilot. Good luck, guys!