"$#*! My Dad Says"

[Trekker4747]

Ok. That was funny.

For those who didn't see it, the son puts on a record (It Had to be You) and tries to coax his dad into dancing with him, he does this by getting in the middle of the room, dancing with himself a bit and doing an "impression" of his dad talking to the mom, "Come on Barb. Stay. With. Me!" (Sort of like every bad Shatner impression you've ever seen.)

The dad then muses, meta-ly, "Why can't anyone do a good impression of me?"

 

[Geck]

It was actually better than I expected, but probably just because my expectations were dreadfully low. Sure it was very much a hackneyed traditional sitcom and not as edgy as it should have been, but I got a couple laughs. I enjoyed the somewhat meta joke at the end with Shatner's "why can't anybody do a decent impression of me?". I'll give it another week or two.

Missed TBBT due to class, but I'm excited to watch it later on the Pacific feed.

 

[Mojochi]

Yeah, the best joke in the whole thing was a jab at Shat, not anything to do with the show or characters

It wasn't the worst by any measure, but good? I'm not seeing it. Shat was ok in his part, & looked to be making the best of a rather unfortunate circumstance, but in thinking of his performance, I can't help but notice how flat it is compared to something like Peter Boyle in Everybody Loves Raymond &
This show doesn't have half the cast that show did. Meh...

 

[Geck]

...in thinking of his performance, I can't help but notice how flat it is compared to something like Peter Boyle in Everybody Loves Raymond &
This show doesn't have half the cast that show did.

The lack of a strong supporting cast is part of it (ugh Will Sasso). Another reason Peter Boyle worked is because he was a supporting character who'd show up for only a few scenes and utter 4-5 sharp one-liners. If the show had been "Everbody Loves Frank" and were entirely built around him, I think it would have gotten old quickly too.

 

[Mojochi]

^True

 

[Sheep]

That was actually a lot better than I thought it would be...yay for low expectations. As has been noted the son needs to actually act and stop looking like he's reading from cue cards. They DO very much need to crank up the Shat's crotchetiness for this to work long-term, IMO.

At the very least I didn't feel like I wasted 20 minutes of my life on this like I did with Mike & Molly which was far and away the most dreadful of the new shows I've sampled so far (only tried it because I like both BBT and Two and a Half Men).

 

[Captain Craig]

I thought it played out in two parts.
The first half was rough. Establishing the dynamic and reason for them to come together and introducing the half-brother and his wife.
I think maybe since they had to reshoot the pilot its possible the actor playing his son perhaps didn't have as much time to 'get into character'. I'm thinking that will improve.

The second half I thought it was starting to gel much better. I agree the jab of "can't anybody do a good impersonation" was good. A pseudo breaking of the 4th wall while not really doing so. I also think the reworking of Ed asking his son to stay worked better here than the first time. That first trailer he *coughed out* STAY WITH ME. Here they seemed to humanize Ed more with his head down just saying 'it was a gesture, why does everything have to be said'.

The only part in the second half that didn't work as good was the girl scout bit. That just felt rushed.

If all shows could truly be judged by first episodes then like another noted Seinfeld wouldn't have made it. I'm going to stick with this for several more episodes. Ed interacting with the community should be good. Maybe even make it to his favorite grocery. Get him downtown where he doesn't like the smells.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, I'll give it another shot next week to see if the awkwardness of the pilot, recasting, etc. shakes off. But I really think of this show is going to break-out and become a hit they're gonna need to take the condom off and go to pound town.

They can have the father figure say questionable, outrageous, Archie Bunker-ian stuff and still maintain the "dignity" and "cleanliness" they want for the timeslot and as a sitcom. But it needs to be a bit more bold in order for this thing to be a hit.

But, as I said, Seinfeld's pilot isn't great either, bears almost no resemblance to what the show would become (or even be later in that very same season) so it's not completely fair to judge this show on one episode. I see some "merit" here -mostly because I think Shatner has the talent to really carry this show- so I'll give it another chance.

But it's going to need to take the kid-gloves off, be daring and get some interesting secondary characters for the show to really take off. I mean, does the half-brother and his wife serve any purpose?! Maybe Shatner needs a old-guy "friend" who's his opposite and says less outrageous things to set-up Shatner's jokes. A straight-man, if you will.

