WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.100 Imagine for a second that you're just, you know, 00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:03.879 scrolling through your phone. Like we all do. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:06.879 Right. Exactly. You're mindlessly flicking your 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:08.859 thumb. You're looking at pictures of someone's 00:00:08.859 --> 00:00:12.099 lunch, maybe skimming some heavy news headlines. 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:14.539 And then you see it. It's a hundred and forty 00:00:14.539 --> 00:00:17.379 character post that is just absolutely hilarious. 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:19.820 Just a perfect little observation. Perfectly 00:00:19.820 --> 00:00:22.179 crafted, completely raw. And you think to yourself, 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:26.300 you know, this is gold. Oh, yeah. But then ask 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:29.420 yourself this really weird hypothetical. Could 00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:33.020 that tiny bite -size isolated observation actually 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:36.140 be transformed into a prime -time television 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:38.780 show? I mean, it's a massive mechanical leap. 00:00:39.100 --> 00:00:40.759 You're talking about taking a snappy comeback 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:42.500 or just a random thought and somehow stretching 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:44.359 it into a three -act play with a beginning, a 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:46.929 middle, and an end. Right. And today we're doing 00:00:46.929 --> 00:00:49.750 a deep dive into the very specific moment in 00:00:49.750 --> 00:00:52.829 television history when a major network actually 00:00:52.829 --> 00:00:54.909 tried to make that leap. A very ambitious leap. 00:00:55.070 --> 00:00:57.990 Oh, highly ambitious. We're looking at the 2010 00:00:57.990 --> 00:01:01.969 CBS sitcom dollars, My Dad Says. And yes, for 00:01:01.969 --> 00:01:03.969 the record, the network forced everyone to pronounce 00:01:03.969 --> 00:01:08.069 it Bleep My Dad Says. They really did. And we've 00:01:08.069 --> 00:01:10.329 got a great stack of sources today. We're looking 00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:14.010 at the show's chaotic development history. It's 00:01:14.010 --> 00:01:16.569 totally bizarre, episode plots, cast details, 00:01:17.170 --> 00:01:19.310 and of course the fierce public controversy that 00:01:19.310 --> 00:01:25.650 surrounded it. how a wildly popular, really raw 00:01:25.650 --> 00:01:27.969 internet phenomenon, which in this case was a 00:01:27.969 --> 00:01:31.689 very famous Twitter feed, stumbled when it was 00:01:31.689 --> 00:01:34.189 squeezed into the highly rigid traditional format 00:01:34.189 --> 00:01:37.030 of a multi -camera broadcast network sitcom. 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:39.689 We really want to look at the friction between 00:01:39.689 --> 00:01:42.829 the Wild West of early social media and the completely 00:01:42.829 --> 00:01:45.430 rule -bound world of legacy television. Okay, 00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:47.909 let's unpack this. Because to really get why 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:49.909 this was such a strange collision, we have to 00:01:49.909 --> 00:01:51.769 look at what Twitter was actually like back in 00:01:51.769 --> 00:01:53.930 late 2000s. He was completely different back 00:01:53.930 --> 00:01:55.909 then. It really was. It was mostly text, highly 00:01:55.909 --> 00:01:58.629 unfiltered. And this writer named Justin Halpern 00:01:58.629 --> 00:02:01.030 started a feed. Yeah. And he essentially just 00:02:01.030 --> 00:02:03.989 posted the unvarnished, usually highly politically 00:02:03.989 --> 00:02:06.689 incorrect and often very profane quotations from 00:02:06.689 --> 00:02:09.490 his 72 -year -old father, Sam. Which, you know, 00:02:09.629 --> 00:02:11.949 struck a massive chord online. I think the appeal 00:02:11.949 --> 00:02:14.409 was the authenticity. You were getting this... 00:02:14.379 --> 00:02:18.560 real -time grumpy wisdom from an older guy who 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:21.740 clearly had no idea his son was broadcasting 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:24.860 his private rants to millions of people. He had 00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:27.580 no clue. Right. And Hollywood noticed the follower 00:02:27.580 --> 00:02:31.659 count climbing, obviously. By November 2009, 00:02:31.979 --> 00:02:34.219 CBS announced they were developing a television 00:02:34.219 --> 00:02:37.379 pilot based entirely on this feed. But wait, 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:39.759 how do you even write that? Like, you can't just 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:41.719 have an actor standing in a living room yelling 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:44.159 funny tweets into the void for half an hour. 00:02:44.379 --> 00:02:46.479 No, you have to build a framework. Right. So 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:48.360 Justin Halpern himself was brought on to write 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:50.879 it alongside Patrick Schumacher. And they had 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:53.300 some serious television muscle behind them. Yeah, 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:55.360 they really brought in the big guns. They did. