In an interview with TVGuide.com, William Shatner — out to promote his new ABC game show (Show Me the Money, previewing Nov. 14) as well as the Boston Legal Season 2 DVD (in stores Nov. 21) — revealed that he has, in fact, had "a long talk" with J.J. Abrams about the Lost creator's in-the-works Star Trek feature, which by some unconfirmed accounts will chronicle James T. Kirk's early days as a Starfleet Academy cadet. So who is Shatner's pick to originate Kirk's bravado? "I think it's essentially uncastable," he answers with a wink. TVGuide.com also asked Shatner about the Trek-inspired DirecTV commercial currently on the air, in which he seems to have magically shed a few Tribbles. "They've got me CGI'd," he admits. "They've got a computer program trying vainly to make me look younger."Read our complete conversation — in which Shatner previews what's ahead for Boston Legal's Denny Crane, and dismisses our suggestion for a cameo in Abrams' Trek — in an upcoming I...
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Is Dancing with the Stars' Season 1 winner, Kelly Monaco, among those fox-trotting to a venue near you? No, but Season 2 champs Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke will join Joey McIntyre, Lisa Rinna, Joey Lawrence, Willa Ford and Harry Hamlin and their respective pro partners on a 38-city tour kicking off Dec. 19 in San Diego, and finishing Feb. 11 in Atlantic City, N.J. In related news, ABC has announced that Show Me the Money, a new quiz show hosted by William Shatner, will premiere Nov. 22 at 8 pm, replacing Dancing's results show.
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Per the Hollywood Reporter, William Shatner will boldly go where no man — save for Regis, Trebek and... OK, lots of others — has gone before when he hosts Show Me the Money, a new trivia-based game show that has just received a seven-episode order from ABC. Alan Thicke, meanwhile, has been tapped to host The Singing Office, a CBS reality pilot that will seek out America's best cubicle-confined crooners. Yeah, as if anyone can top my rendition of "Barbie Girl."
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Question: Are you at all surprised that John Spencer didn't receive a posthumous Emmy nomination for his work on The West Wing? I thought his death would earn him a nod at least in an honorary sense. But given the condition of the current system, I cannot say that I am completely surprised.
Answer: It is surprising, but really, with this year's nominations, where do you start and where do you end? Truthfully, and with all sincere respect to the terrific and much-lamented John Spencer, this was not Leo's greatest season on the show, and I think the nomination in that category for Alan Alda was more appropriate. A sentimental nomination for an actor taken from us too soon is without doubt the sort of thing you'd expect from a conservative group like the Emmy voters, so it is kind of jarring. But overall, this is one of the more interesting, eclectic categories this year, and just having Gregory Itzin (24's President Logan) in the running is very satisfying. (He's my pick over Alda,
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Question: Boston Legal is a well-written David E. Kelley series in the tradition of Picket Fences and The Practice. But I have become turned off in recent weeks by the show's tendency to break the fourth wall time after time. In one instance, Denny Crane (William Shatner) berates his friend and colleague Alan Shore for withholding important information from him. "I wish you had let me in on the game," Crane said. "I can act, you know. I won an Emmy." Shatner, of course, has won two Emmy awards for playing the off-the-wall attorney. In Tuesday night's episode, Shore (played by James Spader, another two-time Emmy winner) is warned by his overamorous secretary (Marisa Coughlan) not to become romantically involved with a female attorney (Kerry Washington). "Don't fall for her, Alan," the secretary said. "She's just a guest star." I don't know about you, but I take my TV dramas seriously. Satire is fine in its place, but it seems as if Boston Legal is taking things to a whole new level. Does ...
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Tiffany Dupont, The Bedford Diaries
If The Bedford Diaries and its ribald undertones prove to be too hot for WB (or, ultimately CW) to handle, Tiffany Dupont can remove herself from any blame. After all, the perky brunette plays Sarah Gregory, the show's good girl on campus. (As "good" as one who boinks her teacher can be.) TVGuide.com spoke to Dupont about being an angel amidst Bedford's hellcats.
TVGuide.com: Did you actually shoot Bedford Diaries in New York City? It sure looks like it.Tiffany Dupont: Yes, we did. We had a studio in Astoria, Queens, but were shooting on location at Barnard [College] and Columbia [University].
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Question: What do you think Vic's fate should be on The Shield? Everyone I know tells me he should go free. I feel like the writers sealed his fate by having him kill a cop in the very first episode. I know he is the hero and most of his methods can be rationalized, but killing a cop makes him no better than Antwon, and he needs to pay for it. Am I wrong?
Answer: No, but it's a loaded question. The same day Rick's question came in, this arrived from Lewis: "Since it looks like the writers are winding down The Shield with the whole internal-investigations plot line, I wanted to know where you think it should end. From the beginning, I have wanted to see Vic Mackey and his team pay for all the despicable things they did, but I knew that would mean the end of the show. With this season feeling like the beginning of the end, I find myself rooting for Forest Whitaker's character to take down the whole team."
I doubt it will be that easy, but this season has certainly been about tightening
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Rene Auberjonois, Boston Legal
Before "snark" was even a word, Rene Auberjonois was wonderfully full of it as Clayton Runnymede Endicott III, the fancy-speaking foil to Robert Guillaume's titular manservant-turned-civil servant on the '80s comedy Benson. These days — and a sci-fi-fabulous run as Deep Space Nine's Odo later — the veteran actor is sharing a set with fellow Star Trek universe alum William Shatner on ABC's Boston Legal (Tuesdays at 10 pm/ET). In fact, Auberjonois' prickly Paul Lewiston recently embarked on a juicy new story arc, one of the many topics covered in this Q&A with TVGuide.com.
TVGuide.com: Long before there was The West Wing, befo
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Boston Legal's William Shatner has boldly gone where no man has gone before (I have to assume) by auctioning off the kidney stone he passed in October. The stone — so big "you'd want to wear it on your finger" the actor has quipped — went for $25,000 via GoldenPalace.com, all of which will be donated to Habitat for Humanity. OK, back to your Grape Nuts!
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Heather Graham, Emily's Reasons Why Not
The Book of Daniel There's something about pairing Jesus with a Vicodin-popping Episcopalian priest that creates brouhaha. We expected the Bill O'Reillys of the world to complain (Someday O'Reilly is going to be driven to insanity when he awakens in the Twilight Zone surrounded by nice, sensible people), but apparently many in the Midwest found the subject matter so repellent that stations in places like Terre Haute pulled Daniel from their schedules. Another triumph for the easily offended. Normal-ites should ask a different question: Is The Book of Daniel worth checking out? I'd say it's a flawed but worthwhile experiment. Aidan Quinn makes a very human reverend, a man whose faith in God is directly proportional to the lack of faith he has in himself. D
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