bleep my dad says

There are a lot of reasons why the pilot for '$#*! My Dad Says' doesn't work. While this version of the pilot, with a recast co-lead opposite William Shatner and some new jokes, is better than the one we saw in the spring, it's still not good. Jonathan Sadowski, the new lead, is trying to match his famous co-star in the overacting department and finding that only Shatner can do it and get away with it. The couple played by Will Sasso and Nicole Sullivan aren't as cartoonish as in the original pilot, but they're still annoying.

But the main reason why the pilot doesn't work is twofold: a) Shatner is positioned as an inappropriate quote-spewing machine much like the infamous Dad of Justin Halpern's Twitter feed from which this show is based, and b) There is no reason to believe that Shatner's character of Ed Goodson is going to settle into a character that's multi-dimensional and even remotely believable -- or sympathetic.

We see a glimmer of hope in one of the few scenes from the original pilot that made the cut in the remake. In it, Ed fails his written driving test, and after getting no sympathy from the DMV clerk (played by the always-funny Tim Bagley), Ed finally opens up.

So, have you tried setting your DVR to record '$#*! My Dad Says' yet? If not, then good luck with that.

It appears that in developing the sitcom based on the popular Twitter feed 'Sh*t My Dad Says' CBS has given the comedy a rather un-DVR-friendly title. Pity the suits at CBS who've been wrestling with the title of this show for months. First, they wanted to call it 'Bleep My Dad Says,' which basically makes no sense, so we came up with a range of alternate titles for them to peruse.

But they settled on the tech-unfriendly '$#*! My Dad Says' instead, which DVR interface designers don't seem to have accounted for when designing the remotes. And so according to The Hollywood Reporter it's well, basically impossible to search for the first word of the title using your remote.

If TV critics were children, Fall TV would be the equivalent of back to school time -- a lot of work to do, but so much excitement. And there's always a little disappointment as you say goodbye to summer freedom, or in our case, to our happy vacation moods.

Of course the school of TV-watching is year-round, but fall is truly the time when the networks pull out all the stops (hopefully) and show us what they've got.



So sharpen your pencils, TV fans, because class is now in session: AOL TV Editor Kelly Woo and our newest addition, Lead Critic Mo Ryan, joined me to break down all the new fall network shows. Good ("it's sexy, it's fun") or bad ("I've fallen asleep three times trying to watch this pilot"), we were brutally honest because we want this to be your go-to guide for what to watch, what to skip and those shows that fall somewhere in between.

What new fall shows are you most excited for? Sound off in the comments.

I've never been one of those people who felt that the half-hour sitcom, especially the multicamera format that is shot live in front of a studio audience, was dead. Sure, through most of the decade of the '00s, networks seemed to concentrate on developing dramas and single-camera comedies, and by the latter half of the decade, even the number of single-camera comedies had dwindled.

But, like most eras that saw a dearth of comedy development, I always felt that the format was just hibernating, waiting for a show to come along to shock it back into existence. In the '70s, it was 'All in the Family.' In the '80s, it was 'The Cosby Show.' In the '90s, it was 'Seinfeld' and 'Friends.'

In 2010, the sitcom has come all the way back from near-death to cultural and ratings prominence. And you have Chuck Lorre and 'The Big Bang Theory' to thank for that.

Last year was a remarkable one for new shows, which you can see from the list of this year's Emmy nominees. The Academy, a group that's reluctant to recognize any kind of new show, gave significant nominations to 'Glee,' 'Modern Family' and 'The Good Wife.' In addition to those three shows, 'Community,' 'The Middle' and 'Cougar Town' all had strong creative first seasons, with decent-enough ratings to earn them a second go-around.

Does this fall's slate of new network shows have that same potential? Probably not.

Not that there isn't quality among the fall pilots. It's just that none of them have the breakout potential that last year's freshman class had. And there are a few reasons why that might be the case:

Earlier today, James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed published some interesting results of a tracking poll that measured viewers' "emotional attachment" to some of the upcoming new fall series.

