By April MacIntyre May 23, 2010, 21:10 GMT
The Twitter account @sh*tmydadsays is a funny straight feed of one writer's crotchety old dad essentially shutting him down with one-liners that take the mickey out of everything from fame, sex, bathroom rights and life in general.
05/19/2010 - William Shatner - 2010 CBS Upfronts - Arrivals - The Tent at Lincoln Center - New York City, NY, USA © Janet Mayer / PR Photos
CBS grabbed the concept and developed a TV show airing this fall with William Shatner attached as the "dad" which is now earning the scorn of the watchdog group the Parents Television Council, threatening the network's affiliates with a challenge to their broadcast licenses.
CBS announced "$#*!" My Dad Says," a new comedy based on the popular Twitter feed will air at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights this fall.
The comedy stars William Shatner as the fatherly curmudgeon who dispenses politically incorrect opinions and advice to his son.
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."
"We're talking here not about a Twitter feed, we're talking about broadcast television that requires a license to use the airwaves," Winter said. "There are an infinite number of alternatives that CBS could have chosen but its desire to shock and offend is crystal clear in this decision."
Winter is threatening an "unrelenting campaign" against the show's advertisers and to issue challenges against the license of any affiliate that airs the show before 10 p.m.
CBS will promote the show as "bleep" instead of the profanity in ads -- as in, "Bleep My Dad Says."
CBS maintains that the show itself will be perfectly suitable for family viewing.
Your Talkback on this Story