# $#.! My Dad Says: Pilot: S01E01: 09/23/2010



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Title: $#.! My Father Says
Show: Pilot
ID: S01E01
OAD: 09/23/2010


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Warning: This is an incomplete review, as I couldn't finish the show.

I was really hoping to like the show... OMG....
After watching Big Bang, and then this.... talk about two totally different styles of comedy.

15 minutes in... hit Info, Series Options, Cancel.... gone.

Bad Bad Bad.... 
My wife wanted to reach through and beat the snott out of the son.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Ok, I have to admit I kind of liked it, mostly for Shatner's part though.

And being a DirecTV geek, noticed one continuity error.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

dpeters11 said:


> Ok, I have to admit I kind of liked it, mostly for Shatner's part though.
> 
> And being a DirecTV geek, noticed one continuity error.


We are fans of Shatner... but ugghh...
I saw the DIRECTV dish on the roof, so what was the continuity error.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Earl Bonovich said:


> We are fans of Shatner... but ugghh...
> I saw the DIRECTV dish on the roof, so what was the continuity error.


I don't think you made it that far. Later on there was a shot, no dish.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

The show was okay. After following him on Twitter for a while, and then reading the book on my iPad, I was kinda looking forward to the show. I'll give it one or two more episodes to get better. If it remains the same, it'll probably get dropped.

I also noticed that the dish was gone in the later shot. :lol:

If you watch Community on NBC, they took a shot at the show on their episode tonight. Troy was tweeting all of the dumb things that Pierce says... they called it "Old White Guy Says". Toward the end of the episode, Pierce pitched the idea of an "Old White Guy Says" TV show. There were resounding "no no no no no's" from the group... and Troy says "Who would watch that?!" right as the shot cut away. :lol:


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

The wife and I were really looking forward to this show. We don't watch many new shows and tend to let them stock up until we have an idea of whether or not a show will last. Made an exception with this one, because we had such high hopes.

Unfortunately, it was easily the worst half hour show that I've seen in many years.

The laugh track sucked, the jokes sucked, the acting sucked and the set sucked.

I felt like I was watching a really bad play.

Instantly deleted this SL.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

spartanstew said:


> The laugh track sucked


Agreed. That's something that really bothers me. Seemed very canned.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

dpeters11 said:


> I don't think you made it that far. Later on there was a shot, no dish.


Maybe the show was so bad, the characters themselves cancelled DirecTV so they wouldn't have to watch? 

I DVRed, but haven't watched yet... was watching Bones + Fringe live... but am not feeling inspired to watch this after seeing the early comments.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

I thought it wasn't half bad -


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Stewart Vernon said:


> Maybe the show was so bad, the characters themselves cancelled DirecTV so they wouldn't have to watch?
> 
> I DVRed, but haven't watched yet... was watching Bones + Fringe live... but am not feeling inspired to watch this after seeing the early comments.


Watch it and make up your own mind. Are we all so much alike that we follow each other's critiques?

I liked it ok, but during the show I had the nagging feeling I was watch a 30 min. travel site commercial.

:sure:


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## Getteau (Dec 20, 2007)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Warning: This is an incomplete review, as I couldn't finish the show.
> 
> I was really hoping to like the show... OMG....
> After watching Big Bang, and then this.... talk about two totally different styles of comedy.
> ...


I suffered through all 30, but about 1/2 way through I was really close to stopping the recording and deleting the series link.

It's almost like the show wants Shatners character to be like Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino or an Archie Bunker. However, since it's on regular TV, they were afraid to cross the PC line and lose viewers. You could see it in almost every one of Shatners jokes. They would set it up, go right to the edge, then back off and finish the joke with some G/PG rated humor (and a horrible laugh track).

Was it just me, or was the makeup job on the sister in law atrocious? She looked much better when she guest starred in Scrubs.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

So, I'm wondering, do they use a laugh track and an audience? I know BBT at one point was criticized for their laugh track, and one episode, Lorre's card was a picture of the audience titled "Our laugh track."

This interview makes several references to a live audience.

http://www.screenjunkies.com/tvnews/interview-my-dad-says-cast


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I finally watched last night... the laugh track was annoying.

It wasn't a completely horrible show, but I think if I missed an episode it wouldn't ruin my week wondering what happened.


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## txtommy (Dec 30, 2006)

scooper said:


> I thought it wasn't half bad -


Which half? :nono2:


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## frederic1943 (Dec 2, 2006)

It's Shatner doing Denny Crane lite!


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## cadet502 (Jun 17, 2005)

I was almost ready to dump it at the halfway point, but I thought the second half showed some improvement. We'll give it another shot, but it has to keep improving.



.


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## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

I made it the whole way through the episode, mainly because I as hoping it would get better, but that will be the only episode I watch.


