TV Review: ‘$#*! My Dad Says’ With William Shatner is Lost in Translation

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CHICAGO – Laugh tracks are a dying breed. Think of classic, full-throttle laugh tracks from “The Jeffersons,” “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Full House.” Today, though some major shows feature canned laughter, it has been much-pointed out that some of the best comedies on TV, by definition, are auspiciously missing a laugh track—think “Modern Family,” “The Office,” and “30 Rock,” to name a few.

Television Rating: 1.5/5.0

If the Internet naysayers are right, if a sitcom that uses a laugh track is the TV equivalent of the lady who protests too much, then that could be one explanation why CBS’s “$#*! My Dad Says” is not too funny. “$#*!” features some of the loudest canned laughter heard on TV in a while, and if the behind-the-scenes stories emerging from the production are any indication, the producers have inserted the boisterous inanimate laughter to drown out the bad buzz. Parent protests over an indecent title and the July recasting of the lead character hang over this premiere like a cloud.

And unfortunately, the show will not prove the gossips wrong. For those of us who’ve followed the Twitter feed on which “$#*!” is based, the show’s biting wit is not biting enough, and the onscreen warmth between father and son doesn’t come close to matching the complex-but-affectionate hazing in the real-life quotes.

After being laid-off from his job writing for a men’s magazine, Henry (Jonathan Sadowski, right) moves in with his cranky, outspoken father, Ed (William Shatner, right), on $#*! MY DAD SAYS, a new comedy premiering on Thursday, Sept. 23 (8:30-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Photo credit: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CBS’s fictional version of “$#*!” centers on an acerbic, tough-as-nails divorcé named Ed (William Shatner) who hurtles abuse and one-liners at his adult son Henry (Jonathan Sadowski) when he comes to live with him at his Las Vegas home after being laid off. Henry’s brother Vince, and his real estate partner and wife Bonnie, (“MADtv” alumni Will Sasso and Nicole Sullivan) drop by to receive their share of abuse.

$#*! MY DAD SAYS, based on the popular Twitter site by Justin Halpern, stars William Shatner as Ed Goodson, a forthright and opinionated dad who relishes expressing his unsolicited and often wildly politically incorrect observations to anyone within earshot. Photo credit: Ron P. Jaffe/CBS ©2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The real-life premise of the show began in August 2009 with a Twitter feed from an out-of-work writer in the Bay Area named Justin Halpern. The 29-year-old had gone home to live with his parents, including his ex-military doctor father Sam, who wields a shotgun and has no internal filter on his comments to his kids. Sam had apparently always been like this, so rather than fight it, Justin recorded it. What had been in a paper diary growing up was now in an online feed of 140 characters or less. It was the perfect medium for this content.

A few gems:
o A parent’s only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed.
o Pressure? Get married when you want. Your wedding’s just one more day in my life I can’t wear sweat pants.
o Just pay the parking ticket. Don’t be so outraged. You’re not a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement. You double-parked.

What began as a Twitter feed followed by five of Justin’s friends is now published for an audience of 1.7 million strangers and counting. A book deal followed and then a TV pilot, which Justin co-wrote with his writing partner Patrick Schumacker.

But in the process of turning Twitter into TV, something got lost in translation. In transforming an almost cruelly funny, bare-bones glimpse into real life into a rounded-out series with a narrative arc and fully fleshed-out characters, “$#*!”lost its realness and its humor.

Perhaps there isn’t enough substance to a Twitter feed or an Internet meme to be the basis for a work of narrative fiction. Or maybe it’s that knowing the quotes in the Twitter feed are real makes them more outrageous, and therefore, funnier. But whatever it is, CBS’s series is a dud. The lead, Sadowski, is stilted and theatrical. Shatner’s delivery and comic timing is skillful but cannot save the flat, unfunny writing. And that laugh track! When a show is mediocre, a laugh track forces us to notice that the lines the writers thought were funniest, simply aren’t. The loud track draws a circle around a bland joke with a giant red marker.

Do yourself a favor. Follow @shitmydadsays for a glimpse inside a funny father-son relationship that tells a story in 140 characters or less. Do not waste your time on the 30-minute version.

By EMILY RIEMER TV Critic HollywoodChicago.com emily@hollywoodchicago.com