WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.759 Welcome to the deep dive, Lerner. How does a 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:07.019 television show manage to win a favorite new 00:00:07.019 --> 00:00:09.980 TV comedy award, you know, chosen entirely by 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:12.580 the viewing public, while at the exact same time 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:15.220 holding a literal zero percent rating from the 00:00:15.220 --> 00:00:18.239 critical establishment? It is a pretty massive 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:20.980 contradiction. And today we are opening the Wikipedia 00:00:20.980 --> 00:00:25.219 records of a, well, a uniquely 2010s cultural 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:28.260 artifact. Right. The CBS sitcom Bleep, my dad 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:30.640 says. And whether you are interested in media 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:33.759 history or pop culture phenomenons or just the, 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:36.000 you know, the structural mechanics of bizarre 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.020 industry missteps, this deep dive is an absolute 00:00:39.020 --> 00:00:41.320 masterclass. It really is. It's a masterclass 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:43.700 in what happens when traditional network television 00:00:43.700 --> 00:00:46.159 collides head on with early Internet culture. 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:49.039 Yeah, because we are going to explore the underlying 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:52.399 machinery of how a viral 140 character social 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:54.880 media account was somehow ripped from the Internet 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:57.630 and reversed engineered into a primetime broadcast 00:00:57.630 --> 00:00:59.509 show. Complete with a soundstage and a laugh 00:00:59.509 --> 00:01:01.990 track. Exactly. Okay, let's unpack this because 00:01:01.990 --> 00:01:04.790 how do you even begin to translate a text -based 00:01:04.790 --> 00:01:07.609 internet post into a 21 -minute multi -camera 00:01:07.609 --> 00:01:11.319 sitcom? Whoa. To understand the sheer structural 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:14.280 incompatibility of that translation, we really 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:16.319 have to look at the timeline. The speed of it 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:18.500 all. Right. The speed is central to the story, 00:01:18.819 --> 00:01:20.659 because the source material for this television 00:01:20.659 --> 00:01:24.480 show wasn't a novel or a play or, you know, even 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:27.219 a traditional pitch document. It was literally 00:01:27.219 --> 00:01:30.120 a Twitter feed. Which is wild to think about 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:35.000 now. It is. In 2009, A man named Justin Halpern 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:38.260 created an account simply called Shit My Dad 00:01:38.260 --> 00:01:40.939 Says. Yeah. And the content was exactly what 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:43.019 the title advertised. It was just him quoting 00:01:43.019 --> 00:01:45.859 his dad, right? Yeah, just disconnected, completely 00:01:45.859 --> 00:01:49.280 out of context, highly profane quotations from 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:51.829 his 72 -year -old father, Sam. I am looking at 00:01:51.829 --> 00:01:53.430 the history of that account right now, and it 00:01:53.430 --> 00:01:55.549 really was just a guy tweeting the ridiculous, 00:01:55.909 --> 00:01:57.870 completely unfiltered things his dad would say 00:01:57.870 --> 00:02:00.030 around the house. And it was brilliant in its 00:02:00.030 --> 00:02:02.370 simplicity. It really was, but it's entirely 00:02:02.370 --> 00:02:04.390 asynchronous. You read a tweet, you laugh, and 00:02:04.390 --> 00:02:06.750 you just scroll on. But the network saw the follower 00:02:06.750 --> 00:02:08.569 count and practically tripped over themselves 00:02:08.569 --> 00:02:12.449 to buy it. They did. I mean, by November of 2009, 00:02:12.889 --> 00:02:15.389 CBS announced they were developing a television 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:17.909 pilot based on this Twitter feed. Written by 00:02:17.909 --> 00:02:20.849 Halpern himself and Patrick Schumacher. Right. 00:02:21.009 --> 00:02:25.250 And then by late February 2010, they had cast 00:02:25.250 --> 00:02:27.530 the lead role, which immediately triggered a 00:02:27.530 --> 00:02:29.870 green light for full production. Which is an 00:02:29.870 --> 00:02:32.490 incredibly compressed timeline for network television. 