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## IndyMichael (Jan 25, 2003)

We watched about 13 minutes, then deleted it and its season pass.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Tough crowd. :sure:


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## say-what (Dec 14, 2006)

I watched it tonight. It was OK. The son is a bit too much to take though, he'll be the ultimate reason this show fails.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

I thought it was ok for a pilot. There were some good one-liners. Shatner can play the Denny Crane role well, so it stands a chance.

It would be better played to a live audience and no laugh track.


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## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

There were jokes that made me laugh and it was Shatner. Luckily I have room in my life for a 1/2 hour comedy (0r 23 mins via DVR) so i'll keep watching it for now.


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## Sackchamp56 (Nov 10, 2006)

It was definately not as bad as all the reviews Ive read. I went into it thinking it would be awful. It was certainly better than I thought it would be.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

phrelin said:


> I thought it was ok for a pilot. There were some good one-liners. Shatner can play the Denny Crane role well, so it stands a chance.
> 
> It would be better played to a live audience and no laugh track.


Unless the pilot was different, or they augment with a laugh track, it is played to a live audience. Tickets are available for October shooting.

http://www.tvtickets.com/fmi/xsl/shows/browserecord.xsl?&Show=!+dad+says


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

dpeters11 said:


> Unless the pilot was different, or they augment with a laugh track, it is played to a live audience. Tickets are available for October shooting.
> 
> http://www.tvtickets.com/fmi/xsl/shows/browserecord.xsl?&Show=!+dad+says


Based on what I viewed, I'm thinking nobody in the live audience laughed at anything, so they had to throw the laugh track in.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

I had/have High hopes for this one too. I had read they made major changes to the show already, so the pilot was in trouble from the get go. Show producers weeks ago said they had made major changes after the pilot was filmed so I am willing to watch it a few more times. I was hoping for a Becker meets Titus combo show, maybe hoping for to much.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

dpeters11 said:


> This interview makes several references to a live audience.


Here is where one can get tickets to be in the audience:
http://www.hollywoodtickets.com/ShowPages/BleepMyDadSays.asp

That doesn't mean that the audience doesn't need to be supplemented when they don't find something funny.

I wonder if this show is going over differently between those who have read the Twitter feed and those who have not? Also with $#.! in the title some may be expecting a raunchier show.

It was a bit stilted but I liked the quick back and forth humor ... especially when reversed at the end.

And I can see some anger/frustration/resentment for the characters based on the viewer's real life. Those that would not want to be treated like that by their son might be turned off. Possibly before the story got to the point of redemption. The kid screwed up ... but he's family. And family is all that matters.

And I've watched a lot of crap on TV (or should I say $#.! ?). This may be the last 30 minutes I watch each week if it doesn't improve but there are times where I want 30 minutes of filler. If it stops amusing me I'll move on.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

phrelin said:


> I thought it was ok for a pilot. There were some good one-liners. Shatner can play the Denny Crane role well, so it stands a chance.


Yes he can and I loved DC. But many of his lines are shocking based on where he says them. Saying the same lines to your son in a private home is not the same as saying them in an open office.


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## say-what (Dec 14, 2006)

So I kept this in my series links and after barely 10 minutes of episode 2, I couldn't take any more and deleted it. The show got worse and the characters are just insufferable.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

say-what said:


> So I kept this in my series links and after barely 10 minutes of episode 2, I couldn't take any more and deleted it. The show got worse and the characters are just insufferable.


It pretty much was done for me after the spaghetti and meatballs side "plot", particularly at the end.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Episode 2 was a little raunchier than the first ... perhaps it will attract those disappointed in the cleanliness of the pilot.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I didn't even set a timer for the 2nd episode... and if I hadn't seen this thread, I would already have forgotten about it.

I like Shatner usually, but this one just didn't do anything for me so I decided to bail.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

scooper said:


> I thought it wasn't half bad -


 You're right. it wasn't half-bad it was 100% bad.

And what is is bad, shows like this will last for 3 years but GOOD shows (IMO of course) like Flash Forward and Mercy get canned.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

James Long said:


> Episode 2 was a little raunchier than the first ... perhaps it will attract those disappointed in the cleanliness of the pilot.


They could have shown hard core porn and the Pilot still would have sucked.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

spartanstew said:


> They could have shown hard core porn and the Pilot still would have sucked.


I believe with the title they kept the pilot less raunchy so people wouldn't see the series as an attempt to see what they could get away with on early prime time TV. The second show is likely to get more complaints at the FCC (although enforcements of standards is on hold thanks to a court interfering with the FCC's efforts). If anywhere the show belongs on cable, not 8:30pm broadcast.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Based on ratings alone, perhaps Donald Trump should join Shatner for some of the fun as Shatner's are good enough to keep going.


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