Is anyone surprised that people are annoyed by CBS’ opting to stick pretty close to the title of the Twitter-feed on which one of their new TV comedies is based on? The Parents Television Council is stirring up a fuss over the title of $#*! My Dad Says.
The half-hour comedy stars William Shatner and is based on a Twitter feed by Justin Halpern called Shit My Dad Says. CBS chose to keep the title mostly the same, using characters to vaguely disguise the expletive word.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the group is threatening the network’s affiliates with a challenge to their broadcast license.
Tim Winter, president of the Los Angeles-based PTC, said he was aware that CBS was developing a series based on the Twitter sensation, but "we couldn't imagine that a network would actually name a program either with an expletive or with the expletive ostensibly bleeped out."
The Reporter went on to say that CBS is planning to promote the show as Bleep My Dad Says and that the network maintains that the series is family-friendly.
The word “shit” doesn’t offend me but it’s one of the words that can’t be said on network TV. I don’t get why CBS would want to deal with wiggling around the word when promoting it and possibly having a hard time finding advertisers. Understandably, they’d want to make sure the title of the series linked closely enough to the Twitter-feed in order to draw in viewers who’re fans of the blog. That said, why put a word they won’t even be able to say on the show, in the title? Why not Crap My Dad Says or a tamer (lamer?) Stuff My Dad Says or more fitting to the series star, Shat My Dad Says.
