Shatner finds new sitcom 'enthralling,' mild

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — For years, William Shatner has pretty much said whatever he wanted about anything and everything.

For decades, actually.

And he has a definite opinion about the title of his new sitcom, "$#*! My Dad Says."

It's too mild.

And he said so in, um, rather colorful terms.

"Do you know what I wish? I wish they would call it '(expletive),' he said, referring to a certain four-letter word that is a vulgarity for, um, well, you know.

The show is based on the Twitter feed by Justin Halpern that uses that particular vulgarity, which CBS has changed to "$#*!" and told us should be pronounced "bleep."

And, while the title has raised a few eyebrows, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said, "We haven't really gotten push-back yet. I think it's created a lot of buzz, and there's a lot of talk about it."

Of course, if CBS used the actual profanity, that would create even more buzz. And, in Shatner's opinion, the use of that expletive would be no big deal.

"You say that to your kids," he said, giving us a glimpse inside the Shatner home. "The word (expletive) is around us. It isn't a terrible term. It's a natural function. Why are we pussyfooting?"

Executive producer Max Mutchnick said he "couldn't agree more." But that doesn't mean the sitcom will be filled with expletives when it debuts this fall on CBS.

"It's not something you can do in the (network television) medium, so you always find ways to use other words," he said. "It's kind of the joy of being in the writing room and finding different ways to say things that you know can be said very easily and coarsely when you're out on the street."

Ah, the joys of sitcom writing.

The Twitter feed contains the actual words of Halpern's father. And he swears. Quite a bit.

But that won't be the point of the show, the producers promise.

"To me, what's distinctive about Justin's site is not the profanity. It's the voice, and the voice is very, very distinctive," said executive producer David Kohan. "I don't think that you need to use euphemisms to have bold statements or unvarnished truths that this guy says.