00:02:32.629 --> 00:02:34.550 I mean, that's basically overnight in Hollywood 00:02:34.550 --> 00:02:38.319 terms. Exactly. The casting of that lead role 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:41.840 was their first big attempt to force an internet 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:45.360 phenomenon into a recognizable television shape. 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:47.900 And they cast William Shatner. Yes. I mean, he 00:02:47.900 --> 00:02:50.719 was brought on to play Dr. Edison Milford Goodson 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:54.860 III, or Ed, a 72 -year -old highly opinionated 00:02:54.860 --> 00:02:57.139 former doctor who has been divorced three times. 00:02:57.240 --> 00:02:59.060 So they secure their eccentric dad. Right, they 00:02:59.060 --> 00:03:01.460 got the dad. But I'm trying to picture the actual 00:03:01.460 --> 00:03:04.080 mechanics of this transition, because a Twitter 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:06.460 feed of random quotes has no narrative. of tissue 00:03:06.460 --> 00:03:10.479 at all. It has no continuous space or time. Taking 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.819 a chaotic 2010 Twitter feed and turning it into 00:03:14.819 --> 00:03:20.189 a CBS multi -camera sitcom feels like... like 00:03:20.189 --> 00:03:22.830 trying to run a modern TikTok video and stretch 00:03:22.830 --> 00:03:25.349 it into a two hour movie. That is a great comparison. 00:03:25.610 --> 00:03:27.509 The underlying architecture just isn't built 00:03:27.509 --> 00:03:29.810 to process it. You can't just have William Shatner 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:32.349 standing in a kitchen reciting tweets for 21 00:03:32.349 --> 00:03:35.150 minutes straight. No, you can't. And that is 00:03:35.150 --> 00:03:37.849 the exact architectural problem they faced because 00:03:37.849 --> 00:03:41.129 a multi -camera sitcom requires a situational 00:03:41.129 --> 00:03:44.689 engine. It relies on a synchronized, continuous 00:03:44.689 --> 00:03:47.710 physical space, usually a living room or a kitchen 00:03:47.710 --> 00:03:50.069 set, where characters are literally forced to 00:03:50.069 --> 00:03:51.849 interact. They need a reason to be in the room 00:03:51.849 --> 00:03:54.189 together. Exactly. It needs a mechanism to keep 00:03:54.189 --> 00:03:56.650 them there every week to generate conflict, which 00:03:56.650 --> 00:03:59.110 then leads to a setup and a punchline. But a 00:03:59.110 --> 00:04:01.490 tweet is entirely devoid of that context. Because 00:04:01.490 --> 00:04:03.770 when you read a tweet, your own brain fills in 00:04:03.770 --> 00:04:05.849 the background. Right. But television has to 00:04:05.849 --> 00:04:07.870 build the background. And the background they 00:04:07.870 --> 00:04:10.569 built was just incredibly convoluted. To create 00:04:10.569 --> 00:04:13.370 that situational engine, they engineered a son 00:04:13.370 --> 00:04:15.569 character, Henry, played by Jonathan Sadowski. 00:04:16.370 --> 00:04:19.329 And Henry is written as a struggling writer and 00:04:19.329 --> 00:04:21.350 blogger. Because he can't afford his rent, he 00:04:21.350 --> 00:04:24.430 is forced to move back in with his dad, Ed. Which 00:04:24.430 --> 00:04:27.329 is a very classic setup. It is. But then, Henry 00:04:27.329 --> 00:04:29.649 goes to a job interview, and he only gets the 00:04:29.649 --> 00:04:31.550 job because his dad interrupts the interview 00:04:31.550 --> 00:04:34.129 with an incredibly irrational phone call. Of 00:04:34.129 --> 00:04:37.000 course. And the eccentric editor conducting the 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:40.180 interview overhears this, finds the dad absolutely 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:43.899 fascinating, and hires Henry on one very specific 00:04:43.899 --> 00:04:47.019 condition. Which is? Henry has to farm his dad's 00:04:47.019 --> 00:04:49.120 unsolicited rants for internet content. That 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:51.399 is literally the only way he can keep his paying 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:54.939 job. Wow. So looking at that frantic timeline 00:04:54.939 --> 00:04:58.319 from a Twitter feed in late 2009 to a CBS pick 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:01.699 -up in May 2010, I have to ask. Does this premise 00:05:01.699 --> 00:05:03.680 actually reflect the organic nature of social 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:06.259 media, or was it just a desperate scramble to 00:05:06.259 --> 00:05:09.019 map an internet trend onto a legacy format? Oh, 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:12.019 it is heavily the latter. I mean, if we connect 00:05:12.019 --> 00:05:15.019 this to the bigger picture, the why behind this 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:18.279 specific plot format is entirely driven by network 00:05:18.279 --> 00:05:21.620 anxiety. You're scared. CBS was terrified they 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:24.420 would purchase this viral property, but the executives 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:27.579 were deeply anxious about whether a Twitter feed 00:05:27.579 --> 00:05:31.079 could actually sustain a narrative for 22 episodes 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:33.939 a season. So they panicked. Yeah. So they bolted 00:05:33.939 --> 00:05:36.300 the internet trend onto a highly traditional 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:39.420 structurally safe odd couple father son dynamic. 