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.699 David Cohan and Max Muchnick came on as executive 00:02:58.699 --> 00:03:01.439 producers. Their job was to build a world around 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:04.680 the tweets. But they didn't just build any world. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:08.340 They built a multi -camera broadcast network 00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:10.939 sitcom. Which is an industry term we should probably 00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:12.639 define for anyone who doesn't work on a studio 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:14.520 a lot. Good idea. When you say multi -camera 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:16.400 sitcom, you mean the most traditional old -school 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:19.259 format possible, right? Essentially, yes. Yeah. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:22.520 It means the show is shot on a soundstage, usually 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:24.280 in front of a live studio audience, or at least 00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:26.840 with a laugh track. Right. And it uses three 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:30.080 or four cameras at once. Think brightly lit living 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:33.219 rooms. actors pausing for laughter, and very 00:03:33.219 --> 00:03:36.199 defined, predictable story beats. Like chairs 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:39.539 are friends. Exactly. It is arguably the safest, 00:03:39.699 --> 00:03:42.740 most conventional format on television. So they're 00:03:42.740 --> 00:03:45.039 taking this raw, unpredictable internet feed 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:47.300 and trying to force it into the safest, most 00:03:47.300 --> 00:03:49.639 sanitized television format ever created. Which 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:53.080 is a bold choice. Yeah. And to do that, they 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:55.300 changed the dad's name to Ed. He's written as 00:03:55.300 --> 00:03:57.800 this highly opinionated 72 -year -old doctor 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:00.060 who has been divorced three times. Right. And 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:02.120 the crucial piece of the puzzle, the thing that 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:04.620 actually gets the show made, is the casting. 00:04:04.780 --> 00:04:07.039 Casting is everything in a pilot. Yeah. When 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:09.419 William Shatner landed the lead role of Ed in 00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:12.879 late February 2010, that was the catalyst. That's 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:16.300 huge. It was. A major star attached to a viral 00:04:16.300 --> 00:04:18.639 property triggered the green light from the network 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.420 to actually produce the pilot. But Shatner was 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:23.639 the anchor, and he couldn't just talk to the 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:25.959 wall. He needed a foil. That's where the son 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:28.620 comes in. The character is named Henry, played 00:04:28.620 --> 00:04:31.180 by Jonathan Sadowski. Who actually replaced the 00:04:31.180 --> 00:04:33.040 original pilot actor, Ryan Devlin, by the way. 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:35.779 Oh, really? I didn't realize that. Anyway, Henry 00:04:35.779 --> 00:04:39.079 is this struggling writer and blogger. Because 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:41.980 he can't afford rent, he is forced to move back 00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:44.660 in with his dad, Ed. Which is a very classic, 00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:47.420 tested sitcom trope, the odd -couple -father 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:50.019 -son dynamic. Right. But the mechanism they use 00:04:49.870 --> 00:04:52.250 used to justify the premise is actually quite 00:04:52.250 --> 00:04:55.310 meta. How so? Well, Henry can't find a job as 00:04:55.310 --> 00:04:57.930 a writer because he lacks good material. Oh, 00:04:58.029 --> 00:05:01.829 OK. But during a job interview, his dad, Ed, 00:05:02.389 --> 00:05:04.910 interrupts with this completely irrational phone 00:05:04.910 --> 00:05:07.069 call. And the eccentric editor