If Dad Only Had a Name for the Television Show

Justin Halpern might be living the great American Twitter dream -- wildly successful Twitter page leads to television show starring William Shatner and major book deal.

Now if he could only come up with a name for the television show.

Justin Halpern confirmed to PopcornBiz last night that they still don't have a TV-friendly name for the television show based around his wildly successful Twitter page, "S---, my Dad says." This even as CBS announced yesterday that it has added the unnamed program to its comedy lineup.

"We have no idea what the show is called," Halpern tells us. "We have been workshopping a bunch of names. But we know we cannot use (expletive) in the title."

It was widely reported that CBS executives were using the television friendlier "Stuff My Dad Says" variation of the title to refer to the show. But Halpern says this would NOT be the final name for the show. "That's almost like saying, here is this watered-down version of something you used to like," says Halpern.

Regardless of the title, the show has all the making of a hit with the bonus the wildly improbable, fantastic origin. After moving back in with his 74-year-old father last year, Halpern began taking note of the hilarious comments from the modern-day philosopher and posting them out-of-context on the site -- it quickly caught the attention of the Twitter-sphere.

"The page blew up," says Halpern.

"My background was screenwriting. I was thinking someday I will use this stuff," he says. "But mostly I put it up there to show my friends who didn't live near me anymore."

Halpern was soon working out on a television pilot based on the Twitter premise and penning a book around the concept. He was able to use a simple asterisk to get around an expletive for the book title published by Harper Collins.

The book provides greater context and more stories about the relationship with his father, along with the hilarity of the site which has made it a success.  "I tried to write a book that had substance to it," says Halpern.  "But more than anything I wanted to be funny."

"I was thinking, I hope it doesn't suck."

It certainly does not. The book will debut on the New York Times best-seller list and has caught the attention of all the right people, including director Kevin Smith, who called it "genius."

Now if they could come up with that television show title!
 

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