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:42.540 Right. They invented this convoluted narrative 00:05:42.540 --> 00:05:46.060 where Henry is a blogger. who was contractually 00:05:46.060 --> 00:05:48.360 obligated to live with his dad and record him 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:51.740 just to justify why the title of the show even 00:05:51.740 --> 00:05:53.699 exists within the universe of the series. Oh, 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:55.819 I see. The show is constantly trying to explain 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:57.819 its own premise to the audience. Exactly. They 00:05:57.819 --> 00:06:00.860 were reverse engineering a traditional 1990s 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:04.319 sitcom just to justify a 2010 Twitter handle. 00:06:04.379 --> 00:06:06.180 That's exactly what they were doing. But the 00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:08.579 network fundamentally misunderstood the format 00:06:08.579 --> 00:06:11.079 of the internet. And their lack of understanding 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:13.600 didn't stop at the script. It immediately clashed 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:15.800 with broadcast law the moment they tried to name 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:18.040 the show. Yes, the title. Because you can't just 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:21.379 call a primetime CBS network show shit my dad 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:24.120 says over public airwaves. No. The FCC would 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:26.850 absolutely not allow that. Right. To comply with 00:06:26.850 --> 00:06:29.889 FCC primetime rules regarding profanity, they 00:06:29.889 --> 00:06:32.449 had to censor the title visually. It became a 00:06:32.449 --> 00:06:36.069 series of symbols. Dollar sign, pound sign, exclamation 00:06:36.069 --> 00:06:38.930 point, officially pronounced bleep, my dad says. 00:06:39.209 --> 00:06:41.189 But even that visual censorship wasn't enough 00:06:41.189 --> 00:06:43.750 to stop the impending outrage. Not at all. And 00:06:43.750 --> 00:06:46.269 here's where it gets really interesting. What's 00:06:46.269 --> 00:06:48.810 fascinating here is that you are seeing a real 00:06:48.810 --> 00:06:51.709 time collision of two completely different eras 00:06:51.709 --> 00:06:54.490 of media regulation. Yeah. You have the unregulated 00:06:54.490 --> 00:06:56.730 frontier of the Internet. colliding head -on 00:06:56.730 --> 00:06:59.589 with a heavily regulated, historically puritanical 00:06:59.589 --> 00:07:02.329 space of broadcast television. So true. And in 00:07:02.329 --> 00:07:05.870 May of 2010, CBS announced the show's official 00:07:05.870 --> 00:07:08.990 name, and it's 8 .30 p .m. Thursday time slot 00:07:08.990 --> 00:07:11.189 at their Upground presentation. Let me pause 00:07:11.189 --> 00:07:13.910 you there, because we need to define what that 00:07:13.910 --> 00:07:16.269 actually is for the listener. Good idea. An upfront 00:07:16.269 --> 00:07:18.529 presentation isn't just a basic press conference. 00:07:18.889 --> 00:07:22.389 It is a massive high stakes sales pitch where 00:07:22.389 --> 00:07:24.689 television networks present their fall schedules 00:07:24.689 --> 00:07:27.670 to major advertisers. Right. Trying to convince 00:07:27.670 --> 00:07:30.189 them to buy commercial time months in advance. 00:07:30.449 --> 00:07:33.279 Exactly. Billions of dollars are committed at 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:35.720 up -fronts. So you can imagine the advertisers' 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:39.560 faces when a show with a profanity heavily implied 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:42.139 in the title flashed up on the screen for an 00:07:42.139 --> 00:07:45.040 8 .30 p .m. family time slot. I'm sure they were 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.560 thrilled. Oh, totally. And almost immediately, 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:51.240 the Parents Television Council or the PTC heavily 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:54.060 protested. They argued that the title was unacceptable 00:07:54.060 --> 00:07:56.800 because it explicitly alluded to an obscenity. 00:07:56.920 --> 00:07:58.879 And they didn't just write an angry letter to 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:00.980 CBS headquarters. No, they went much further. 