conducting the 00:05:07.069 --> 00:05:09.529 interview overhears it, loves it, and basically 00:05:09.529 --> 00:05:12.199 hires Henry on the spot. The catch is that Henry 00:05:12.199 --> 00:05:14.199 has to continue living with his dad so he has 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:17.199 a steady supply of this unhinged material. He 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:20.199 literally has to mine his father's unsolicited 00:05:20.199 --> 00:05:22.720 rants to keep his job, hence the title of the 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:25.519 show. You also have the supporting cast. Will 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:28.720 Sasso plays the brother Vince and Nicole Sullivan 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:31.439 plays his wife Bonnie. And Sasso and Sullivan 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:34.480 were former castmates on the sketch show Mad 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:37.000 TV. Oh, right. So they brought some built in 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:39.300 comedic chemistry. So they had a great cast. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:43.439 a clear premise and seasoned producers, but the 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:45.439 fundamental challenge of the source material 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:48.699 was still lurking under the surface. Yeah, they 00:05:48.699 --> 00:05:50.920 were working from incredibly fragmented jokes. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:53.600 I look at it like this. Trying to adapt a Twitter 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:57.939 feed into a full 21 minute episodic sitcom is 00:05:57.939 --> 00:06:00.000 kind of like trying to build an entire house 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:02.779 out of bumper stickers. A bumper sticker house. 00:06:02.939 --> 00:06:05.319 That's actually a very helpful way to visualize 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:08.259 the structural problem. Right, because individually 00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:10.269 bumper stickers are funny, they're catchy, you 00:06:10.269 --> 00:06:13.250 read one in traffic and you laugh. But structurally, 00:06:13.449 --> 00:06:15.610 if you try to build load -bearing walls out of 00:06:15.610 --> 00:06:17.509 them, for the long haul, the house is probably 00:06:17.509 --> 00:06:19.910 going to collapse. It's just a questionable foundation 00:06:19.910 --> 00:06:22.149 to build a long -term narrative on. Yeah, the 00:06:22.149 --> 00:06:24.589 network built this house. They really did. They 00:06:24.589 --> 00:06:27.209 invested millions in it. But before anyone could 00:06:27.209 --> 00:06:29.649 even see if the structural integrity of this 00:06:29.649 --> 00:06:32.110 bumper sticker house held up, before audiences 00:06:32.110 --> 00:06:34.370 could actually watch the show, they ran into 00:06:34.370 --> 00:06:38.259 a massive unprecedented roadblock oh yeah and 00:06:38.259 --> 00:06:39.699 it had nothing to do with the scripts he was 00:06:39.699 --> 00:06:42.959 about the name on the front door the title controversy 00:06:43.209 --> 00:06:45.829 Because the original Twitter feed used an actual 00:06:45.829 --> 00:06:48.970 literal expletive. Yes, it did. But you cannot 00:06:48.970 --> 00:06:51.790 just put a four -letter curse word on primetime 00:06:51.790 --> 00:06:55.529 broadcast television. CBS had to modify the source 00:06:55.529 --> 00:06:58.589 material's title to comply with Federal Communications 00:06:58.589 --> 00:07:01.529 Commission, the FCC regulations. Right. So they 00:07:01.529 --> 00:07:04.290 substituted symbols, a dollar sign, a hashtag, 00:07:04.569 --> 00:07:06.930 an asterisk, and an exclamation point. The famous 00:07:06.930 --> 00:07:09.449 symbols. Yeah. Which CBS officially instructed 00:07:09.449 --> 00:07:11.149 everyone in the press to pronounce as bleep. 00:07:11.230 --> 00:07:14.629 Which is just so funny to me. It is. In May 2010 00:07:14.629 --> 00:07:17.470 at their upfront presentation... Which is when 00:07:17.470 --> 00:07:19.410 networks pitched their new fall schedules to 00:07:19.410 --> 00:07:21.410 major advertiser CBS, announced the official 00:07:21.410 --> 00:07:24.089 name, and they gave it the 8 .30 p .m. time slot 00:07:24.089 --> 00:07:27.089 on Thursdays. A prime slot. And immediately the 00:07:27.089 --> 00:07:30.209 press pounced. They asked how CBS could possibly 00:07:30.209 --> 00:07:33.029 promote a show that implies a swear word without 00:07:33.029 --> 00:07:35.569 violating decency standards. The network assured 00:07:35.569 --> 00:07:37.769 everyone the Exclusive wouldn't actually be spoken 00:07:37.769 --> 00:07:40.629 in the promos, and the profanity inside the show 00:07:40.629 --> 00:07:43.490 itself was being heavily toned down. But that 00:07:43.490 --> 00:07:46.170 assurance did nothing to stop the parents' television 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:48.889 Council, the PTC, from getting involved. Right. 00:07:49.149 --> 00:07:52.870 The PTC launched a major, highly organized protest. 