Based on the Twitter log and recent book by Justin Halpern, “Shit My Dad Says” premiered Thursday night as a poor follow-up to the critically acclaimed “Big Bang Theory.”

The shit his dad says is funny, I’ll give it that, but are funny jokes sprinkled in every other line enough to sustain a show for a whole season? At this

$#*! MY DAD SAYS starts William Shatner (pictured) as Ed Goodson (Photo: Ron P. Jaffe/CBS)

The first scene begins with the age-old question of how to get money from a parent. In this case, Henry (Johnathan Sadowski) just got laid off and is afraid to ask his dad, Ed (William Shatner), for money. It is obvious from the very beginning that Henry is going to move in with his dad, that they are going to struggle with their relationship, mostly joke, but nevertheless have some sweet moments. 

Henry and Ed’s relationship is failing its attempts to be a more in-depth version of Eric and Red Forman’s on “That 70’s Show”.  William Shatner’s character commits a fatal flaw by showing his sweet side too soon. During a scene at the DMV where he goes to take his driving test and fails by one point, viewers would expect him to make a huge scene and start insulting people. But this does not happen, and Ed manipulates the man into passing him in a rather nice way. The viewer waits and waits for the crude joke to come, but it never does. This situation just does not seem right for his character. The Ed the viewer is expecting would never be nice to anyone, especially not someone working at the DMV.

Basically, this show boils down to whether you are okay with a very predictable story line and many clichés when there are only a few great jokes to look forward to in each episode.

William Shatner struggles to deliver a believable performance in the first ten minutes and gets increasingly better as the show progresses; this, however, is not enough to retain the viewer’s attention.

The best actors in the first episode are Ed’s other son, Vince (Will Sasso), and his wife, Kathleen (Nicole Sullivan). They also have surprisingly great chemistry, which Henry and Ed completely lack.

The episode ends with Ed showing his nice side, yet again, by buying his son a mattress to sleep on and insinuating that he should move in with him. There is also a confusing ending scene where they dance to Billie Holiday until Ed hears a girl scout at the door and gets his shotgun. Doesn’t sound funny?

Well, it wasn’t.

“$#*! My Dad Says” is, for lack of better words, shit.