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:03.959 The PTC threatened broadcast license challenges 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:06.139 for any local affiliate that dared to air the 00:08:06.139 --> 00:08:08.579 show or even its promotional commercials before 00:08:08.579 --> 00:08:11.519 10 p .m. Wait, hold on. Local affiliates. Why 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:13.639 target the local stations? I mean, if CBS is 00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:16.839 making the show, why is the PTC threatening the 00:08:16.839 --> 00:08:19.740 local news station in Ohio or Texas? Well, because 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:23.120 of how broadcast licensing actually works. CBS 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:25.910 is a national corporate entity. provides the 00:08:25.910 --> 00:08:28.550 programming. OK. But it is the local affiliate 00:08:28.550 --> 00:08:31.149 stations that actually hold the FCC broadcast 00:08:31.149 --> 00:08:34.289 licenses to transmit that programming over public 00:08:34.289 --> 00:08:37.169 airwaves in their specific region. Oh, I see. 00:08:37.610 --> 00:08:40.409 So by threatening those specific licenses, the 00:08:40.409 --> 00:08:42.809 PTC was threatening the fundamental ability of 00:08:42.809 --> 00:08:45.330 those local stations to operate at all. Wow. 00:08:45.769 --> 00:08:47.870 They were trying to create a localized panic 00:08:47.870 --> 00:08:49.710 that would force the national network to pull 00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:53.080 the show. Exactly. which forced CBS into a massive 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:55.480 defensive posture. Yeah. The network had to come 00:08:55.480 --> 00:08:57.600 out and publicly promise that the show would, 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:00.679 quote, in no way be indecent. They assured reporters 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:02.899 they would adhere to all CBS. Yeah. For those 00:09:02.899 --> 00:09:05.240 who don't remember, the V -chip was a piece of 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:08.799 technology mandated by the FCC to be built into 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:11.120 television sets that allowed parents to block 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:14.700 programming based on its age rating. So CBS is 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:16.460 essentially telling parents, hey, if you don't 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:18.919 like it, use the hardware in your TV to block 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:21.970 it. Pretty much. But William Shatner handled 00:09:21.970 --> 00:09:23.789 this very differently. Oh, he definitely did. 00:09:23.850 --> 00:09:26.990 At the July 2010 Television Critics Association 00:09:26.990 --> 00:09:29.710 press tour, Shatner was asked about this whole 00:09:29.710 --> 00:09:33.070 title controversy, and he delivered a very blunt 00:09:33.070 --> 00:09:36.370 defense. What did he say? He said, we say spit. 00:09:36.549 --> 00:09:39.169 Why can't we say shit? It's a natural function. 00:09:39.429 --> 00:09:41.850 Why are we pussyfooting? That is a very Ed Goodson 00:09:41.850 --> 00:09:44.190 response. It really is. But I have to point out 00:09:44.190 --> 00:09:47.090 the hilarious irony of the PTC's entire strategy 00:09:47.090 --> 00:09:50.250 here. Yeah. A show based on a Twitter feed, you 00:09:50.250 --> 00:09:53.309 know, a platform known globally for being chaotic, 00:09:53.509 --> 00:09:56.889 unfiltered and entirely user generated, was forcing 00:09:56.889 --> 00:09:59.830 network executives to have a serious hand wringing 00:09:59.830 --> 00:10:02.289 debate about the word shit at corporate press 00:10:02.289 --> 00:10:04.269 doors. They were trying to sanitize the very 00:10:04.269 --> 00:10:08.240 thing they bought it for. incredibly ironic and 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:11.240 structurally, it completely backfired on the 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:14.620 protesters. How so? Well, Bill Gorman, writing 00:10:14.620 --> 00:10:16.820 for TV by the numbers at the time, correctly 00:10:16.820 --> 00:10:19.139 predicted exactly what the mechanical outcome 00:10:19.139 --> 00:10:21.399 of this protest would be. OK. He pointed out 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:23.820 that the PTC was essentially running a massive 00:10:23.820 --> 00:10:26.919 unpaid marketing campaign for CBS. Oh, of course. 