00:07:53.329 --> 00:07:55.589 They argued that even with the symbols, the title 00:07:55.589 --> 00:07:58.290 clearly alluded to an obscenity. Yeah, they were 00:07:58.290 --> 00:08:00.629 not happy. And they didn't just write a strongly 00:08:00.629 --> 00:08:02.649 worded letter to the network president. They 00:08:02.649 --> 00:08:05.250 threatened CBS with broadcast license challenges 00:08:05.250 --> 00:08:07.910 for any affiliate station that aired the show 00:08:07.910 --> 00:08:10.750 or its promos before 10 p .m. I want to pause 00:08:10.750 --> 00:08:13.069 here because we need to explain why that specific 00:08:13.069 --> 00:08:15.740 threat is basically a nuclear option. television 00:08:15.740 --> 00:08:17.920 industry. Oh, absolutely. Listeners might not 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.579 realize how a broadcast network actually operates. 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:23.860 CBS creates the shows, but they rely on hundreds 00:08:23.860 --> 00:08:26.199 of local affiliate stations across the country, 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:28.680 like your local news station in Ohio or Texas, 00:08:29.259 --> 00:08:31.560 to broadcast that signal over public airwaves. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:34.779 That's the vital distinction. The FCC regulates 00:08:34.779 --> 00:08:38.730 those public airwaves. If a local station broadcasts 00:08:38.730 --> 00:08:41.990 something indecent, the FCC can fine that specific 00:08:41.990 --> 00:08:45.629 local station or even revoke its license entirely. 00:08:45.950 --> 00:08:48.090 Right. So the PTC wasn't just threatening CBS 00:08:48.090 --> 00:08:50.990 corporate. They were threatening the local stations. 00:08:51.110 --> 00:08:54.190 Yeah. If local station managers get scared of 00:08:54.190 --> 00:08:56.929 losing their licenses and refuse to air the show, 00:08:57.509 --> 00:09:01.009 CBS loses its national footprint, which means 00:09:01.009 --> 00:09:04.019 they lose millions in advertising revenue. It's 00:09:04.019 --> 00:09:06.220 a massive threat to the bottom line. Despite 00:09:06.220 --> 00:09:09.220 the threat, though, CBS held their ground. They 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:11.679 did. They released a statement defending the 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:14.860 show, assuring the public it would in no way 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:17.860 be indecent. Right. They also very pointedly 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:20.220 reminded parents that they could use the V chip. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:23.279 which is a piece of technology built into televisions 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:25.539 that allows parents to block programming based 00:09:25.539 --> 00:09:27.460 on its rating. Basically saying, if you don't 00:09:27.460 --> 00:09:29.659 like it, block it. Exactly. If they didn't want 00:09:29.659 --> 00:09:31.379 the show in their homes, they didn't have to 00:09:31.379 --> 00:09:33.379 have it. But the most vocal defender wasn't a 00:09:33.379 --> 00:09:35.360 corporate suit. It was William Shatner himself. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:37.779 Oh, he was fantastic during this. He did not 00:09:37.779 --> 00:09:40.120 mince words about this during the Television 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:43.500 Critics Association press tour in July 2010. 00:09:43.559 --> 00:09:45.860 What did he say? He said, and I quote from our 00:09:45.860 --> 00:09:49.299 sources, we say spit, why can't we say shit? 00:09:49.779 --> 00:09:53.320 Wow. I know. He went on to say, the word is around 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:55.639 us. It isn't a terrible term. It's a natural 00:09:55.639 --> 00:09:58.720 function. Why are we pussyfooting? What's fascinating 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:02.299 here is you know, how the network navigated this. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:04.860 They're feeling threats to their affiliate licenses, 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:07.700 dealing with watchdog groups, and their lead 00:10:07.700 --> 00:10:10.940 actor is essentially daring the press to be offended. 00:10:11.100 --> 00:10:13.600 See, that makes me wonder if CBS secretly loved 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:15.940 this backlash. I think so. I mean, think about 00:10:15.940 --> 00:10:18.840 it. For a traditional multi -camera sitcom, which 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:22.220 we established as the safest format on TV, this 00:10:22.220 --> 00:10:24.679 controversy was incredible free marketing. That's 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.500 a good point. It gave a very standard, brightly 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:31.379 lit sitcom an edgy almost dangerous vibe that 00:10:31.379 --> 00:10:33.759 it desperately needed to stand out in the 2010 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:35.919 TV landscape. Well, you're not the only one who 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:38.080 suspected that. Media analysts at the time backed 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:42.000 up that exact theory. Yeah. Bill Gorman from 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:45.440 TD Biden numbers wrote that the PTC protest was 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:47.679 ultimately just giving the show massive publicity. 