Decency group calls $#*! indecent too

By Matthew Lasar

The Parents Television Council ramped up its ongoing crusade against how human beings actually speak by condemning the title of a new CBS TV Series: $#*! my dad says.

"CBS intentionally chose to insert an expletive into the actual name of a show, and, despite its claim that the word will be bleeped, it is just CBS' latest demonstration of its contempt for families and the public," declared PTC President Tim Winter. "There are an infinite number of alternatives that CBS could have chosen but its desire to shock and offend is crystal clear in this decision."

We're scratching our heads at the "infinite number of alternatives" for which CBS could have opted. The series, starring William Shatner, is based on the actual tweets (and subsequent book) of Justin Halpern, who lives and functions as informal scribe for his 74 year old father, a devotee of intemperate language.

"He is awesome," Justin writes. "I just write down the $#*! that he says."

The latest tweets include (following CBS's lead, we've inserted more upper case symbols):

"They're offended? f*^@k, $#*!, a$$h@le, $#*!f*@k; they're just words . . . Fine. $#*!f*@k isn't a word, but you get my point."

and:

"I don't want your advice, you're 27 f*@king years old . . . Fine. I don't want your advice, you're 29 f*@king years old."

You get the idea. So now the PTC thinks not only shouldn't you hear the actual words on TV, but you shouldn't read mnemonics for them either.

"The PTC will wage an unrelenting campaign against every network advertiser that chooses to support this program; and in this instance, we will wage an unrelenting campaign against every local advertiser sponsoring the program at the affiliate station level," Winter warns.

"We will challenge the broadcast license of every network affiliate that chooses to air the program before 10 pm or that chooses to air a promotion of the program before 10 pm"—that being the "safe harbor" hour at which the Federal Communications Commission allows more risque programming to be broadcast (through 6 am).

CBS counters that the program "will in no way be indecent and will adhere to all CBS standards." But it looks like a showdown is looming, given that the network has scheduled the series for Thursdays at 8:30 pm.