00:10:27.100 --> 00:10:29.620 By creating a forbidden allure around what was 00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:32.179 actually a rather standard sitcom, they were 00:10:32.179 --> 00:10:34.690 generating the Streisand effect. The psychological 00:10:34.690 --> 00:10:37.710 phenomenon where attempting to hide or censor 00:10:37.710 --> 00:10:40.309 information simply draws massive public attention 00:10:40.309 --> 00:10:42.950 to it. Precisely. The controversy didn't suppress 00:10:42.950 --> 00:10:45.549 the show, it amplified it. Right. The outrage 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:47.769 was a massive driver for the tune -in numbers 00:10:47.769 --> 00:10:50.049 of the premiere. Which makes sense. But this 00:10:50.049 --> 00:10:52.570 raises an important question. Once the mechanics 00:10:52.570 --> 00:10:54.429 of the Streisand effect got people in the door, 00:10:54.809 --> 00:10:56.870 what did they actually see on screen? Right. 00:10:57.029 --> 00:11:00.250 So the audience sits down on September 23, 2010. 00:11:00.539 --> 00:11:02.500 Let's look at the actual content of the show, 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:04.899 because this is where the friction between the 00:11:04.899 --> 00:11:07.299 internet origin and the television format really 00:11:07.299 --> 00:11:09.799 grinds the gears. It really does. So the network 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:12.500 built out a supporting cast of seasoned comedy 00:11:12.500 --> 00:11:15.940 veterans. You had Will Sasso playing Henry's 00:11:15.940 --> 00:11:19.100 brother Vince, and Nicole Sullivan playing Vince's 00:11:19.100 --> 00:11:21.419 wife Bonnie. Which is an interesting pairing. 00:11:21.720 --> 00:11:23.980 Yeah. What's crucial here is that Sasso and Sullivan 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:26.039 were actually former castmates on the sketch 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:29.399 comedy show Mad TV. Oh, wow. You also had recurring 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:32.529 characters. like Tim, played by Tim Bagley, and 00:11:32.529 --> 00:11:35.110 eventually a love interest for Ed named Rosemary. 00:11:35.289 --> 00:11:38.029 Bringing in sketch comedy veterans like Sasso 00:11:38.029 --> 00:11:41.230 and Sullivan is a very specific structural choice. 00:11:41.529 --> 00:11:44.629 How do you mean? Well, multi -camera sitcoms 00:11:44.629 --> 00:11:47.350 require actors who understand how to hold for 00:11:47.350 --> 00:11:50.409 laughs, how to project to a live studio audience, 00:11:50.710 --> 00:11:53.289 and how to maintain a highly polished comedic 00:11:53.289 --> 00:11:55.090 rhythm. That makes sense, but getting to that 00:11:55.090 --> 00:11:57.429 polished rhythm was pretty messy. Yeah, the development 00:11:57.429 --> 00:11:59.940 was rough. I noticed in the Wiki notes that there 00:11:59.940 --> 00:12:02.340 was a lot of behind -the -scenes shuffling. In 00:12:02.340 --> 00:12:04.460 the pilot, the son Henry was originally played 00:12:04.460 --> 00:12:06.940 by Ryan Devlin before Jonathan Sadowski took 00:12:06.940 --> 00:12:08.879 over the role. There was also a character named 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:11.740 Sam, played by Stephanie Lemelin, who was completely 00:12:11.740 --> 00:12:14.240 eliminated. Like, she never appeared in the broadcast 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:16.960 pilot or any subsequent episodes. Which is honestly 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:19.580 standard operating procedure for the multi -camera 00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:21.960 format. Really, just completely cutting characters. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.600 Yeah. The writers and producers are constantly 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:27.639 adjusting the chemistry on the fly, testing what 00:12:27.639 --> 00:12:29.820 works in front of an audience. That makes sense. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:32.919 But what really reveals the DNA of the show... 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.740 isn't the casting adjustments. It's the plot 00:12:35.740 --> 00:12:38.799 lines they ultimately decided to execute. Oh, 00:12:38.940 --> 00:12:41.559 the plot lines. Let me read you a few of these 00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:43.899 from the Wikipedia page, Lerner, because I want 00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:46.399 you to really picture what was broadcasting into 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:49.080 millions of homes. This should be good. In episode 00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:52.919 14, titled Corn Star, Ed runs for the president 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:55.419 of the homeowners association simply to protect 00:12:55.419 --> 00:12:57.799 the height of his corn stalks. Which is just 00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:00.610 such a standard sitcom trope. Right. And then 00:13:00.610 --> 00:13:03.730 in episode 13, the better father, Bonnie and 00:13:03.730 --> 00:13:06.370 Vince, realize their wedding was performed by 00:13:06.370 --> 00:13:08.970 a fake reverend. Oh, of course they do. So they 00:13:08.970 --> 00:13:12.129 throw a second wedding. But it's disastrous because 00:13:12.129 --> 00:13:14.889 it's ruined by Bonnie's gambling -addicted father, 00:13:14.990 --> 00:13:17.470 played by guest star Ed Begley Jr., who finds 00:13:17.470 --> 00:13:20.190 a gambling chip and literally ditches the wedding. 