 Nerine Shatner Friendly House
This non profit organization is one of the nation's first residential
homes for women recovering from alcohol and substance abuse.
Donate
Here>>>
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Hollywood
Charity
Horse Show
For the past several years, William Shatner has spearheaded the HCHS
which features some of the best western reining riders in the country
while simultaneously raising money for charity.
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Here>>>
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William
Shatner also
Supports:
 March
of
Dimes Canada
 The Jewish
National Fund
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Post subject:
 Posted: Aug 16, 2008 - 04:21 AM
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From TechCrunch.com ...
Confirmed: William Shatner Loves TechCrunch
[Click image to view video at YouTube.com]
Michael Arrington, August 14, 2008
On May 15, I ordered a personalized autograph on LiveAutographs.com from William Shatner. For $149 I was promised a signed photo with the message "I Love TechCrunch" along with a video recording of the autograph. Today I received an email notification that my autograph will be shipped within 48 hours, and the video above. It took three months, but they came through for me.
So, anyway, the service seems legit. And I can tell that Shatner isn’t just acting -- he really does love TechCrunch.
But wait… I also received a second email this evening from a company called Meet And Greet Entertainment with the following message:
| Meet And Greet Entertainment wrote: | Dear Michael
Regarding the above article: Dude, William Shatner Totally Loves TechCrunch
FYI … Interactive Meet And Greet Entertainment (IMAGE) LLC owns the product and business operating system described in the article which is illegally being used by LiveAutographs.com.
LiveAutographs.com signed contracts with IMAGE last year to be an official licensee which they have breached. They are falsely stating that this is their unique concept, while using our intellectual property.
LiveAutographs.com has arrogantly attempted to steal IMAGE intellectual property.
IMAGE has patents pending for the product United States Patent Application: 0060221195 and will be seeking legal remedies.
Thanks for your kind attention
Gary Sohmers
www.meetandgreet.tv |
So what’s all the drama about? No idea, and frankly I don’t care all that much. Let ‘em sue each other out of existence for all I care. Just as long as I get my autograph first.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/14/co ... echcrunch/
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2008 - 05:00 AM
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From RealTechNews.com ...
Shatner Can Now Say "Get a Life" Virtually
By Michael Santo, Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews, August 15th, 2008
Well, William Shatner could, if he was still associated with the Live Autographs, but it appears his association ended after a signing event he participated in earlier this week. I'm assuming, of course, you remember that classic SNL sketch from 1986, where Shatner spoofed his convention experiences.
Live Autographs, according to their site, offers the following experience:
* A personalized celebrity video message
* Authentic autographed memorabilia
* Plus, a free video download that captures and confirms all the action
While you can't get Shatner any longer, there are a bunch of other celebrities currently signed up (including a ton from Lost, if you're a fan of that show), such as Danica Patrick, Hulk Hogan, Cindy Margolis, Steve Austin, etc.
You type the message you want them to say or question you want answered, and assuming it doesn't violate the site's Terms of Service, the celebrity will respond on video, as well as autograph the memorabilia you choose.
According to Reuters, Shatner gave a curt, virtual "Get a Life" sort of response to someone who asked him if he would rather captain a starship or be an entertainer:
"I can't even understand your question, but I want you to understand -- I'm an actor."
Of course, he was kinder to others.
There is a piece of Shatner memorabilia still up on the site, but clicking on it just gets you a (mostly) blank page in return.
Fees? Depends on the item chosen. If I were Live Autographs, I'd change the way the site works. If you want to select, say, a picture of Carmen Electra, there doesn't seem to be a way to get it full-screen (or even, non-thumbnailed). And if I was interested, I'd really like to see what I'm getting.
Definitely still beta, as the site itself says.
http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/5953
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 17, 2008 - 07:36 PM
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From The Times (South Africa)...
Captain's log
Published:Aug 17, 2008
William Shatner, it seems, has been around forever. He chats to Oliver Roberts about hit shows, his new book and life lived at warp speed.
Interviewing William Shatner is a bit like having a conversation with your grandfather. First of all, it's like the guy has been around forever -- was there ever a time when William Shatner didn't exist? -- plus, he's done heroic, fantastical things that are outside of our time and comprehension, like captaining a spaceship into the final frontier and fighting crime with Heather Locklear.
Even his voice -- over the phone it comes out like the sound of your favourite breakfast cereal tumbling into a bowl -- has the comforting qualities of a man who seems averse to age and disease. And, if you're ever in an emergency, you know he's got friends at the 911 place who'll risk everything to make sure you get rescued. Ladies and gentlemen, William Shatner is here -- everything is going to be okay.
It's a wonder, then, that it's taken him such a long time to write his autobiography. It's called Up Till Now and it's just been released.
You might not guess it, especially when watching him in his role as Denny Crane, the salacious, midget-lusting attorney in Boston Legal, but The Shat is 77 years old.
When you think about it, though, it makes sense. The series that defined and immortalised Shatner -- Star Trek -- was launched in 1966, when the actor was 35 years old. The show -- in which Shatner played Captain James Tiberius Kirk -- spawned a whole new flock of super nerds and saw 34-year-old men dressed in flannel shirts emerge from their parents' garages for Star Trek conventions. Today, 42 years and multiple film and television series remakes later, the original series (which ran just 79 episodes) is still as popular as it was when it first came out, if not more so. It has generated over 2-billion in merchandise sales (Google lists more than 1.3-million sites for merchandise) and, at any one time on eBay, there are around 12000 items for sale. Random products include a Spock decanter, Enterprise earrings, Christmas decorations, a limited edition "Hand Phaser Prop" replica kit, wrist communicators, and an "I slept with Kirk" mug.
All this begs the question: If Star Trek hasn't aged in nearly half a century, can't the same be said of Shatner? The guy still rides horses for goodness' sake. And his wife, Elizabeth, is hot.
Whether or not the physics of time and space have any effect on Shatner will forever be up for debate, but what is certain is that, in the number of human years he's been on Earth, Shatner has accrued substantial wisdom. Both in his book and in person, he is profound, ponderous, witty and, most endearing of all, self-effacing. Despite incredible fame, a vast fortune and having his face on a mug, Shatner does not take himself seriously. And neither does anyone else. This is the magical parody that is The Shat.
"People reveal themselves over a period of time, and over that time the true you comes out," says Shatner over the phone from Los Angeles. "Whatever the relationship -- whether it's a marriage or a group of actors together on set -- you cannot hide from who you are for very long."
Up Till Now is a surprising read for many reasons. Instead of being the self-indulgent, pseudo- philosophical itch that many celebrity biogs are, Shatner's is masterfully written -- it never borders on vanity and is never contrived. In it, he is both as serious and contemplative as Captain Kirk and as cheeky and charming as Denny Crane.