00:10:47.740 --> 00:10:50.840 Oh, absolutely. He fully expected that the controversy 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:53.220 would act as a booster rocket for the premieres 00:10:53.220 --> 00:10:55.600 ratings. It's the classic forbidden fruit effect. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:57.460 Tell people they shouldn't watch a show because 00:10:57.460 --> 00:11:00.039 the title is too scandalous and they will absolutely 00:11:00.039 --> 00:11:02.600 tune in to see what the fuss is about. And it 00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:05.220 absolutely worked. The edgy marketing, the protests, 00:11:05.299 --> 00:11:07.820 the debate over the title, it got eyes on the 00:11:07.820 --> 00:11:10.539 screen. When the pilot aired on September 23, 00:11:10.679 --> 00:11:15.600 2010, an incredible 12 .58 million viewers tuned 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:19.320 in. That is a huge undeniable number. Just massive. 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:21.360 It is a massive initial sampling. Right. But 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:23.480 getting 12 and a half million people to look 00:11:23.480 --> 00:11:25.259 at the bumper sticker house is only step one. 00:11:25.259 --> 00:11:27.539 Right. The critical question is what actually 00:11:27.539 --> 00:11:29.919 happened when those people walked inside and 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:31.879 saw the content of the show? Well, I'm stuck 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:33.259 on something here, looking at the numbers in 00:11:33.259 --> 00:11:35.679 our sources. They have William Shatner. They 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:39.440 have 12 .58 million viewers. They have a built 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:41.700 -in internet fan base. Yeah. But over the very 00:11:41.700 --> 00:11:44.600 next two episodes, the audience drops by nearly 00:11:44.600 --> 00:11:48.179 20%. Ouch. Eventually, the viewership stabilizes 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:51.440 around 9 to 10 million viewers a week. How do 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:53.899 you lose a fifth of your audience in 14 days? 00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:56.559 What was fundamentally broken about the actual 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:58.740 episodes? It comes back to the strain of the 00:11:58.740 --> 00:12:02.600 adaptation. A Twitter feed relies on observational, 00:12:02.940 --> 00:12:06.320 static humor. Okay. A sitcom requires an engine. 00:12:06.679 --> 00:12:09.059 It needs character flaws and desires that drive 00:12:09.059 --> 00:12:11.240 narrative conflict. Yay, a reason for the story 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:13.419 to happen. Because the character of Ed was originally 00:12:13.419 --> 00:12:16.769 just a static mouthpiece for funny quotes on 00:12:16.769 --> 00:12:20.230 the internet, he lacked a narrative engine. When 00:12:20.230 --> 00:12:22.909 you run out of tweets, you have to invent sitcom 00:12:22.909 --> 00:12:25.850 tropes to fill 21 minutes. Let's actually look 00:12:25.850 --> 00:12:28.309 at these plots because they illustrate this failure 00:12:28.309 --> 00:12:30.750 perfectly. They really do. In television, you 00:12:30.750 --> 00:12:32.750 usually have an A plot, which is the main story, 00:12:32.789 --> 00:12:35.210 and a B plot, the secondary story. Let's look 00:12:35.210 --> 00:12:38.470 at episode two, titled Wi -Fi. Oh boy. The A 00:12:38.470 --> 00:12:40.710 plot is Henry wanting to get an internet connection 00:12:40.710 --> 00:12:43.519 for the house and Ed forbidding it. That's a 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:46.059 simple standard sitcom set up. Very standard. 00:12:46.139 --> 00:12:49.399 But the B plot involves Bonnie getting a rash 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:52.440 on her breast and asking Ed, because he happens 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:55.759 to be a doctor, to look at it and diagnose it. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:58.940 It's an incredibly awkward tonal mix. You have 00:12:58.940 --> 00:13:01.759 light generational tech humor colliding with 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:04.980 a weirdly intimate medical boundary issue. Imagine 00:13:04.980 --> 00:13:06.879 you're one of those 12 million people tuning 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:09.419 in, right? You're expecting the snappy, sharp 00:13:09.419 --> 00:13:11.919 internet humor you saw on Twitter, and instead 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.980 you're watching a B -plot about a breast rash. 00:13:14.139 --> 00:13:16.360 Yeah, that'll turn viewers off. And it only gets 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:18.360 stranger the further they get from the source 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:21.740 material. Take episode 13, The Better Father. 