00:13:20.250 --> 00:13:23.190 Classic. And it ends with a highly sentimental 00:13:23.190 --> 00:13:25.629 moment where Ed steps up and walks Bonnie down 00:13:25.629 --> 00:13:29.110 the aisle. And then there is episode 17, Lock 00:13:29.110 --> 00:13:32.169 and Load. Ed's neighbor Rosemary accidentally 00:13:32.169 --> 00:13:34.549 shoots Vince thinking he's an intruder. Wait, 00:13:34.730 --> 00:13:36.909 shoots him? Yes, accidentally shoots him. And 00:13:36.909 --> 00:13:38.889 why does she think he's an intruder? Because 00:13:38.889 --> 00:13:41.090 Vince is hiding out in the garage watching porn 00:13:41.090 --> 00:13:43.350 so he can figure out how to have a baby correctly 00:13:43.350 --> 00:13:46.710 with Bonnie. Wow. It is quite a departure from 00:13:46.710 --> 00:13:49.289 a 140 -character quote about everyday life. I 00:13:49.289 --> 00:13:51.350 have to push back on the entire premise of the 00:13:51.350 --> 00:13:53.350 show's existence here. I mean, listen to those 00:13:53.350 --> 00:13:57.259 plot lines. Do those sound like... edgy observational 00:13:57.259 --> 00:13:59.480 internet quotes to you? Not at all. Or does it 00:13:59.480 --> 00:14:02.220 sound like they just took a standard wacky CBS 00:14:02.220 --> 00:14:05.480 sitcom script from 1998 and pasted William Shatner 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:07.679 into the middle of it? It is absolutely the latter, 00:14:07.899 --> 00:14:10.240 and this highlights the core mechanical failure 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:13.139 of the adaptation. The show completely abandoned 00:14:13.139 --> 00:14:15.940 the simple charm of its source material. The 00:14:15.940 --> 00:14:18.019 original Twitter feed was funny. because it was 00:14:18.019 --> 00:14:21.179 grounded. It felt real. Exactly. It was a real 00:14:21.179 --> 00:14:24.080 dad's off the cuff, bizarre remarks contrasting 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:27.080 with the mundane reality of everyday life. Right. 00:14:27.340 --> 00:14:30.320 But the television show replaced that mundane 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:34.360 reality with highly constructed frantic situational 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:37.200 comedy. You have fake reverends, you have accidental 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:40.340 shootings, you have HOAs and corn stocks. It's 00:14:40.340 --> 00:14:43.500 pure television artifice. Yes. They took a property 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:46.039 that felt incredibly authentic and unfiltered 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:49.039 to people online. And they processed it through 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:52.279 the very conventional rigidly structured machinery 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:54.940 of the Warner Brothers television multi -camera 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:57.899 format. And that just ruined it. The format itself 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:00.080 sanded down all the edges that made the Twitter 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:01.960 feed popular in the first place. Which leads 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:04.039 us directly to the paradox I mentioned at the 00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:06.480 top of the show. We have to look at how this 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.700 show was received because we are looking at a 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:11.179 tale of two entirely different realities here. 00:15:11.259 --> 00:15:13.460 We really are. Let's start with the experts, 00:15:13.899 --> 00:15:15.679 the critical establishment. Well, the critics 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.399 absolutely brutalized the show. They hated it. 00:15:18.659 --> 00:15:22.240 On Metacritic, which aggregates reviews, it holds 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:27.100 a score of 28. Out of 100. Ouch. Gets much worse. 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:30.279 On Rotten Tomatoes, based on 26 different critic 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:33.419 reviews, the series has a flat zero percent. 