How a Mystery Homophobe on the “$#*! My Dad Says” Set Inspired an Episode

Tim Bagley and William Shatner in a scene from the $#*! My Dad Says pilot.

CBS does not immediately spring to mind when it comes to the inclusion of gay characters, not only because the network received a “failing” grade from GLAAD last summer in a study of GLBT-inclusivity in prime time, but also because CBS has found a winning formula that’s anything but edgy. Crime dramas and middlebrow comedies dominate the network’s top-rated schedule (CBS is No. 1 in households and No. 2, behind Fox, among viewers ages 18-49 season-to-date).

So it was surprising to hear CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler sound a note of embarrassment at last July’s Television Critics Association press tour and at the same time announce plans for improvement.

“We're adding a few [LGBT] characters to this season because we're very disappointed in our track record so far,” she said in response to a question from AfterElton.com. “We know, and we will do better. …  We're not happy with ourselves.”

To that end, Tassler mentioned three series that would add gay or lesbian characters, including the freshman comedy $#*! My Dad Says. (A gay character was also introduced and appeared in a single episode of The Good Wife with producers promising more appearances and a lesbian surrogate, played by Sara Rue, turned up on Rules of Engagement.)

Tim Bagley played a gay DMV clerk in the “Dad” pilot episode and his character has been recurring ever since. But Dad executive producers David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, the creators of NBC’s Will & Grace, said they had always hoped to bring Bagley back even before Tassler’s announcement. Bagley had a recurring role on Will & Grace as Larry, half of a married gay couple.

“We have a long relationship with the actor and we just feel like he is a home run player every time you use him and so it was in our brain to begin with,” said Mutchnick, who is gay. “I hate the idea we’d be doing it for any kind of political reason or to answer any quota. It’s something we wrote because it was good and he should be on the show. It really wasn’t something that came as a result of Nina acknowledging CBS can do better because we’re writing for ourselves, if you will, and we thought this would be a way to get him into the show.”

$#*! My Dad Says, based on a Twitter feed by series co-creator Justin Halpern, stars William Shatner as Ed, the “Dad” of the title, and Jonathan Sadowski as his son, Henry. Ed is brusque, opinionated often disdainful of his son’s way of thinking.

(L to R) David Kohan, William Shatner, Justin Halpern and Max Mutchnick
speak at $#*! My Dad Says panel during 2010 Summer TCA Tour
(Photo credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

“There’s probably a preconceived idea of the way a character like this would deal with a gay character, but the truth of the matter is [Ed] is a libertarian who believes everyone has the right to be whatever they want to be,” said Kohan, who is straight. “There’s such good chemistry between [Shatner and Bagley] as evidenced in the one DMV scene in the pilot, why not take advantage of that?”

After the pilot, Bagley’s character, also named Tim, showed up as a waiter at a restaurant called the Hotcake Corral that’s filled with a flamboyant wait staff. In that episode, viewers learned that Ed got Tim fired from the DMV by conning Tim into fudging Ed’s driving test results. In true sitcom fashion, Ed also got Tim fired from the restaurant.  After that, Ed hired Tim to be his housekeeper.