00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:24.159 Okay. Bonnie and Vince find out the reverend 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.419 who married them was a fake, so they decide to 00:13:26.419 --> 00:13:29.039 throw a whole new wedding. And Bonnie invites 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:31.759 her father, played by guest star Ed Begley Jr. 00:13:31.940 --> 00:13:33.820 And her father is written as a gambling addict 00:13:33.820 --> 00:13:36.500 who missed her first wedding. Right. He claims 00:13:36.500 --> 00:13:39.620 he's changed, but Ed catches him gambling away 00:13:39.620 --> 00:13:42.450 the money meant for the wedding food. Wow. Ed 00:13:42.450 --> 00:13:44.509 actually helps him win the money back, but then 00:13:44.509 --> 00:13:47.610 the father finds a single gambling ship, relapses 00:13:47.610 --> 00:13:49.809 instantly, and misses the second wedding too. 00:13:49.970 --> 00:13:53.029 That is dark. It culminates with Ed stepping 00:13:53.029 --> 00:13:55.350 in to walk Bonnie down the aisle. Which is an 00:13:55.350 --> 00:13:59.370 incredibly heavy, dramatic plot line for a show 00:13:59.370 --> 00:14:02.129 based on a novelty joke account. It feels like 00:14:02.129 --> 00:14:04.289 two different shows spliced together. Exactly. 00:14:05.090 --> 00:14:08.169 And then if we look at a late season arc, episodes 00:14:08.169 --> 00:14:12.240 14 through 17. The writers give Ed this massive 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:15.700 serialized storyline, meaning a story that carries 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:18.620 over from week to week. OK. And it starts because 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:20.980 his corn stocks are too high, which violates 00:14:20.980 --> 00:14:23.340 the Homeowners Association rules. Because the 00:14:23.340 --> 00:14:25.960 character lacks internal conflict, they have 00:14:25.960 --> 00:14:29.139 to force external conflict. Right. So his logical 00:14:29.139 --> 00:14:31.279 response to tall corn is to run for president 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:33.259 of the Homeowners Association to change the rule. 00:14:33.379 --> 00:14:35.940 But once he wins, he completely ignores his duties 00:14:35.940 --> 00:14:38.600 to pursue his neighbor, Rosemary. Oh, this storyline. 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:41.000 date, there's competition for her heart, and 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.559 it all culminates in episode 17, Lock and Load, 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:46.519 where Rosemary, who hates that Ed keeps a gun 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:49.139 in the house, accidentally shoots Vince because 00:14:49.139 --> 00:14:51.559 she thinks he's an intruder. Well, Vince is downstairs 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:53.559 watching porn to figure out how to have a baby 00:14:53.559 --> 00:14:56.379 correctly with Bonnie. It is a chaotic, baffling 00:14:56.379 --> 00:14:58.840 combination of events. It really is. When you 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:01.299 look at those plot lines and how far they strayed 00:15:01.299 --> 00:15:03.840 from the simple charm of a dad complaining about 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:07.269 the modern world, It perhaps isn't surprising 00:15:07.269 --> 00:15:10.009 that the critical reception was absolutely brutal. 00:15:10.470 --> 00:15:12.830 The scores reflect a complete critical rejection. 00:15:13.649 --> 00:15:15.970 On Metacritic, the series holds a score of 28 00:15:15.970 --> 00:15:20.019 out of 100. On Rotten Tomatoes, it sits at a 00:15:20.019 --> 00:15:25.440 rare 0 % based on 26 critic reviews. The critical 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:28.980 consensus explicitly cited childish jokes, abysmal 00:15:28.980 --> 00:15:31.320 writing, and the half -baked stunt casting of 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:34.500 William Shatner. Critics clearly felt the bumper 00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:36.789 sticker house had completely collapsed. Here's 00:15:36.789 --> 00:15:38.830 where it gets really interesting. Okay. The critics 00:15:38.830 --> 00:15:42.450 gave it a 0%. They hated it. But in January 2011, 00:15:42.710 --> 00:15:44.990 the show actually won the People's Choice Award 00:15:44.990 --> 00:15:47.529 for Favorite New TV Comedy. That's right. The 00:15:47.529 --> 00:15:50.309 public literally voted for it over every other 00:15:50.309 --> 00:15:52.509 comedy that premiered that year. That doesn't 00:15:52.509 --> 00:15:54.529 entirely make sense to me. How do you square 00:15:54.529 --> 00:15:57.549 a 0 % critic score with a major public -voted 00:15:57.549 --> 00:16:00.850 award? It perfectly illustrates the massive psychological 00:16:00.850 --> 00:16:03.990 gap in how audiences and critics consume media. 