The biggest surprise you'll get from the book, though, is the realisation that you know almost nothing about Shatner. Sure, we all remember him from Rescue 911 ("After school on a beautiful summer's afternoon in Chicago, little Jake is climbing some electric pylons before tragedy strikes ... "), but did you know he was the guy sweating and freaking out on an airplane, because "there's something on the wing!" in Twilight Zone's original "Nightmare at 20000 Feet"? Did you know that Shatner was originally a comic actor who appeared in countless comedic theatre productions in his native Canada before coming to the US? Did you know that he's worked with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Lee Marvin, Paul Newman, and Steve McQueen? Did you know that he writes songs and has brought out two albums, the latest of which was produced in collaboration with musician Ben Folds? Did you know that the mask worn by the character Michael Myers in the original Halloween was a rubber Captain Kirk mask that had been painted white?
In typical style, when asked about whether he ever felt destined to be famous and whether the desire to make an impact and be remembered is a God-given gift, Shatner leaps into modesty.
"I never had any expectation," he says bluntly. "I attribute a great deal of it all to luck. I think the pursuit of success is environmental -- I had wonderful parents who encouraged and supported me and taught me the value of money and hard work."
In the book, Shatner also recounts, with admirable honesty, the traumatic events that led to the death of his third wife, Nerine Kidd, who he was with for over seven years. She was an alcoholic and he came home one evening to find her lying drowned at the bottom of his swimming pool. The incident occurred just after Shatner's Rescue 911 days and he recalls the eeriness of hearing his own panicked voice on the recorded 911 call a few days after Kidd's death.
Most distressing, however, were the tabloid speculations that Shatner had murdered his wife. Even after all this time in the public eye, Shatner admits he can still get affected by false stories and the intrusion into his private life.
"It's only human to feel a little emotion, whether irked or angry," he says.
"Although I must say that, when something bad is written about you and it's true, it makes you more angry than when it's false."
Perhaps Shatner's youthful secret lies not in the bizarre time-freezing that the very mention of his name seems to evoke, but rather in his insatiable quest for heightened experience. Some of the adventures he has undertaken include paddling from Montreal to New York in a canoe, racing a Nascar round an oval at 260km/h, and flying a stunt plane. Shatner is an adventurer, but he's wary of the sensation junkie's downfall: Ruining an intense moment by trying too hard to absorb everything from it, instead of just lying back and letting it absorb you.
"In striving to experience things, you may be rushing the experience," he says.
"That carries with it the seeds of its own displeasure, and you have to guard against that."
Certainly, having been packed with so much, Shatner's 77 years must seem like a rush to him -- perhaps this is another factor in his eternalness, as if the ageing process cannot keep up with all the fun he's having. However, when he watches himself on old Star Trek, he says the man on screen is unrecognisable to him.
"He's a complete stranger," he says. "Not only is he physically foreign, emotionally I don't know where I was at that time. There's also a certain amount of revulsion involved -- how could I have looked that young? What happened? I should have taken more vitamins. It's totally science-fictional."
http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/ ... ?id=820769
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2008 - 11:43 PM
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Via Yahoo News ...
Priceline.com's William Shatner Makes AOL's List Of Top Celebrity Spokespeople Of All Time
WalletPop names the celebs who have become "nearly synonymous" with their brands
Wednesday August 20, 2:57 pm ET
NORWALK, Conn. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Ten years ago, consumers first heard William Shatner proclaim that priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN - News) www.priceline.com would be "big... really big." That decade of association has paid off. AOL's personal finance site WalletPop www.walletpop.com has named Shatner to the list of its favorite celebrity spokespeople of all time. Shatner joins a star-studded list of pitchmen (and women) that includes Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan and Brooke Shields.
According to WalletPop, "Celebrity spokespeople have long been a favorite marketing tool of companies with products or services to sell. Some stars fit the bill so perfectly, that they became nearly synonymous with the brands they were paid to pitch."
As for Shatner, WalletPop says, "Famous for his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek, Shatner plays 'The Negotiator,' who uses his unusual-but-effective persuasion skills to negotiate the best travel deals for priceline.com customers. In 2004, Shatner was also cast as the eccentric but highly capable attorney Denny Crane for the final season of the legal drama The Practice and reprised the same character in the subsequent spin-off, Boston Legal. Shatner recently was nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award in the category 'Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series' for his work in Boston Legal.
Over 10 years, priceline.com's spots have been praised by ad critics and parodied on Saturday Night Live and in the pages of MAD Magazine. "We're pleased to see William Shatner receive this recognition because he truly has become synonymous with the priceline.com brand," said Brett Keller, priceline.com's Chief Marketing Officer. "Most celebrity relationships wear out over time and are short-lived. It's a tribute to William Shatner's acting skills that the priceline.com spots have remained so fresh, entertaining and relevant for a decade."
To see the latest William Shatner priceline.com spots, visit: http://www.priceline.com/promo/shatner_ ... tiator.asp
About Priceline.com(R) Incorporated
Priceline.com Incorporated (Nasdaq: PCLN - News) www.priceline.com provides online travel services in 21 languages in over 60 countries in Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Included in the priceline.com family of companies is Booking.com, a leading international online hotel reservation service; priceline.com, a leading U.S. online travel service for value-conscious leisure travelers; and Agoda.com, an Asian online hotel reservation service.
In the U.S., priceline.com gives customers more ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises than any other Internet travel service. In addition to getting great published prices, leisure travelers can narrow their searches using priceline.com's TripFilter advanced search technology, customize their search activity through priceline.com's Inside Track features, create packages to save even more money, and take advantage of priceline.com's famous Name Your Own Price® service, which can deliver the lowest prices
Priceline.com also operates the following travel websites: Travelweb.com, Lowestfare.com, RentalCars.com and BreezeNet.com. Priceline.com also has a personal finance service that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans through an independent licensee. Priceline.com licenses its business model to independent licensees, including priceline mortgage and certain international licensees.
Contact:
Press information:
Brian Ek, 203-299-8167
brian.ek@priceline.com
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/p ... ;dist=hppr
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 21, 2008 - 12:06 AM
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From The Age (Australia) ...
Adult themes on the rise
A US parents' group isn't happy with Alan (James Spader) and Denny's (William Shatner) famous heart-to-hearts on Boston Legal.
By David Ho - August 21, 2008
A study looks at marital sex on TV.
ADULTERY, teen sex, and examples of extreme or unusual lust are hot topics on prime-time TV, while sex within marriage often gets a cold shoulder, a prominent US media watchdog alleges.
In a study of more than 207 hours of scripted shows on the five main American broadcast networks, the Parents Television Council found spoken references to non-marital sex outnumbered mentions of marital intimacy by about three to one. For scenes that visually depict or imply sex, the ratio was four to one.
