William Shatner may not be in the new Star Trek movie, but he does have yet another job. A&E announced a revamping of their Biography Channel including a rebranding to simply ‘Bio.’ They are introducing a slate of original reality programming with ‘the centerpiece’ being a new talk show tentatively titled "William Shatner’s Raw Nerve" hosted by The Shat himself. A&E senior VP of nonfiction and alternative programming Rob Sharenow describes the show: "It’s not going to be your typical celebrity junket show — he’s going to get the most interesting, unusual celebrities and notable people.” No information on when the show will premiere. More info at Multichannel News. [UPDATED: Variety is reporting A&E have ordered 13 episodes and the show will premiere in 2008.]
More Shat: New Shatner video on how he can’t say no to adventurous projects
Shatner received another ‘honor’ recently…retroCRUSH.com has named his infamous performance of Elton John’s "Rocket Man" the 68th worst cover of all time. Leonard Nimoy’s cover of "If I had a hammer" came in at 87th.
Good for him. I bear no ill will toward the man, even though I oppose a bring Shatner back from the Nexus plotline in the new movie. He’s living life to the hilt, and I wish him all success.
Am I the only one who thinks that this new show will likely be used as a forum to pressure Abrams & company about the new movie? I can’t be the only one. That said, I will Shatner the best of luck with this new program; if nothing else, it will definitely be offbeat.
Oh, I suspect he’ll be fine, regardless. Life goes on.
I don’t think anyone’s down on the Shat. It’s just the idea of forcing a storyline to correct a movie many people think had a lousy ending… that idea doesn’t hunt.
More power to Shat in all his endevours.
the Shat is the S**t
Hey! I liked his performance of Rocket Man!
To me it was quite original and “good in a sort of bad way”..hahahah! Besides, it took alot of guts and “cojones” to make a recording like that!
Mike :o
Say what you will about the man, his ego and his hair – you have to admire a guy with that kind of work ethic.
Oh come on! “If I had a Hammer” is WAY worse than “Rocket Man”!!! And if theyre at 87 and 68, who the hell could be at #1?!?
8-who the hell could be at #1?!?
Eric Clapton. Yeah, I know…
Shatner packs an iphone in the pants. Kurt Russell and dem foolz bettah rekognise, yo. It’s not too late either. SO I don’t think it’s definite that there’s no SHAT™ in the new movie. I still am optimistic.
best!!
=h=
#1 on the list is not just Clapton, but Clapton COVERING HIS OWN SONG. (Layla, done acoustically.)
That’s like…that’s like…I can’t think of what that’s like, it’s unique.
Clapton’s the worst cover artist?
Not Barney for “This Old Man?” Who voted on this list??
It’s time this site got renamed to shatnernews.com.
better shatnernews.com than cloverfieldnews.com
I love shat to death… but are you people Sure you want a talk show?
I mean, he didn’t just do Rocket Man…
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2722361
I’m full of crap… although I didn’t like the TJ, Hooker character,and I’m not a fan of his writing, I do laugh at “Denny Crane” and he does really get the Kirk character, fo’ sho’.
This whole Shatner in the movie thing could be solved via a framing device- with Spock and Kirk reminiscing somewhere
(3 years before Generations) ..
Kirk: “I hear they’re gonna build a “B” now.
Spock : “logical”
Kirk “Is that all? You know they’re staffing it with children.”
Spock : “for me, there always seems to be new trainee crew- I seem to recall a young lieutenant that wanted to own the stars themselves”
Kirk: “Not own… but maybe… borrow, just for for a while.”
Something like that.- I hope that Nimoy insists on some dignity.
I think to this day Shatner regrets not having fought more on Generations.
Good for him he needs to keep busy
#s 9, 11, 12: maybe its like a really backwards list where 100 is worst and 1 is best — not best worst but worst best… my head hurts… gonna go lie down now…
And Shatner has nothing if not the gift of gab, so why not a talk show? He’s looking a bit like Merv Griffin now anyway…
I hope they do a T.J. Hooker reboot. Clapton could do the soundtrack.
This whole ‘Shatner Snubbed By Abrams’ thing is either the biggest red herring they’ve ever tossed to the seals, or the biggest mistake Paramount has ever made, BAR NONE. If it’s legit, you can be sure that the Shat will hit the fan once the movie’s in the can. I love a good catfight. WOO-HOO!
Shatner’s restlessness amazes me. But then again its probably what keeps him a vital man in his late 70’s!
And if Paramount is legitimately keeping him out of the new Trek film, its one of the worst mistakes in the history of cinema.
Bill’s philosphy on death is obviously keep moving and the Grim Reaper won’t catch you. Good for him.
He and Nimoy should bookend the film to bind it together.
All involved is making a big mistake not utilizing the original cast in some form to give this project some chops.
For the revioinists out there, the DVD has chapter stops where you can skip to the next chapter and miss Lennie and Bill.
If you want the new film rebooted…then why call it STAR TREK?
Hey I read Nimoy will play Sarak in the film….any thing to that?
21/ Brian
Where did you read that Nimoy would be Sarek?
That would be something at least somewhat dignified for Nimoy anyhow, and since we’ve lost Mark Leonard, they’d have to recast the role, anyhow.
Although I’d rather they use a framing device, (like my post #15 above) perhaps they just want to jump into the story in their own way.
If it’s the early days, then no academy for our duo, given that Spock was serving with Pike while Kirk was at the academy- or is this bit of canbon gone as well.
PS I wish Mr. Shatner much success on the talk show. He had a game show and hosted Iron Chef- the man needs a better venue!
mctrekkie
The talk show doesn’t interest me, but watching these clips, it is quite apparent that Mr. Shatner has the energy and enthusiasm to make a contribution to the Star Trek movie if that were to end up being the case.
My problem with that, of course, is that they would still be casting someone else as a younger Kirk, which should never be done in my opinion..
I know there are those out there who advocate the “wait and see” attitude, and I can understand that to a point, but the whole idea of role recasts really rubs me the wrong way so badly that that is not an easy task.
Can it be a good MOVIE with recast roles? Yes. Will it be Star Trek to me? Doubtful.