$#*! My Dad Says

Lost in Translation
William Shatner now stars in a comedy series on CBS that has been adapted from a Twitter feed called Sh*t My Dad Says. I've been a fan of Justin Halpern, the Twitter account's author, for a while, and I'm happy that he's been able to profit from his feed. However, I worry about the success of the show since the success of Halpern's Twitter posts comes because they pack a lot of comedy in just 140 characters. I have not seen the television show, but I worry that stretching a bunch of 140-character one-liners into a 30-minute series is doomed to fail from the beginning.

But maybe there's an alternative way to translate the Sh*t My Dad Says Twitter account to television without losing its punch of comedy:

Pardon the Interruption
What if CBS took the top 150 posts from Halpern's dad and made them into ten-second spots that aired in between each commercial during prime time for one day of the week throughout the whole fall season. The ten-second bits would be just as funny as the Twitter feed itself, and TV viewers would have a reason to watch all of the commercials for one night each week. Instead of trying to gain a large audience of viewers to watch a show called $#*! My Dad Says, CBS would be gaining a large audience of viewers who would watch an evening of shows. Seems like a win-win situation to me.

Add This To Your To-Do List
Sometimes a great idea can't be extended, made bigger, or shrunk down. It works well just the way it is. Think long and hard about what makes your great ideas work before you decide to change them in order to "make them better."

There's never a lack of ideas.

Thanks to Maggie Redmon, my friend and former co-worker, for thinking up this post.

Comments

  1. Chas GrundyOctober 22, 2010

    Nick, I just now realized that you (formerly of IES) are the same guy whose blog I've been enjoying for the last year. Glad to hear of your new job, it's too bad we didn't get to present together. Best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nick SOctober 24, 2010

    Thanks for the message, Chas. I'm sad we didn't get to present together, either, but I heard you were great flying solo.

    ReplyDelete

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