CBS at TCA: Showgirls, Slots, Tweets and Twats

Perhaps taking a page from the FoxTCA manual, CBS added many extra touches to its presentation at the Summer 2010 Television Critics Association tour. I always say that if a network has hundreds of journalists assembled in one area and only one day to promote a slate of new and returning series it should take full advantage. Fox always fills every minute of its TCA days with special creative touches that send some kind of positive message. Sometimes the little things mean a lot.

CBS' day began with recorded wake-up calls from Craig Ferguson welcoming critics to the network's segment of the tour. (The calls came in around 6:30 a.m. and thankfully our phones didn't actually ring.) Then, in a very Fox-like move, CBS decided to dress up its breakfast buffet with bright lights, showgirls and slot machines. This all served as a collective promotion for the upcoming comedy-drama The Defenders, starring Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell as low-budget Las Vegas lawyers.

Following a largely uneventful news conference with CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler (at which she said of ABC Entertainment Group President Steve McPherson's abrupt departure Tuesday from ABC, "Damn it, he got out of doing press tour") the network did something that broadcasters don't do often enough at TCAs: It brought out the cast of one of its hottest shows, The Big Bang Theory. While not as dynamic as the Big Bang group's appearance just a few days ago at Comic-Con, it was nevertheless a lively session that energized the room and set the stage for the press conference that followed for Mike & Molly, a new comedy from Big Bang creator Chuck Lorre about a man and woman who begin a relationship after meeting at Overeaters Anonymous. This was a shrewd move, because reaction from critics to the Mike & Molly pilot has been decidedly mixed.

Next up was a session for the network's remake of its classic crime drama Hawaii Five-O. Colorful leis were distributed to critics, as they had been to fans at the Con. This is the new show behind which CBS seems to be putting the most muscle: It presented clips from the pilot at a panel with cast members and producers at Comic-Con, produced a special music video about a new recording of the show's iconic theme song that was screened at the Con and at TCA, and distributed T-shirts in San Diego emblazoned with the unlikely statement "I Got Lei'd at Comic-Con." The TCA leis came with cards that allow the bearer to download a ring-tone of the show's theme.

Five-O was followed by a session for CBS' upcoming daytime talk show starring show business personalities and working mothers Julie Chen, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini, Marissa Jaret Winokur and Sara Gilbert. They say they have the same questions and concerns as harried moms everywhere and that they can relate to their problems and concerns. Given that these women must have a van-load of housekeepers and nannies between them I'm thinking not so much. Regardless, it is always nice to see a daytime series included in a network's TCA presentation.

Following perfectly acceptable sessions for The Defenders and the Tom Selleck cop drama Blue Bloods, the cast and producers of (Bleep) My Dad Says took the stage for what will likely turn out to be one of the funniest TCA press conferences of this tour (and much funnier, I have to say, than the original pilot for the series, which is being reworked). Certainly, it was loaded with colorful quotes and, in keeping with a nod to the origin of the show, which is based on the popular Twitter feed of the same name by Justin Halpern, most of them were comfortably below the 140-word Twitter limit.

Series star William Shatner and executive producers David Kohan and Max Mutchnick seemed to be grappling with the correct terminology to use in talking about the Twitter phenomenon. Halpern, who is also co-executive producer, knows great source material for tweets when he hears it and wisely let them figure it out.

"The show was born in a Twitter," Shatner explained. "We are all a-Twitter! In my limited imagination it is an electronic miracle."

Talking about what drew them to the project, Mutchnick replied, "We got involved because, when we read about this, we saw Justin's beautiful twat." (Yes, that's what he said.)

Suddenly the room was truly a-Twitter.

"That's twisted," Shatner observed.

Moving on, Shatner said, "I was aware of the precarious nature of the Twitter [before the show]. I sent out one Twitter three or four months ago about MyOuterSpace, a Web site that I developed, and I knew that the people who twit don't want …"

"I think it's twat," Kohan interrupted.

"Tweet," Mutchnick corrected, mindful of his earlier statement.

"I know it isn't twat!" Shatner boomed. The room roared, loud enough to drown out the sound of hundreds of keyboard keys madly tapping out tweets.

Commenting on the controversial title of the show, which cannot be printed in most newspapers, Shatner said, "I wish they would call it 'shit'! I've got grandchildren. I brought up three girls. They've all got kids. And you say, 'Boopy doo-doo, you've got to make poo-poo. Come on. Make poo-poo in the toilet.' Eventually, 'poo-poo' becomes 'shit.'"

"'Go take a shit, you'll feel better!'" Shatner continued. "You say that to your kids. It isn't a terrible term. It's a natural function. Why are we pussy-footing?"

Gotta love the Shat!