CBS to develop sitcom based on angry old man's tweets
Kurtwood Smith, Jerry Stiller and anyone else who has ever played a sarcastic and moody dad, it's time to call your agent.
CBS is going to develop a sitcom based on the Twitter feed "S&*% My Dad Says." The feed, which has over 700,000 followers, is done by Justin Halpern, who moved back home with his dad and started writing down and later tweeting his father's somewhat brusque and cynical observations. According to the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news, "Will & Grace" creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick will executive produce. The studio for the show is Warner Bros., and yes, if CBS moves forward with the project the name of the show will change.
One does have to wonder why Warner Bros. needed to do a deal with Halpern to develop a show with this theme. Not to take anything away from Halpern, and we hope his dad is getting a big cut since he seems to do most of the work, but shows featuring sarcastic fathers who torment their offspring are hardly new. Witness Peter Boyle in "Everybody Loves Raymond" or John Mahoney in "Frasier" or Ed O'Neill in "Married ... with Children" and now "Modern Family." Halpern hardly has a patent on the concept.
That said, CBS and Warner Bros. are betting that the popularity of the feed (yes, 700,000 followers in country of 300 million is considered popular) and the upcoming book based on the sayings of old man Halpern will draw viewers.
-- Joe Flint
And if it's the network-unsuitable musings of cranky old men you want, we have Curb Your Enthusiasm. Hard to see a market opening here.
Posted by: Elaine | November 09, 2009 at 07:07 PM
and the dialog has to be in increments of 140 characters or less??
Posted by: DeLia CA | November 09, 2009 at 08:21 PM
The reason those tweets are funny is because of the profanity. How are they going to run this on network television? HBO maybe.
Posted by: Lisa V | November 12, 2009 at 07:58 AM