'Hawaii Five-O' and '$#*! My Dad Says' took the top spots in the tracking poll, but that doesn't seem to be a big surprise; fans of the original 'Five-O' have been clamoring to see the Alex O'Loughlin-starring remake, and the pairing of William Shatner and a Twitter-feed-to-sitcom success story has made '$#*!' a show that people want to see, despite some bad reviews of the pilot from us grumpy critic-types.

But the shows that round out the top five are a bit of a surprise: 'Running Wilde' and 'Raising Hope' on FOX, and the new CBS sitcom 'Mike & Molly.' This is from a poll which, according to Hibberd, has an 85% track record, though he pointed out that last year's list didn't contain the popular and critically-acclaimed 'Modern Family,' while it did contain the cancelled 'FlashForward.'

The three comedies have been well-promoted by their respective networks, but they are not as high profile as the top two shows on the list. But there are a number of reasons why new comedies are springing to mind when people talk about fall debuts:

You've got to hand it to William Shatner; despite being 79 and being on TV for well over fifty years, he's still gets a thrill out of doing new things and learning his craft.

How many actors who were around during the live TV era would be doing a sitcom in 2010 that's based on a Twitter feed? Only Shatner. Which is why he seemed to be more in a philosophical mood when he hit the TCA stage to sit on the last CBS panel of the day, for '$#*! My Dad Says.'

First things first: While Shatner has had a "glowing and growing" experience with Twitter, he doesn't actually type the tweets on his popular feed himself. "I can't even remember my password. I've hired a young man out of college whose very fingers are the very extension of computer keys, so he does the mechanics. But i carefully modulate what i say."

Hollywood is an unforgiving place, summed up perfectly by Heidi Klum: "One day you're in, the next day you're out." That's exactly what happened to actor Ryan Devlin whose role on '$#*! My Dad Says' was recast.

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Jonathan Sadowski has landed the lead role opposite William Shatner. Devlin only shot the pilot.

Sadowski may be a somewhat familiar face to viewers, he's guest starred on shows such as 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,' 'House' and 'American Dreams.'

From now through the end of July, we're going to be taking a quick look at the fall and mid-season pilots that the networks sent to critics after their upfront presentations.

Keep in mind that in each case, our opinions are based on a pilot that could be completely recast and reworked between now and the fall. And just because a show has an awful pilot doesn't mean it won't succeed. For instance, in 2006, 'The Nine' and 'Studio 60' had the best pilots and '30 Rock' had one of the worst. You know the rest of the story there...

Anyway, here's the first of our reports, on a show that's based on a Twitter feed...

Show: '$#*! My Dad Says'
Network: CBS
Timeslot: Thursdays, 8:30PM ET

The lowdown: This show is based on Justin Halpern's popular Twitter feed that repeats all the non-PC things his father says, the first time in known memory that a network show was created from a Twitter feed. William Shatner plays Ed Goodson, a former Army surgeon who speaks his mind and doesn't take crap from anyone, including his out-of-work writer son Henry (Ryan Devlin, though the role will be recast). After realizing that he needs people in his life and doesn't want to rattle around his house alone, he asks Henry to move in with him. Also joining the fun is Henry's half-brother Vince (Will Sasso), who tends to wilt under the domineering pressure of his wife Kathleen (Nicolle Sullivan)

So CBS has given the green light to a new comedy based on the Twitter account (and I'll never get used to writing that sentence, "based on the Twitter account) S**t My Dad Says. It's going to costar William Shatner, and from the clips released at the upfront presentation a couple of weeks ago, it looks rather awful.

But never mind about all that. What about that title? CBS obviously can't say that first word, so they're going around calling it 'Bleep My Dad Says.' That's how it will advertised and that's how we're all supposed to say it. But oddly, that's not the way it's spelled. The first word is pronounced "Bleep" but is spelled "$#*!" Confusing? Suddenly, spelling the TNT drama 'HawthoRNe' doesn't seem so tedious.