Citing an array of shows ranging from Desperate Housewives to Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, the study also said once-taboo topics are increasingly common, including partner-swapping, threesomes, strippers and prostitution. The study found 74 mentions of still more explicit or "kinky" sexual behaviours.
TV networks "are more interested in being shocking," said Melissa Henson, the study's author. "They're more interested in being provocative than telling a story that's going to resonate with the vast majority of TV viewers."
The study comes at an uncertain time in a debate in America over what is appropriate for broadcast television. TV networks and government are duelling over the rules of broadcast indecency, and a Supreme Court case looms this year. TV networks also face increasing competition from steamy cable shows not burdened by many of the restrictions.
Technology is rapidly changing the way people watch shows, with payTV and the internet offering a host of new options.
The PTC, a leading critic of sex and violence on TV, is known for campaigning against shows it deems offensive and flooding federal regulators with complaints.
Critics of the group say its studies support a broader agenda.
"The Parents Television Council won't be satisfied with television content until they convince the Government to enforce their personal, selective judgements," said Jim Dyke, executive director of TV Watch, an advocacy group backed in part by the entertainment industry and CBS, Fox and NBC.
Dyke called the PTC study biased, faulty and designed to influence legislators and raise money. He said the study supports the belief that "parents aren't competent enough to make television viewing decisions for their own families".
In another take on PTC criticism, one network recently used the group's complaints that the show Gossip Girl is too racy as part of its advertising.
The PTC's four-week study of programs on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and CW networks found 151 verbal references to non-marital sex and 54 to married sex. Henson said that when marital sex is mentioned on TV, it is often described in a boring or disrespectful way.
Prime-time TV "seems to be actively seeking to undermine marriage by consistently painting it in a negative light," the study said.
Asked by reporters if non-marital sex is just a more likely part of dramatic or humorous storytelling, PTC president Tim Winter said there were decades of shows with positive descriptions of intimacy "that served the medium extremely well".
The PTC said the ABC network had most sexual references, particularly to adultery, and often cited the network's shows in the study, notably Boston Legal.
The study quotes a Boston Legal character as saying: "Here's the thing about monogamy. It only works if you cheat."
ABC, part of the Walt Disney empire, would not comment on the study.
US Federal Communications Commission rules limit broadcasts deemed offensive involving profanity, sex and bodily functions to late-night hours, a schedule intended to keep such subjects away from children.
Last month, a federal appeals court threw out the $550,000 government indecency fine brought against CBS for Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show.
The court said the commission was wrong to impose a fine for the fleeting moment of nudity during the live broadcast. It was a departure from the agency's long-held approach to enforcing broadcast indecency rules, the court found.
Another legal case with potentially great impact is expected in the next few months when the Supreme Court considers its first broadcast indecency case since 1978.
That case stems from a commission decision in 2006 that Fox violated decency rules with two broadcasts of the Billboard Music Awards, which included swearing by Cher in 2002 and Nicole Richie in 2003. The commission had ruled earlier that even isolated broadcasts of the F-word are usually a violation.
Last year, a federal appeals court in New York tossed out that government policy banning fleeting curse words on broadcast TV, setting the stage for the Supreme Court case.
- COX NEWS SERVICE
http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv--radio ... 00826.html
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 21, 2008 - 12:36 AM
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Via the Canwest News Service (Canada)...
Finally, William Shatner's true story
Alex Strachan, Canwest News Service : Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Author, actor, producer, celebrity pitchman. He is Shat, and he is everywhere. E! True Hollywood Story, the often trashy, occasionally revealing profile program about all things Hollywood, unmasks the man behind Star Trek's Capt. James T. (Tiberius) Kirk and Boston Legal's Denny Crane, not to mention countless other stage and TV roles from the golden age of TV.
The Shat, in case you've forgotten, famously appeared in a classic Twilight Zone episode as a panicky airline passenger who spots a gargoyle on the wing during a thunder-and-lightning storm. John Lithgow famously reprised the Shatner role in 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie. Now you know. Of such stuff is True Hollywood Story made.
William Alan Shatner -- just plain Bill to his friends and colleagues -- was born in Montreal. Star Trek may have brought him fame and fortune, but it's Boston Legal that has hauled in the silverware: Two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe in just the four years Boston Legal has been on the air. As True Hollywood Story shows, what you see is pretty much what you get with the artist formerly known as Capt. Kirk. The Shat didn't get where he is today by being shy and retiring.
He has the requisite star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to show for his decades in showbiz, and an accompanying star of Canada's Walk of Fame to go with it.
More revealing, at least in terms of showing who he really is, he was chosen last year to induct legendary pro wrestler and broadcaster Jerry "The King" Lawler into World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Hall of Fame. Now we're talking. You can keep your Emmys, your Golden Globes, your stars on the various Walks of Fame. You haven't really made it until you've flirted with fame in the WWE.
True Hollywood Story is on E! (CHCH TV) tonight 10 pm Eastern Time.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolo ... e79966ca33
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 22, 2008 - 08:17 PM
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 23, 2008 - 11:24 PM
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From The Sunday Times UK...
A Life in the Day: William Shatner
Interview by Danny Scott. Photograph: Daryl Weisser. August 24, 2008
The 77-year-old actor, best known as Star Trek's Captain Kirk, has recently enjoyed Emmy success with Boston Legal. He has just written his first non-Trek autobiography, Up Till Now, and lives in Los Angeles with his fourth wife, Elizabeth.
I wake up any time between 5am and 7am, depending on what the day holds. If I'm working I have to be up early, but if I've got the day off I like to sleep a little later. On those days I let my beautiful wife take care of me. She lavishes attention on me, and I luxuriate in that. Five or six times a week I try to do some exercise, which usually involves the swimming pool. We've got a nice pool at home, and I work out for 30 to 40 minutes. The exercise is important, you see, because I am trying to develop a six-pack stomach. At the moment, unfortunately, it's a 12-pack... It needs a little trim here and there.
Breakfast is always light. Maybe just a bowl of fruit, but I've developed a taste for rice cakes and fresh tomato. Don't ask me why. It just fills me up without being too calorific. That will be followed by coffee -- four shots of decaf. Actually, I take it as a macchiato. I've had to cut back, but I still see myself as... shall we say, a coffee-lover. My sine qua non is Starbucks. That's the coffee against which I measure all the others. My wife stocks the kitchen with many different types and I try a new one every day. And I love the fact that the cocoa bean -- I'm talking about chocolate, too -- has so many subtle variations. It's like wine.
Just for a change it would be nice to try the scruffy, unshaven look, but that only really works if you're a young guy. The problem is that I have become an old guy, so I have to shave every day. Me! An old guy! How did that happen?