00:16:04.149 --> 00:16:06.039 Okay, tell me more. Critics are looking under 00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:08.480 the hood. They're examining the mechanics of 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:11.100 the adaptation, the structure of the jokes, the 00:16:11.100 --> 00:16:13.659 narrative engine we talked about. And by those 00:16:13.659 --> 00:16:16.639 metrics, they found the show fundamentally broken. 00:16:17.059 --> 00:16:19.200 They saw the duct tape holding the bumper stickers. 00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:21.919 Precisely. They couldn't ignore the structural 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.990 flaws, but the audience. Yeah. A large segment 00:16:25.990 --> 00:16:28.169 of the viewing public isn't looking for structural 00:16:28.169 --> 00:16:30.970 perfection at 8 .30 on a Thursday night after 00:16:30.970 --> 00:16:34.090 a long day of work. They might just enjoy the 00:16:34.090 --> 00:16:36.429 pure, low -stakes comfort of watching William 00:16:36.429 --> 00:16:39.850 Shatner be a grumpy, older man on their television 00:16:39.850 --> 00:16:43.129 set. There's a similarity to the sitcom rhythm 00:16:43.129 --> 00:16:46.289 that, while critics find it boring, audiences 00:16:46.289 --> 00:16:49.210 often find deeply comforting. Yeah, that makes 00:16:49.210 --> 00:16:51.870 sense. That comfort clearly resonated enough 00:16:51.870 --> 00:16:55.309 for a dedicated fan base to log online and vote 00:16:55.309 --> 00:16:57.990 for it. It highlights that sometimes an audience 00:16:57.990 --> 00:16:59.830 just wants to hang out with a specific actor 00:16:59.830 --> 00:17:01.909 in a familiar setting, regardless of what the 00:17:01.909 --> 00:17:04.230 critics say about the script's mechanics. But 00:17:04.230 --> 00:17:06.329 even with a People's Choice Award sitting on 00:17:06.329 --> 00:17:08.750 the studio mantle, the novelty couldn't last 00:17:08.750 --> 00:17:11.410 forever. The 12 million viewers from the premiere 00:17:11.410 --> 00:17:14.009 never fully returned, and the show eventually 00:17:14.009 --> 00:17:19.579 met a quiet demise. On May 15th, 2011, CBS officially 00:17:19.579 --> 00:17:22.799 canceled the series. Wow. It had produced and 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:26.180 aired just 18 episodes. In fact, mid -season, 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:28.880 it was pulled from its time slot and replaced 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:31.160 by another sitcom, Rules of Engagement, which 00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:33.839 had been moved over from Mondays. So it was just 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:35.900 quietly shuffled off the schedule. Yep. But the 00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:38.099 blog and the original internet fame of Justin 00:17:38.099 --> 00:17:41.019 Halpern didn't die there. His work actually spawned 00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:43.599 a second television series later on called Surviving 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:46.619 Jack. True, but we can't talk about the legacy 00:17:46.619 --> 00:17:49.119 of this specific adaptation without mentioning 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:52.000 its most bizarre pop culture footprint. Oh, please 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:54.640 do. It was parodied by Cartoon Network's animated 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:57.650 sketch show, M .A .D. Oh, this is such a specific 00:17:57.650 --> 00:18:00.730 weird artifact of 2010. It really is. M .A .D. 00:18:00.809 --> 00:18:03.230 had a crossover parody of the sitcom and Looney 00:18:03.230 --> 00:18:05.809 Tunes. They called it Meep, my dad says. And 00:18:05.809 --> 00:18:07.630 they had the Road Runner playing the role of 00:18:07.630 --> 00:18:10.109 the grumpy dad. That is brilliant. So instead 00:18:10.109 --> 00:18:13.309 of using symbols or network bleeps, every time 00:18:13.309 --> 00:18:15.710 the dad was supposed to say a swear word, the 00:18:15.710 --> 00:18:18.970 Road Runner just used his classic meek, meep, 00:18:19.430 --> 00:18:21.390 with a little black sensor bar floating over 00:18:21.390 --> 00:18:24.460 his beak. which is actually a very clever visual 00:18:24.460 --> 00:18:26.460 representation of exactly what the network was 00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:28.839 trying to do in real life. Exactly. They took 00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:31.839 something inherently wild and untamed, the internet, 00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:34.700 and threw a cartoonish sensor bar over it to 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:37.500 make it palatable for a general audience. So 00:18:37.500 --> 00:18:39.960 what does this all mean? Well, when you step 00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:43.039 back and look at this entire experiment, Think 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:45.039 about how many online properties you see today 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:47.039 trying to make the leap to traditional media. 