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:37.049 A zero? A literal zero percent. The critical 00:15:37.049 --> 00:15:40.529 consensus literally calls out the childish jokes, 00:15:41.230 --> 00:15:44.210 abysmal writing, and the half -baked stunt casting 00:15:44.210 --> 00:15:46.590 of William Shatner. They did not hold back. No, 00:15:46.669 --> 00:15:48.529 they saw the disconnect we just discussed, and 00:15:48.529 --> 00:15:50.370 they rejected it entirely. I have to stop you 00:15:50.370 --> 00:15:52.210 there. A literal zero percent. I mean, I get 00:15:52.210 --> 00:15:53.970 that it wasn't high art. I get that the plot 00:15:53.970 --> 00:15:56.490 lines were absurd. Sure. But Will Sasso and Nicole 00:15:56.490 --> 00:15:59.250 Sullivan are sketch comedy veterans. William 00:15:59.250 --> 00:16:01.909 Shanner is a television legend. How does a show 00:16:01.909 --> 00:16:04.789 with that level of foundational comedic talent 00:16:04.789 --> 00:16:07.970 yield a mathematical zero? Were they really that 00:16:07.970 --> 00:16:11.590 bad? Well, it wasn't necessarily that the actors 00:16:11.590 --> 00:16:14.450 were incompetent. It's about what the critics 00:16:14.450 --> 00:16:15.870 were measuring. OK, what were they measuring? 00:16:16.049 --> 00:16:18.389 The critics were grading the execution of the 00:16:18.389 --> 00:16:21.690 premise. They were looking at the hype, the promise 00:16:21.690 --> 00:16:25.460 of this edgy rule breaking internet feed and 00:16:25.460 --> 00:16:28.360 judging it against the reality of clunky sitcom 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:31.240 tropes and abysmal writing. Oh, I see. They saw 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:34.679 a cynical corporate cash grab that failed to 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:36.899 deliver on its own title. OK, so the critics 00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:40.190 graded the adaptation and gave it an F. But then, 00:16:40.470 --> 00:16:42.350 you look at the audience numbers. The numbers 00:16:42.350 --> 00:16:44.470 tell a different story. They really do. That 00:16:44.470 --> 00:16:48.049 premiere episode on September 23rd, a massive 00:16:48.049 --> 00:16:53.269 12 .58 million viewers tuned in. That is huge. 00:16:53.350 --> 00:16:55.769 Now, you could easily argue that's just the Streisand 00:16:55.769 --> 00:16:58.309 effect in action from the PTC title controversy. 00:16:58.490 --> 00:17:00.029 People just wanted to see what the forbidden 00:17:00.029 --> 00:17:01.730 fruit looked like. Which is very likely. And 00:17:01.730 --> 00:17:03.269 sure, over the next two weeks, the ratings did 00:17:03.269 --> 00:17:06.809 drop nearly 20%. But here is the kicker. They 00:17:06.809 --> 00:17:09.890 stabilized. They did. Episodes 4 and 5 actually 00:17:09.890 --> 00:17:14.029 climbed back up to around 10 .16 and 10 .91 million 00:17:14.029 --> 00:17:16.549 viewers. They consistently hovered around that 00:17:16.549 --> 00:17:20.109 9 to 10 million viewer mark for months. Which, 00:17:20.309 --> 00:17:21.950 you know, in the landscape of television, even 00:17:21.950 --> 00:17:26.190 in 2010, is a very solid, highly enviable audience 00:17:26.190 --> 00:17:28.430 block. But wait, it gets crazier. On January 00:17:28.430 --> 00:17:32.230 5, 2011, right in the middle of its run, this 00:17:32.230 --> 00:17:35.359 show... The one with the 0 % Rotten Tomatoes 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:38.599 score actually wins an award. Unbelievable. It 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:42.420 wins Favorite New TV Comedy at the 37th People's 00:17:42.420 --> 00:17:45.400 Choice Awards. Wow. It even cemented itself in 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:48.079 pop culture enough that Cartoon Network's sketch 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:50.880 show M .A .D. ran a parody of it called Meep 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.640 My Dad Says, where the road runner played the 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:56.440 dad using his meeps to imitate the sensor bleeps. 00:17:56.519 --> 00:17:59.180 That is amazing. So what does this all mean? 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.279 How in the world can a show get a literal 0 % 00:18:02.250 --> 00:18:04.450 from experts, but win an award chosen by the 00:18:04.450 --> 00:18:06.650 viewing public and hold 10 million viewers a 00:18:06.650 --> 00:18:08.910 week. Well, this requires us to look at the mechanics 00:18:08.910 --> 00:18:12.210 of how different groups consume media. The critics 00:18:12.210 --> 00:18:14.710 and the audience were watching two completely 00:18:14.710 --> 00:18:17.250 different shows, functionally speaking. How so? 00:18:17.410 --> 00:18:19.809 As we established, the critics were evaluating 00:18:19.809 --> 00:18:23.809 it as a failed piece of transmedia art. But the 00:18:23.809 --> 00:18:26.230 audience, those 10 million people tuning in every 00:18:26.230 --> 00:18:29.190 Thursday night, They weren't looking for groundbreaking 00:18:29.190 --> 00:18:31.789 art. What were they looking for? They were likely 00:18:31.789 --> 00:18:34.190 using it as comfort viewing. Yes, the censor 00:18:34.190 --> 00:18:36.890 title was a stunt to get them to look. But once 00:18:36.890 --> 00:18:39.269 they were looking, what they found was incredibly 00:18:39.269 --> 00:18:42.730 familiar, unchallenging