I think it must be a mistake. Shaving, showering and taking my vitamins -- I'm very fastidious about my supplements -- adds up to about 30 minutes. After that I might do some delegating. I am a great delegator. If the fountain isn't working I get the fountain guy in. If the toilet is leaking -- as it is at the moment -- I get the toilet guy in. Probably my favourite phrase is "Let's get somebody to fix that." Having said that, my wife and I have done a lot of work on the house. Okay, that's not strictly true. A lot of work has been done on the house. By the building guys, the decorating guys and so on. We have a wonderful old house in the Los Angeles hills -- that's old in American terms, which is about 100 years. Out of one window I can watch the sun rise, and out of another window I can see the sun set. The vista must be at least 270 degrees, with an incredible view out over the San Fernando Valley.
If there's time, my gorgeous wife -- make sure you get that in -- and I take the 45-minute drive to where we keep our horses. Horses have been my passion for many years. I've competed at all levels, and I still have ambitions to win a world championship. The only problem with horses is that it's a rich man's passion. I had to wait until I was earning a bit of money before I could really indulge. You have to worry about shoes, socks, blankets, stables, trainers, hay... And the more expensive the horse, the more it costs to keep it. The bills are triple what they'd be if I had an old nag.
There's a wonderful Italian restaurant not far from the stables. My beautiful wife and I -- make sure you get that in -- are often joined by the trainer, the trainer's wife, the assistant and anyone who happens to be there. And the food... Well, once the menu's in my hand there's no stopping me. Sometimes I order everything on the menu. Sometimes I order two or three of everything on the menu, so we can try a little bit of each dish. So much for the six-pack.
I have an office in Los Angeles, and in the afternoon I might take a trip down there to work on one of the projects I'm involved in. It could be Boston Legal, it could be Gonzo Ballet... That's right, a ballet. Somebody has created a ballet to go with six songs from my last album, Has Been. Driving to the office -- in fact, driving anywhere -- is one of life's real pleasures. I have an Aston Martin DB7, and sometimes I just stand there and gaze at this work of art. This is a car to relish. Sitting inside, I'm engulfed by a patina of thankfulness. I've been known to drive a little too... er, enthusiastically. And, yes, I have been stopped by the rozzers -- the coppers, that's what you Brits call them, isn't it? -- several times. They always call me Bill. "Bill, you were driving a little fast there." I always agree with whatever they say and I always call them sir. "Yes, sir, I was." Most of them like to have a chat about when I was the captain of a spaceship. Then they say: "Okay, Bill, not so fast next time."
In the evening I love, love, love it when my children come to visit. All three of my daughters live close by, and I have five grandchildren. I sit them on my knee and tell them stories. They're probably still a bit too young to fully understand what a fantastic storyteller I am. When they're a bit older they will appreciate my true value. At the moment they just think I'm the weird old guy that they have to put up with once a week.
If it's not too late, I'll watch something on TV. Maybe sports, news or a movie. Sci-fi? I'm not too crazy on sci-fi. And I don't like talking. I don't like didactic movies. I like instant entertainment.
If there's nothing on TV, I listen to jazz, but I never know who I'm listening to. I just listen to the radio.
By 10pm my incredible wife -- make sure you get that in -- and I are in bed and asleep. In fact, it's normally before 10pm. Not a bad day, eh? I'm a very lucky guy.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 572706.ece
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 24, 2008 - 01:10 PM
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 24, 2008 - 09:15 PM
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From AL.com ...
Capt. Kirk may get beamed off Alabama TV ad
Posted by Associated Press - August 24, 2008 11:56 AM
MONTGOMERY -- Boston Legal actor William Shatner may play a lawyer on TV. But his ad for an Alabama law firm is raising concern at the Alabama State Bar.
The State Board of Bar Commissioners has asked the Alabama Supreme Court to approve new rules on advertising by Alabama lawyers. One of the rules would prohibit the use of paid actors and testimonials. State Bar President Mark White says the proposed rules are designed to keep lawyers' advertising professional.
Auburn lawyer Mike Slocumb uses Shatner in his ads. He says the proposed rules would violate his First Amendment rights.
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2008/08/cap ... off_a.html
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 24, 2008 - 10:55 PM
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| TRexx wrote: | From The Times (South Africa)...
Captain's log
Published:Aug 17, 2008
William Shatner, it seems, has been around forever. He chats to Oliver Roberts about hit shows, his new book and life lived at warp speed.
Interviewing William Shatner is a bit like having a conversation with your grandfather. First of all, it's like the guy has been around forever -- was there ever a time when William Shatner didn't exist? -- plus, he's done heroic, fantastical things that are outside of our time and comprehension, like captaining a spaceship into the final frontier and fighting crime with Heather Locklear.
Even his voice -- over the phone it comes out like the sound of your favourite breakfast cereal tumbling into a bowl -- has the comforting qualities of a man who seems averse to age and disease. And, if you're ever in an emergency, you know he's got friends at the 911 place who'll risk everything to make sure you get rescued. Ladies and gentlemen, William Shatner is here -- everything is going to be okay.
It's a wonder, then, that it's taken him such a long time to write his autobiography. It's called Up Till Now and it's just been released.
You might not guess it, especially when watching him in his role as Denny Crane, the salacious, midget-lusting attorney in Boston Legal, but The Shat is 77 years old.
When you think about it, though, it makes sense. The series that defined and immortalised Shatner -- Star Trek -- was launched in 1966, when the actor was 35 years old. The show -- in which Shatner played Captain James Tiberius Kirk -- spawned a whole new flock of super nerds and saw 34-year-old men dressed in flannel shirts emerge from their parents' garages for Star Trek conventions. Today, 42 years and multiple film and television series remakes later, the original series (which ran just 79 episodes) is still as popular as it was when it first came out, if not more so. It has generated over 2-billion in merchandise sales (Google lists more than 1.3-million sites for merchandise) and, at any one time on eBay, there are around 12000 items for sale. Random products include a Spock decanter, Enterprise earrings, Christmas decorations, a limited edition "Hand Phaser Prop" replica kit, wrist communicators, and an "I slept with Kirk" mug.
All this begs the question: If Star Trek hasn't aged in nearly half a century, can't the same be said of Shatner? The guy still rides horses for goodness' sake. And his wife, Elizabeth, is hot.
Whether or not the physics of time and space have any effect on Shatner will forever be up for debate, but what is certain is that, in the number of human years he's been on Earth, Shatner has accrued substantial wisdom. Both in his book and in person, he is profound, ponderous, witty and, most endearing of all, self-effacing. Despite incredible fame, a vast fortune and having his face on a mug, Shatner does not take himself seriously. And neither does anyone else. This is the magical parody that is The Shat.
"People reveal themselves over a period of time, and over that time the true you comes out," says Shatner over the phone from Los Angeles. "Whatever the relationship -- whether it's a marriage or a group of actors together on set -- you cannot hide from who you are for very long."