00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:49.619 You see TikTokers getting multi -picture movie 00:18:49.619 --> 00:18:52.119 deals, YouTube channels trying to become prestige 00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:54.940 streaming series. It's everywhere now. The translation 00:18:54.940 --> 00:18:57.160 from a scrolling screen to a television screen 00:18:57.160 --> 00:18:59.759 is incredibly difficult. Because it's a fundamentally 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:02.420 different language. Yeah. A 140 character joke 00:19:02.420 --> 00:19:05.190 is an isolated moment of observation. as we saw 00:19:05.190 --> 00:19:07.869 with the bizarre episode plots. A sitcom requires 00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:11.029 world -building, character arcs, pacing, and 00:19:11.029 --> 00:19:13.410 conflict resolution. You cannot just copy and 00:19:13.410 --> 00:19:15.710 paste the internet onto a soundstage and expect 00:19:15.710 --> 00:19:18.009 it to work without building a real foundation 00:19:18.009 --> 00:19:21.039 first. So to summarize this wild journey, we 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:23.539 started with a viral 140 character tweet. Right. 00:19:24.019 --> 00:19:26.359 That tweet sparked a massive Hollywood bidding 00:19:26.359 --> 00:19:29.000 war, leading to a highly publicized primetime 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:32.660 show. That show then sparked a national controversy 00:19:32.660 --> 00:19:35.319 with watchdog groups over its title, threatened 00:19:35.319 --> 00:19:38.299 local affiliate licenses, premiered to over 12 00:19:38.299 --> 00:19:41.140 million people, got a zero percent from critics, 00:19:41.500 --> 00:19:43.759 won a People's Choice Award from the fans, and 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:46.700 then was canceled after just 18 episodes. It 00:19:46.700 --> 00:19:49.809 is a wildly condensed life cycle of a television 00:19:49.809 --> 00:19:52.069 show. He really is. If we connect this to the 00:19:52.069 --> 00:19:54.890 bigger picture, there is one detail in our sources 00:19:54.890 --> 00:19:57.190 today that I find incredibly revealing about 00:19:57.190 --> 00:19:59.130 the nature of Hollywood adaptations and what 00:19:59.130 --> 00:20:01.289 they actually value. I know exactly what detail 00:20:01.289 --> 00:20:03.069 you're talking about, and I want to leave you, 00:20:03.130 --> 00:20:05.369 the listener, with this thought to mull over. 00:20:05.690 --> 00:20:08.470 Think about the names. We established that the 00:20:08.470 --> 00:20:11.490 original Twitter feed was based on Justin Halpern's 00:20:11.490 --> 00:20:14.250 actual real -life father. Right. His name was 00:20:14.250 --> 00:20:17.829 Sam. Justin was the son. But when the network 00:20:17.829 --> 00:20:20.829 adapted the show, they completely erased those 00:20:20.829 --> 00:20:24.049 identities. They named the TV dad, Ed, and they 00:20:24.049 --> 00:20:27.369 named the TV son, Henry. Even character named 00:20:27.369 --> 00:20:29.609 Sam from the original pilot script was eliminated 00:20:29.609 --> 00:20:31.920 before broadcast. They just wiped them out. The 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:34.799 network fought so incredibly hard risking FCC 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:38.180 violations, enduring PTC protests, threatening 00:20:38.180 --> 00:20:41.119 their own affiliate licenses just to keep the 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:43.880 controversial, profane brand name of the Twitter 00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:46.079 feed as the title of the show. Because that was 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:48.880 the hook. Right. So why go to war to keep the 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:51.200 brand's curse word in the title while completely 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:52.940 stripping away the real names and identities 00:20:52.940 --> 00:20:55.319 of the actual humans who drove the Internet fame 00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:57.640 in the first place? It's wild. It's the ultimate 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:00.440 paradox of adapting Internet culture. Are we 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:02.460 just aggr - aggressively marketing the viral 00:21:02.460 --> 00:21:05.200 aesthetic while fundamentally erasing the messy 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:08.279 reality behind it? That's a great question. Something 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:10.900 to think about next time you hit like on a viral 00:21:10.900 --> 00:21:13.740 post. Thanks for exploring the weird, wonderful, 00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:16.160 and bleeped out world of television adaptation 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:19.380 with us today. Keep scrolling, but maybe keep 00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:21.839 your bumper stickers on your car. Catch you on 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:22.819 the next Deep Dive.