network television. It 00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:45.309 was essentially a hypermodern billboard advertising 00:18:45.309 --> 00:18:49.430 a 1990s diner. Exactly. It had a beloved -o pop 00:18:49.430 --> 00:18:52.970 culture icon in William Shatner. It had the familiar, 00:18:53.529 --> 00:18:56.109 soothing auditory rhythms of a laugh track. It 00:18:56.109 --> 00:18:58.890 had comforting, easily resolvable plots about 00:18:58.890 --> 00:19:01.829 HOAs and family squabbles that wrap up neatly 00:19:01.829 --> 00:19:04.029 in 21 minutes. It gave them exactly what they 00:19:04.029 --> 00:19:05.869 wanted. It delivered exactly what a Thursday 00:19:05.869 --> 00:19:09.109 night CBS audience mechanically expected, regardless 00:19:09.109 --> 00:19:10.950 of what the Internet source material promised. 00:19:11.130 --> 00:19:13.329 But even 10 million viewers and a People's Choice 00:19:13.329 --> 00:19:15.809 Award couldn't save it from the network machinery. 00:19:15.950 --> 00:19:18.750 No, it could not. The demise came pretty swiftly. 00:19:19.250 --> 00:19:21.609 The show was pulled and replaced mid -season 00:19:21.609 --> 00:19:24.509 by the sitcom Rules of Engagement, which was 00:19:24.509 --> 00:19:27.329 moved over from Mondays to fill the slot. Right. 00:19:27.650 --> 00:19:32.130 And finally, on May 15th, 2011, CBS officially 00:19:32.130 --> 00:19:35.230 canceled the series entirely after just 18 episodes. 00:19:35.589 --> 00:19:38.349 Though, to be fair to Justin Halpern, the concept 00:19:38.349 --> 00:19:41.519 did linger. True. It spawned a spiritual successor 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:43.559 series based on his writing called Surviving 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:46.220 Jack a few years later. Right. But the fact that 00:19:46.220 --> 00:19:48.220 it was canceled despite those steady viewership 00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:50.740 numbers points right back to that initial network 00:19:50.740 --> 00:19:53.059 anxiety. They just didn't get it. They never 00:19:53.059 --> 00:19:55.000 really understood the architecture of what they 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:57.000 bought. They didn't know how to market it once 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.579 the controversy faded. And they ultimately didn't 00:19:59.579 --> 00:20:01.319 know what to do with the show, even when it was 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:03.559 working on a demographic level. Which makes this 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:06.759 whole saga such a perfect time capsule. It really 00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:10.259 is. As we wrap up this deep dive, Lerner, I want 00:20:10.259 --> 00:20:13.819 you to think about the story of Bleep Day. My 00:20:13.819 --> 00:20:17.099 dad says not just as a canceled TV show, but 00:20:17.099 --> 00:20:20.799 as a snapshot of the media landscape in 2010. 00:20:20.980 --> 00:20:24.279 A very specific moment in time. Yeah. It is the 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:27.599 ultimate proof that a network can write a massive 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:29.920 check. to buy the intellectual property rights 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:33.019 to a viral internet trend, but they cannot necessarily 00:20:33.019 --> 00:20:35.880 translate the structural soul of that trend onto 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:38.500 a sound stage. You can't just run an internet 00:20:38.500 --> 00:20:41.180 operating system on a legacy television mainframe 00:20:41.180 --> 00:20:43.819 and expect it to function authentically. It is 00:20:43.819 --> 00:20:45.619 a structural lesson the entertainment industry 00:20:45.619 --> 00:20:47.640 is still grappling with today. Absolutely. But 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:49.839 it leaves us with a lingering question, something 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:53.539 to really mull over. We look at this show's bizarre 00:20:53.539 --> 00:20:56.910 legacy. It wins a People's Choice Award. It maintains 00:20:56.910 --> 00:21:00.049 nearly 10 million weekly viewers, but it gets 00:21:00.049 --> 00:21:02.690 swiftly canceled after just one season while 00:21:02.690 --> 00:21:05.869 holding a 0 % critical rating. Right. So who 00:21:05.869 --> 00:21:08.369 actually gets to decide if a piece of media is 00:21:08.369 --> 00:21:11.309 a success? Is it the critics who demand artistic 00:21:11.309 --> 00:21:14.230 integrity and structural cohesion? Is it the 00:21:14.230 --> 00:21:16.690 network executives who control the schedule and 00:21:16.690 --> 00:21:19.670 panic over the underlying architecture? Or is 00:21:19.670 --> 00:21:22.230 it the millions of people who quietly tune in 00:21:22.230 --> 00:21:24.490 every Thursday night? just looking for a familiar 00:21:24.490 --> 00:21:25.869 comforting rhythm to end their day.