Up Till Now is a surprising read for many reasons. Instead of being the self-indulgent, pseudo- philosophical itch that many celebrity biogs are, Shatner's is masterfully written -- it never borders on vanity and is never contrived. In it, he is both as serious and contemplative as Captain Kirk and as cheeky and charming as Denny Crane.
The biggest surprise you'll get from the book, though, is the realisation that you know almost nothing about Shatner. Sure, we all remember him from Rescue 911 ("After school on a beautiful summer's afternoon in Chicago, little Jake is climbing some electric pylons before tragedy strikes ... "), but did you know he was the guy sweating and freaking out on an airplane, because "there's something on the wing!" in Twilight Zone's original "Nightmare at 20000 Feet"? Did you know that Shatner was originally a comic actor who appeared in countless comedic theatre productions in his native Canada before coming to the US? Did you know that he's worked with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Lee Marvin, Paul Newman, and Steve McQueen? Did you know that he writes songs and has brought out two albums, the latest of which was produced in collaboration with musician Ben Folds? Did you know that the mask worn by the character Michael Myers in the original Halloween was a rubber Captain Kirk mask that had been painted white?
In typical style, when asked about whether he ever felt destined to be famous and whether the desire to make an impact and be remembered is a God-given gift, Shatner leaps into modesty.
"I never had any expectation," he says bluntly. "I attribute a great deal of it all to luck. I think the pursuit of success is environmental -- I had wonderful parents who encouraged and supported me and taught me the value of money and hard work."
In the book, Shatner also recounts, with admirable honesty, the traumatic events that led to the death of his third wife, Nerine Kidd, who he was with for over seven years. She was an alcoholic and he came home one evening to find her lying drowned at the bottom of his swimming pool. The incident occurred just after Shatner's Rescue 911 days and he recalls the eeriness of hearing his own panicked voice on the recorded 911 call a few days after Kidd's death.
Most distressing, however, were the tabloid speculations that Shatner had murdered his wife. Even after all this time in the public eye, Shatner admits he can still get affected by false stories and the intrusion into his private life.
"It's only human to feel a little emotion, whether irked or angry," he says.
"Although I must say that, when something bad is written about you and it's true, it makes you more angry than when it's false."
Perhaps Shatner's youthful secret lies not in the bizarre time-freezing that the very mention of his name seems to evoke, but rather in his insatiable quest for heightened experience. Some of the adventures he has undertaken include paddling from Montreal to New York in a canoe, racing a Nascar round an oval at 260km/h, and flying a stunt plane. Shatner is an adventurer, but he's wary of the sensation junkie's downfall: Ruining an intense moment by trying too hard to absorb everything from it, instead of just lying back and letting it absorb you.
"In striving to experience things, you may be rushing the experience," he says.
"That carries with it the seeds of its own displeasure, and you have to guard against that."
Certainly, having been packed with so much, Shatner's 77 years must seem like a rush to him -- perhaps this is another factor in his eternalness, as if the ageing process cannot keep up with all the fun he's having. However, when he watches himself on old Star Trek, he says the man on screen is unrecognisable to him.
"He's a complete stranger," he says. "Not only is he physically foreign, emotionally I don't know where I was at that time. There's also a certain amount of revulsion involved -- how could I have looked that young? What happened? I should have taken more vitamins. It's totally science-fictional."
http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/ ... ?id=820769
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"People reveal themselves over a period of time, and over that time the true you comes out," says Shatner over the phone from Los Angeles. "Whatever the relationship -- whether it's a marriage or a group of actors together on set -- you cannot hide from who you are for very long."
Ain't that the God's honest truth! Very wise our Captain is. Personally I hate playing guessing games. Honesty is the best policy. |
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Posted: Aug 25, 2008 - 11:54 AM
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From the New York Post - Page Six...
From Bard To Worse
Canadian thespian Christopher Plummer
By Richard Johnson - August 25, 2008
Christopher Plummer will never forget the one-night stand he picked up in a bar before he was to perform Henry V in 1956 -- because it helped make William Shatner a star.
In his upcoming autobiography, In Spite of Myself, the veteran actor writes: "I woke up alone the next morning . . . [pain] all around my groin and lower abdomen . . . I started to whimper like a whipped dog. 'So this is what syphilis is like?' I thought. 'I suppose I deserve it, but Christ, how the hell was I to know?' " It turned out his sex romp dislodged a kidney stone that doctors had to remove via a horrifying procedure with a surgical wire. Just as bad, "It began to sink in . . . Shatner, my understudy, would have to go on . . . [It] instantly brought back the pain. I screamed for a nurse who jabbed me with more morphine." Shatner didn't let his big opportunity get away. "I knew then that the SOB was going to be a 'star,' " recalls Plummer.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08252008/go ... 125919.htm
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 28, 2008 - 10:03 AM
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From the Stamford Advocate...
Priceline 'Negotiator' comes in at 24
By Michael C. Juliano, michael.juliano@scni.com - 08/28/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT
After finding fame as Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, William Shatner has established himself as one of history's most famous pitchmen as spokesman for priceline.com, Norwalk-based online travel company.
A decade after saying the e-commerce service would be "big . . . really big," the 77-year-old star of Boston Legal has been named to WalletPop's list of 25 favorite celebrity of all time -- a roster that includes Michael Jordan, Bill Cosby, and Brooke Shields.
Shatner was voted to the 24th spot by WalletPop's editorial board, behind Joe Namath for his Beautymist pantyhose ads, and in front of Verizon's spokesman James Earl Jones. Bill Cosby comes in at number one as the lovable pitchman for Jello brand products.
"William Shatner is a really iconic figure, and I think he works it well because he plays against type," said Beth Pinksker, WalletPop's editor. "It's so cheeky, and that's why he's so memorable."
Brett Keller, Priceline's chief marketing officer, said Shatner's recognition is well-deserved.
"We believe he's the longest tenured celebrity spokespersons to appear on behalf of companies in TV commercials," he said, adding that Shatner's fame as Captain Kirk has worked well with Priceline's image as the future of e-commerce. "He's the perfect fit for us."
Shatner, who was nominated for a 2008 Emmy for playing an eccentric attorney Denny Crane, on Boston Legal is now positioned in Priceline's commercials as "The Negotiator," whose role is to negotiate the best travel deals for customers through unusual-but-effective persuasion skills.
Frederick Moran, a Stanford Group analyst, said Shatner's designation as a top celebrity spokesperson reflects his tenure and efforts to enhance Priceline's visibility for the traveler.
"With Shatner's backing and Priceline's efforts, it has become the fastest growing e-commerce service, exceeding Expedia and Orbitz."
Kevin McEvoy, a marketing professor at the University of Connecticut's Stamford branch, said 10 years is a good run for a celebrity spokesman, but what that means is hard to say.