There could be something, but it needs to get better and fast. But I still loved the meta-joke at the end.

 

[T'Bonz]

Eh. Typical sitcom. I dislike 99% of them and this wasn't one of the 1% that I like.

The main problem is that it's on broadcast TV, not cable. Right away, the father was de-balled.

I might try it for a week or two, but I'm bored and that's a bad sign.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I don't like sitcoms either, but I watched it for The Shat. If I watch more, it'll only be becuase of The Shat. And yeah, I was also wondering how they'll list this thing with all those non-alpha numneric characters in the title.

 

[FPAlpha]

Ooof.. that was bad.

After i laughed my ass off with the season premiere of Big Bang Theory (and did so too with their first episode) i barely cracked a smile with this one let alone laughed at it.

Will probably see a few more to see if it improves but if not i'm gone.

The Twitter feed i read when i saw the show mentioned here is in an entirely different league of funny.. this show is a pale shadow of the original.

 

[Captain Craig]

Guess now we await Jax's thread of TV ratings for Thursday. See just how much more time the show is likely to have to find itself beyond the pilot.

I agree the show is going to need 1-2 more semi-recurring characters. I think the 'straight man' to Ed Goodson is supposed to be the son. Heck anyone he's playing opposite against. What might work is for there to be a character who shocks Ed. But then that would be like pulling the rug out from under the star. It'd make him the shocking character moreso than Ed.

How about Ed has a friend that says nearly equally shocking stuff and/or wonders why people don't get him. Someone that acts as an enabler for Ed?

 

[Starbreaker]

Over 12 million viewers... wow. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the episode. After all the terrible things I'd heard, It's not that bad. Lots of balls jokes. The 13-year-old will love this. I won't be tuning in regularly, but I won't be opposed to DVRing it for occasional watching. Better than Running Wilde, that's for sure.

 

[Captain Craig]

That is a nice first number. It allows for some wiggle room, unlike say Lone Star. I'd guess that barring a sharp drop for the next few weeks that this show will at minimum get 13 episodes.

I hope it really finds its footing and can stabilize and then build an audience.
Shatner has what it takes to lead this show. The trick will be to make us care about how the others around him feel.

I'm thinking stunt casting for his 2 ex-wives is in play should the show survive. Each son has a different mother.

 

[JiNX-01]

20 minutes of snappy comebacks interrupted by half a dozen commercials breaks.

I would prefer to see something with a plot.

If the next episode doesn't deliver, I'm done.

 

[bigdaddy]

But I really think of this show is going to break-out and become a hit they're gonna need to take the condom off and go to pound town.

I'm now scared.

 

[Jax]

It was ok though they need to cut the one liners down to something of more substance like actual acting. Parts were funny though I think it may need a retool in the back half of the season, the ratings will drop IMO.

I'll give it a few more episodes.

 

[Captain Craig]

I'm watching NFL football on CBS and the network wasted no time, as would any network, utilizing that 12.5 million debut.

The ad just ran a clip for the next show with the announcer saying,"William Shatner is America's new favorite dad." *insert clip here* Then followed by the show's banner and the phrase "The #1 New Comedy"

It did debut the highest so that give them claim to #1, I just hope the show does improve to make their first comment worthy as well.

 

[Sky]

Here's the Salon review:

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2010/09/23/bleep_shatner_says/index.html

My favorite part:

Perhaps it was inevitable that the cast of one of the greatest, campiest franchises in history would have a sense of humor about itself. George Takei has found unlikely fame as a fixture on Howard Stern's show. Leonard Nimoy signs his tweets "LLAP" and runs his own Etsy boutique. These guys are a hoot -- none of which, by the way, had stood in the way of their accomplishments as activists and artists. The beauty of being a "Star Trek" survivor is that you can be a beloved, down-to-earth figure and an utter kook. You can be whatever you want, because you were on the Enterprise.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Hmm,

Well I enjoyed this one quite a bit, but based on the majority of responses here, it would appear that I'd better not get attached to it.

I don't know folks, but sometimes I think people get so wrapped up in expecting great TV IN EVERY SINGLE SHOW, that sometimes they just can't appreciate just sitting back and having a little fun for 30 minutes.

Oh well, to each his own. I'll enjoy it while I can.