CBS goes to $#*! in prime time

William Shatner still gives a $#*! about television. Or, at least, he will this fall when his new CBS sitcom premieres.

The Canadian-born TV institution will star in $#*! My Dad Says, a new half-hour comedy inspired by a popular Twitter feed by Justin Halpern, who turned the opinionated and politically incorrect rants of his real-life father into an Internet sensation.

The series is one of five new shows unveiled by CBS Wednesday during its upfront ad-sales presentation in New York. In addition to adding a handful of rookie offerings, the Eye network will also move several of its long-running returnees to new timeslots on different nights.

In $#*! My Dad Says, Shatner will play an out-there character named Ed Goodson, whose son, Henry, is a struggling writer turned unpaid blogger who's been forced to move back to the family home. Ed's other son, Vince, is the weak-kneed half of a husband/wife real-estate partnership.

The other new comedy in CBS's fall schedule is Mike & Molly, which stars Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy as a working-class couple who met at an overeaters' support group.

CBS is adding three new dramas -- a revival of the '70s tropical-cop show Hawaii Five-O, starring Alex O'Loughlin as Steve McGarrett and Scott Caan as Danny "Danno" Williams, The Defenders, a comedy-infused courtroom drama starring Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell, and Blue Bloods, which stars Tom Selleck as the head of a multi-generational family of New York City cops. Selleck plays the chief of the NYPD; Donnie Wahlberg co-stars as the eldest of his badge-carrying offspring.

CBS executives also confirmed that they've picked up an as-yet-untitled Criminal Minds spinoff that will star Oscar winner Forest Whitaker as the head of an elite unit within the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. The series will premiere as a mid-season replacement.

In an effort to further solidify an already-stable schedule, CBS is moving The Big Bang Theory out of its popular Monday-comedy block, pairing it with $#*! My Dad Says in the first hour of its Thursday-night lineup. Survivor will relocate to the lead-off spot on Wednesday.

CSI: NY is being moved to Friday at 8 p.m., after Medium (which moves to 7 p.m.), and CSI: Miami will move from its familiar Monday-night slot to the 9 p.m. time period on Sunday night. Hawaii Five-O will air at 9 p.m. Monday.

As previously announced, CBS has dropped a number of its current prime-time offerings, including The New Adventures of Old Christine, Ghost Whisperer, NUMB3RS, Cold Case, Garry Unmarried, Accidentally On Purpose and Miami Medical.

CBS's corporate-conglomerate sister network, the CW -- home of such titles as Gossip Girl, 90210, The Vampire Diaries, Smallville, Supernatural and America's Next Top Model -- will unveil its fall lineup today. Early speculation is that the CW will add two new dramas -- Hellcats, set in the world of competitive cheerleading, and Nikita, a revival of the '90s movie/syndicated-TV-series spy-girl franchise.

Canada's commercial TV networks will announce their fall schedules -- including many of the new titles showcased this week in New York -- early next month in Toronto.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 20, 2010 d3