"Because he has a degree of credibility, people may feel comfortable using Priceline," he said. "It gets him publicity, but it doesn't build his credibility as an actor."
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/norwalk ... i_10321750
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 28, 2008 - 09:16 PM
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Via About.com ...
Chris Pine Discusses Star Trek and Playing James T Kirk
By Rebecca Murray, About.com, Aug 2008
On Shatner's Dramatic Pauses:
Chris Pine: "You know, really what Mr. Shatner did was very specific and very unique to him. All I really tried to do is do justice to what he did. I think if I went to Mimic-ville, I went to try to do Shatner-ville, it would not have been smart. J.J. [Abrams] never really asked for that so it was finding the balance, I think, between what was done before."
Read the complete article at About.com...
http://movies.about.com/od/startrek/a/s ... 080408.htm
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 29, 2008 - 07:39 PM
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From Parade Magazine...
Personality Parade®
By Walter Scott - Published: August 31, 2008
Question: Where does William Shatner get his clothes for Boston Legal?
~~ William Fletcher Jr., Atlanta, Ga.
Answer: When David E. Kelley created the role of Denny Crane for Shatner, 77, he asked men's costume supervisor Shelly Levine for an English edge with bold colors. "I buy Bill's shirts and ties from Turnbull & Asser, British clothier to princes," Levine tells us. "But his suits are from Carroll & Co., in Beverly Hills."
http://www.parade.com/celebrity/0808/pe ... reet-stars
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 31, 2008 - 09:19 AM
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From Sun Media (Canada)...
Everest has tough climb ahead
Gord Rand (left), William Shatner and Eric Johnson star in the mini-series Everest.
By Bill Harris, Sun Media - August 31, 2008
We all have heard the cliche about climbing a mountain because it's there. But seriously -- why?
Early in the CBC mini-series Everest, which airs tonight and tomorrow, that very question is raised expansively during a poignant scene in an airport.
Everest, which stars Eric Johnson, William Shatner, Jason Priestley and Gord Rand, is based on the 1982 climb of the mountain by a Canadian contingent. The group is set to depart Canada when climber Dave Read, played by Michael Teigen, gets a public tongue-lashing from his wife Sally, played by Chantal Perron.
"You're a selfish bastard," Sally screams, drawing the attention of everyone in the vicinity. "(It's a) communal death wish ... you're a bunch of adrenaline junkies ... it's not like you're feeding the hungry or bringing world peace ... if you get on that plane, I am filing for divorce."
Cue the inevitable stare-down. Dave says nothing and Sally knows what that means. She storms off.
There's a pregnant pause before Dave finally bellows, "Dibs on a window seat!"
Ha ha, very funny. But the situations the troupe faces on Mount Everest are less hilarious, and the production team has done a fine job capturing the element of always-imminent danger. It's a long way from the light-hearted vibe in that old Seinfeld episode, when neophyte rock-climber George Costanza got too obsessed with his delicious sandwiches.
To say Everest "stars" Shatner and Priestley is a stretch. Priestley's appearance is nothing more than a cameo, although he indicated while Everest was being filmed (in Alberta, British Columbia, and Nepal) that he would have liked a bigger role had he not been previously committed.
Shatner's character is not a climber -- Captain Kirk isn't as young as he used to be -- but rather a reporter named Norman Kelly who is covering the Canadian excursion.
The real star of Everest is Johnson, who plays Laurie Skreslet. Johnson handles the role ably, and we must say, his blond hair always looks terrific, even during a mountainside blizzard. His backpack must be half-filled with shampoo.
Everest has been completed and in the can for a year or so, but the CBC's delay in giving it an air date could have something to do with the fact that mini-series have fallen out of style.
In the past three years CBC has aired a number of high-quality mini-series that, by the network's own admission, very few people watched. It's funny, because in this era of personal video recorders (PVRs), one might think mini-series would be more accessible to viewers.
Then again, the old magic of a mini-series had to do with presenting it as "event TV," and the only things that really count as "event TV" these days are live extravaganzas, such as the Olympics, Canadian Idol, Dancing with the Stars or the Academy Awards.
In other words, there's at least one similarity between attracting a big TV audience and climbing a mountain: Neither is easy.
The four-hour (two-part) miniseries makes its broadcast premiere tonight (Sunday) August 31, at 8 pm, and concludes tomorrow (Monday) September 1, at 8 pm, on CBC television.
http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/TV_Shows ... 1-sun.html
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Posted: Sep 01, 2008 - 10:17 PM
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From the AMC TV blog...
Masters of SciFi -- Star Trek and Lost Producer Damon Lindelof on Entertaining the Masses
Posted by Clayton Neuman, September 1, 2008 12:23pm
AMC: You've said the episode of Lost where Desmond travels through time is an homage to Star Trek. Did you approach the upcoming film as a fanboy?
Lindelof: I had a real reverence for the material, but more importantly, for the world and how special that world is, and how long it's persevered. I watched a fair amount of the original and I really watched a lot of Next Generation. The first series of meetings we had were along the lines of: What is the State of the Union of Trek, and has it been brought to a place where people will resent our involvement because we're coming from the outside? I think it's like how with Batman, it got to the point where there was more press about the nipples on the Batsuit than there was about the characters, and the franchise needed a reboot.
AMC: William Shatner has been very vocal about his displeasure in not having a place in the film. How did you react?
Lindelof: Mr. Shatner created Kirk, so I understand and sympathize with his feelings about what his role -- or lack of a role -- in our movie was. That being said, Kirk died; he fell down a cliff face. That made it incredibly challenging for us to tell the story we wanted to tell and figure out a way for William Shatner, who is now several years older than Kirk was when he died, to be in the movie. It's an incredibly ambitious movie on a technical scale. I can say with confidence that we achieved what we set out to achieve, and that's all you can ask for.
http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/20 ... erview.php
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Posted: Sep 02, 2008 - 05:40 PM
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From Jukebox Heart...
Screamer of the Day: William Shatner!
Posted by pulse on September 2nd, 2008
Fear of Pop -- "In Love" (Charlie Dark vocal remix)
Giant Step Records 1998.
Listen here:
 -> MP3 = 4.12 MB -> 4:30 playback time
The man just continues to dazzle us with his legendary flexibility! And that applies to more than just his performing arts talents, but that's a topic for a much different forum. Here he is being totally himself and providing the fabulous spoken vocals about love and all its foibles. Really, this is not to be missed.
This record is a white-sleeve promo-only double vinyl collection of remixes of "In Love", and in addition to the Charlie Dark remixes we have appearances from Attica Blues, Chukwu and Thievery Corporation. The only images to show are the sticker on the cover. If you MUST have this after hearing it, there is a seller on discogs.com that, as of 8PM 01 Sep 08, has a copy for sale for ten bucks.
