$h#! My Dad Says

William Shatner is the star of $h#! My Dad Says, and it's his most recent television project. I hate to admit it, but I haven't watched the show yet. What I saw of the commercials and previews didn't look promising, although I think the Twitter feed is hilarious.

The Shit My Dad Says Twitter Feed

Justin Halpern is a 30 year old man who has always kept track of the funny and often salty things his father has said. On August 3, 2009, after moving in with his dad, he started a Twitter feed where he would post some of his dad's funnier comments.

The Twitter feed went viral, and within a couple of weeks, he had 100,000+ followers. (If you've ever tried to get followers on Twitter, you'll understand what an achievement that is.) Within a couple of months, he had over a million followers.

The Sh*t My Dad Says Book and the $h#! My Dad Says Television Show

The Twitter feed became so popular that Halper parlayed it into both a book deal and a television sitcom deal. The book was a bestseller, and the television show was picked up from the pilot.

Television critics have disliked the television show, but it seems to be doing okay in the ratings. It even won a People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy.

$h#! My Dad Says TV Reviews

Below I've listed a few excerpts of what some of the television reviewers have said about $h#! My Dad Says. I've also included links back to their full reviews.

If you’ve been enjoying William Shatner’s Priceline commercials and need something to watch with your grandparents then the show will likely tickle your funny bone.

This is an excerpt from the review at Collider.com. You can sum up their opinion of the show by saying that they think it's no different than any other warmed-up, left-over, rehashed dysfunctional family sitcom.

I think I can actually say that "Feces My Dad Says" is now the best new show premiering on Thursday night.

That's from the review at HitFix.com. Said reviewer hated the pilot episode, but was impressed with the amount of improvement he'd seen from the pilot and the second episode. This is not to say that he likes the show; his overall conclusion is that the show is inept and unfunny. (Apparently being the best new show premiering on Thursday night is not an indicator of quality.)

But even with all of the success and millions of fans, if the pained, awkward, hacky dynamic of the show in any way resembles Halpern's actual life, then the unfortunate mini-blogger deserves nothing but our deepest pity.

This one is from another negative review of the show, this time from Slant magazine. This review is the best-written review of the show I've seen so far, and my favorite line is this one:

But after seeing $#*! My Dad Says, it seems pretty clear that Old Man Halpern is the one who holds the talent in the family. CBS would have probably been better off had they just hired him to write the show.

I'm disappointed to see the negative critical reviews, because if anyone is rooting for the Shat, it's me. And I thought his performance as Denny Crane on Boston Legal was nothing short of brilliant, even if the writing fell far short of brilliance most of the time.

If an when I get a chance to actually watch a few episodes of the show, I'll post my own review of $h#! My Dad Says here.