Shatner's In Town - Mind The Cameras

There are two recent news stories involving William Shatner that I want to talk about. The first involves the release of Has Been, the soon-to-be Album of the Century. There's not many ways I could really describe this body of work, even though I tried before. It just defies explanation. But I know what I like, and I love this.

So hey, Shatner's won an Emmy, he's got a new legal drama and a collaborative album masterpiece. Things are going well for him, I'd say. I even almost forgot some of the rumors of him being really mean to his underlings.

And then, I read this story about Shatner invading the small Iowa town of Riverside under the guise of filming a new independent movie. Turns out, it was a hoax. He was actually filming the residents of the town for a new reality series on Spike TV. Another reality show? Duping the residents of this small, sleepy town? I dunno, that seems pretty... Shatneresque to me. Apparently, the producers of the show did donate some money to the town, and no serious harm was done, but you've got to feel bad for the Riverside residents. I don't watch reality TV as a rule, and I certainly won't be making an exception in this case.

So today's opinion of Shatner is about halfway between thumbs up and thumbs down, but I think the guest stars on Has Been, including the Ben Folds connection, are going to persuade me to go ahead and buy the album anyway.

Tune in tomorrow for a very special post!