'$#*! My Dad Says' Better Than Expected

I know the back story of CBS show "$#*! My Dad Says" (pronounced "Bleep My Dad Says"). I, along with more than 2 million others, have gotten some enjoyment out of following Justin Halpern's Twitter feed of the same name, which started it all. But despite that, I just couldn't see how the whole thing was going to make a good TV sitcom.

And I've been pleasantly surprised.

"$#*! My Dad Says" is far from top-notch comedy, mind you. It's been well-received, but it's a fairly middle-of-the-road sitcom, as far as I'm concerned. And that's OK; middle-of-the-road sit-coms can be nice. I record 'em on my DVR, and they take about 20 minutes to play back without commercials; nice for something light at the end of my night.

That's not to say I'll watch just anything. But "$#*! My Dad Says" is enjoyable enough that I've continued recording and watching it, despite initially wondering if it was worth keeping on my DVR timer schedule.

And the show has gotten steadily better along the way.

For starters, I wasn't sure how well I'd like William Shatner in the role of the dad. Whenever I read the Twitter posts, I always envisioned Jerry Stiller as the dad. When the Twitter feed was initially being turned into a TV show, I had hoped Stiller would be the guy.

So Shatner felt like a bit of a disappointment at first, but so far, so good. The rest of the characters are a bit blah, to be honest, but they're really all just there to set up Shatner's Ed Goodson for his one-liners, which is what the show is really all based on.

Jonathan Sadowski and Will Sasso play Goodson's sons, both of whom live with their father, and Nicole Sullivan is Bonnie, the wife of Sasso's character, Vince Goodson.

For his part, as one of the show's lead writers and executive producers, Halpern has remained as true to the original Twitter feed as he can, considering this is network TV and many of his real-life father's raw, inflammatory comments that sparked such a following on Twitter would never pass the censors.

Come to think of it, this show really ought to be on HBO or Showtime ... or at least FX, where the writers could get away with a little more.

Still, Shatner is set up with some pretty good one-liners, even if they are watered down from the type of bleep Halpern's real dad says, and although he's no Jerry Stiller, he delivers.

Sources:
$#*! My Dad Says, CBS
Bleep My Dad Says TV Show, Yahoo! TV