For years, this record was lost somewhere in the stacks. I was determined to find it, so today I had the idea to search Discogs.com for William Shatner and cross reference the titles that came up against all titles in my own database, and BINGO. There it was. Press the arrow above to play...
http://jukeboxheart.com/?p=75
Subscribe to Jukebox Heart here.
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 03, 2008 - 03:33 PM
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 09, 2008 - 12:40 AM
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From SciFi Scanner blog @ AMC TV...
Masters of SciFi - J.J. Abrams on Reviving Frankenstein in Fringe and Adhering to Canon With Star Trek
Posted by Clayton Neuman, September 8, 2008 12:03pm
The mastermind behind Lost, Alias, and the upcoming Star Trek reboot talks to AMCtv.com about his new out-there show Fringe, premiering tomorrow [Sept. 9 at 8pm on FOX], and the tricky science behind determining fanboy desire.
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AMC TV: How do you react to William Shatner's ire at not having a role in the movie?
J.J. Abrams: It was very tricky. We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn't quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn't want to do a cameo. We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves. The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It's funny -- a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that.
Read the complete article at AMCtv.com...
http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/20 ... erview.php
Roberto Orci has subsequently disclosed, "Alex [Kurtzman] and I did indeed come up with a sequence for Shatner that we wrote before the [WGA] strike, although technically it wasn't a flashback. After the movie [is released], I'll post the sequence in question."
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 11, 2008 - 05:48 AM
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From the Daily Express (UK)...
Nobody Beamed Up William
Wednesday September 10,2008
ACTOR William Shatner will not be going to see the new Star Trek movie but insists it has nothing to do with sour grapes.
The Captain Kirk legend, who is conspicuously absent from the Hollywood prequel despite his old chum Leonard Nimoy landing a cameo, explains: "My wife and I haven't been to a movie in two years at least.
We see films at home on DVD instead."
And though he and Nimoy are still on good terms, the 77-year-old admits he has no clue what the prequel -- which stars newcomer Chris Pine as the young Captain Kirk and Simon Pegg as Scotty -- is all about.
"It's the strangest thing," says Shatner.
"My dear friend Leonard won't tell me what it's about. He clams up. I think there is an explosive charge in his head that the film's director JJ Abrams put there and, should he say the words 'Star Trek', it goes off."
The actor, who stars in US drama Boston Legal, is equally baffled by the meetings he had about appearing in the movie.
"When I look back, I have no idea what those meetings were about but I know I have no connection with this film whatsoever."
http://www.express.co.uk/features/view/ ... up-William
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 11, 2008 - 11:57 PM
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Via KBTX TV...
Mr. Sulu's Wedding
Posted: 5:07 AM Sep 11, 2008. Last Updated: 5:07 AM Sep 11, 2008. Reporter: Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Star date 9-14-08. Mr. Sulu will go where no Star Trek castmate has gone before. To his gay wedding. George Takei will tie the knot with his boyfriend Brad Altman in Los Angeles Sunday.
Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, will be their "best lady" and Walter Koenig, who played Chekhov, will be the best man. William Shatner was invited, but never replied, so he's not expected.
Takei tells AP Radio "we are overjoyed, ecstatic." For his part, Altman says he "can't live without George." They've been together 21 years without a license, but Takei says he's not worried that making it official will change anything. He says they have "a tested and stable relationship."
After the ceremony, Takei and Altman will honeymoon in Argentina and Peru.
http://www.kbtx.com/thebuzz/headlines/28233064.html
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 12, 2008 - 12:26 AM
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From Entertainment Weekly PopWatch Blog...
Vote for the EWwys!
(You came up with the nominations, after all)
Photo Credit: Ron Tom
Sep 11, 2008, 09:55 AM | by Michael Slezak
For William Shatner, scoring an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama has become an annual occurrence as predictable as geese heading south for the winter, Will Smith opening at No. 1 on July 4th weekend, and drug stores displaying Christmas merchandise at increasingly ungodly dates. (I kid you not: I saw a rack of hideous, holiday-themed plush toys at my local Duane Reade this morning. Rated Argh!)
But I've got exciting news for those of you who've ever been frustrated by the way the Emmys reward the same old nominees year after year after blasted, stinkin' year: Shatner and his Boston Legal cohorts all got snubbed in the first annual EWwy Awards, EW.com's brand new TV awards recognizing the great shows and performers who, for whatever reason, can't seem to get any love from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
We chose four nominees in every category from your passionate rants on our PopWatch message boards, then EW TV critics Gillian Flynn and Ken Tucker rounded out each list with a fifth "critics' choice" selection. Click here to vote for the EWwys in five drama divisions -- the battle for best series is super-close; Battlestar Galactica, Bones, Friday Night Lights, and The Wire are all within reach of the coveted Golden Ewe trophy -- then come back to EW.com tomorrow when we'll reveal the nominees in five comedy races. The EWwy polls close Sept. 17, and every vote counts -- even Mr. Shatner's.
Also, a note to the Emmy-obsessed: If you haven't already, check out EW.com's Emmy Headquarters, where you'll find the complete list of this year's major nominees, our hella fun Emmy predictions game (in which you can challenge our own Scoop Doggy Dogg Michael Ausiello for prognostication supremacy), and even a gallery of the best and worst moments from last year's Emmy telecast! Enjoy!
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/09 ... s-vot.html
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Post subject: Shatner Launching new Vlog...
Posted: Sep 15, 2008 - 04:58 AM
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Post subject:
Posted: Sep 22, 2008 - 05:34 PM
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Location: "It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem."~ G.K.C
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September 21, 2008
The New Season Television
Boston Lawyers Get a Few More Days in Court
By JACQUES STEINBERG
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.
DENNY CRANE and Alan Shore, the two high-priced lawyers played by William Shatner and James Spader on ABC’s “Boston Legal,” were having a spirited argument about the continuing liability of big tobacco when the conversation was brought to a halt by the unfurling of a zipper.
It was Crane’s.
“My junk,” Mr. Shatner’s character lamented to Mr. Spader’s from the corner of his opulent office, as he peered into his open suit pants. “My junk failed me.”
“It’s receded,” he added, recounting a recent bout of impotence. “Like a turtle too ashamed to come out of its shell.”
The scene, from the first episode of the series’s fifth (and final) season, which begins on Monday, is true to any number of installments that have preceded it. Since being spun off from “The Practice” in 2004, “Boston Legal” has drawn attention for plumbing ethically tangled issues like assisted suicide, the execution of the mentally impaired and the neglect of military veterans, with a leavening of theater-of-the-absurd moments. Less noticed is that the series has also sought to explore the contours and complexities of male friendship in a way that few, if any, other shows have ever attempted.
Since the middle of the first season virtually every episode has ended with Mr. Shatner and Mr. Spader settled in club chairs on the balcony of Crane’s office, talking late into the night about their (apparently) platonic affection for each other over sips of Scotch and puffs of cigar smoke.
“I sometimes think the episode might just be a vehicle to get us to the balcony scene,” Mr. Spader said, clad in one of Shore’s elegant pinstripe suits, his diction as tight as his character’s, during a pause in filming on a recent afternoon.
Shore and Crane, who are otherwise skirt-chasing womanizers, sometimes follow their cathartic balcony sessions with a seemingly innocuous sleepover, either because they don’t want to be alone or want to keep talking.
“Where does male love begin and end?” Mr. Shatner said in his dressing room here on a recent morning, when asked to distill what “Boston Legal” was ultimately about. “I’ve never had male friends like that. Never to this extent of being such a buddy that it displaces the intimacy you might have with a woman. It’s interesting to speculate what the limitations are.”
In a telephone interview from his home in Northern California, David E. Kelley, the series’s creator and principal writer, said he had come to fashion those balcony scenes from “a nostalgic longing we all have for a time in our life — and it’s probably high school or college — where we really had the flexibility of schedule just to sit with a close friend and share thoughts.”
“We’re all on such treadmills,” added Mr. Kelley, the father of a son and daughter with the actress Michelle Pfeiffer. “When you get married and have kids, you’re home reading bedtime stories at that hour.”
For a time last spring Mr. Kelley was convinced that Crane and Shore would be having their final balcony session on last season’s finale, in May. He even wrote that episode with the two pledging to go off and spend more time fishing and less time working.
“I was sure it wasn’t coming back,” Mr. Kelley said of the series. The issue was, at least partly, money. “We were very far apart on license fees,” said Mr. Kelley, who produces the show with 20th Century Fox Television. “ABC wanted the show back, but at a number that made financial sense for them. Their number didn’t make sense for us. It was a negotiation.”
From ABC’s perspective there was also the matter of ratings: this past season “Boston Legal” was ranked 50th among prime-time shows on broadcast television, according to Nielsen Media Research, with an audience of about 8.9 million — a loss of about 200,000 from the prior television season, but a drop of 1.3 million from the season before that. (As a counterbalance to that math “Boston Legal” is a perennial Emmy winner, with Mr. Spader and Mr. Shatner having won multiple times for their roles; each has been nominated again this year, along with Candice Bergen and the series itself, for outstanding drama.)
Complicating the negotiations was that ABC and Fox Television were disagreeing over another show, an ABC pilot titled “Life on Mars,” that Mr. Kelley had adapted from a British precursor. Ultimately ABC Studios wound up becoming a co-producer of the show with Fox, which had the effect of removing Mr. Kelley.
“They probably wanted more creative control than I was used to giving, which made sense,” Mr. Kelley said.
Only hours before ABC was to announce its fall prime-time schedule, the network made a decision that would amount to a split verdict on “Boston Legal”: It would return for one more season, but a truncated one.
“Because we do love the show,” said Jeffrey Bader, executive vice president of ABC Entertainment, “we wanted to find a way for the show to come back and end in a way the show deserves.”
There are to be 12 episodes this year, as opposed to the standard 22, with the final show a two-hour finale.
“Creatively I wouldn’t have felt shortchanged if we ended after four years,” Mr. Kelley said. “We got to tell the stories we set out to tell. But I think there are more to tell.”
And so, in what has become the equivalent of a weekly video op-ed column, Mr. Kelley will again use Mr. Shore’s character in particular this season to rail (mostly in closing arguments in court) about any number of matters that are troubling him, including the disproportionate power of drug companies and the seeming inequity of a law that effectively prohibits malpractice suits by soldiers treated in military hospitals.
Having had his characters tally the dead and wounded in Iraq and bemoan the encroachment on civil liberties in recent years, Mr. Kelley may also have more to say about the Bush administration — in large part, he said, because few other scripted series have sought to take a political stand.
“Once I thought it was irresponsible for a producer to be espousing his own views and rants,” said Mr. Kelley, who worked as a lawyer in Boston before finding his niche in Hollywood working on shows like “L.A. Law” and creating others like “Ally McBeal” and “Picket Fences.” “I have since become convinced we are living in a time where it is irresponsible not to. We were witnessing the death of debate.”
Still, what viewers may ultimately remember about the show this season is the pathos of its characters, chief among them Denny Crane. He is a lion of a defense lawyer whose quirks, frailties and flashes of brilliance have provided Mr. Shatner a late-career opportunity to reintroduce himself to those who knew his work on “The Defenders,” “Star Trek” and “T. J. Hooker,” to say nothing of those ubiquitous Priceline commercials. Crane will continue to grapple with what appears to be the early onset of Alzheimer’s, in yet another pioneering story line for a main character on network television.
When he first appeared in the final episodes of “The Practice” — a show built on a firm as gritty as Crane Poole & Schmidt of “Boston Legal” is well heeled — Crane was defined by little more than the way he said his name. It was rapid-fire — from Mr. Shatner’s mouth, it sounded like “Dennycrane” — and it instantly announced a self-centeredness and impatience.
“We originally wanted a guy who thought saying his name was enough,” said Bill D’Elia, the executive producer who was hired by Mr. Kelley to shepherd the transition from “The Practice” to “Boston Legal,” and who has overseen “Legal” ever since.
Asked the source of that staccato delivery, Mr. Shatner had a ready answer: “I always imagined it being the way a snake flits its tongue out to taste the air. Denny flicks his name out there to get a reaction.”
What has never been entirely clear to Crane’s associates or the show’s viewers is this: When, for example, he appears in an office corridor fully dressed but for his pants, has he done so consciously (as a gag) or not? This season, Mr. Shatner said, he expects the character to become more self-aware.
Speaking during a break from rehearsing the fifth episode of the final season, Mr. Shatner said: “There’s an interesting chord being played, in a scene I’m paying a lot of attention to, in which I say, ‘I think I’m slipping.’ Later on I say, ‘I’m slipping.’ Then I say, ‘I know I’m slipping.’ ”
“I think Kelley is planning on something dire, with some disposition,” Mr. Shatner added, “or some disposal.”
Which raises an immediate question: Might Mr. Kelley be planning to kill off Denny Crane, leaving Alan Shore bereft and bereaved?
As it turns out, Mr. Kelley does not seem to be leaning that way, at least partly for pragmatic reasons.
“One of the problems or challenges is that in this world of DVDs, series live on long after they air,” he said. “For whatever reason, the audience we have does seem to like to watch these episodes over again on DVD.”
“We’ve always been mindful that when these characters walk off into the sunset, that it be organic to the fun and spirit of this series, that you have the sense these guys are still out there doing what they do,” he said. “They just won’t be on TV doing it.” |
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