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William Shatner to Star in New Reality TV Series
Gildor writes "The small town of Riverside, Iowa has long billed itself as the birthplace of James T. Kirk. So they were thrilled when William Shatner came there to film a Star Trek prequel about the early life of Kirk. Except there was no movie. After about 9 days, Shatner announced they were actually filming a reality TV mini-series."
When are people going to stop allowing the networks to shove this filth down their throats?
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
Kahhhhhhhhnnnnnnn
Did anyone else read: "William Shatner to Star in New Star Wars Reality TV Series." I was about to say..
I thought he was Canadian.
Um, Id perfer to get my scifi without any reality at all. Perhaps a show about space cops saving kittens or something like that. We need more programming that allows celebs to go freakin crazy...
I wonder where the guy is who's sitting around thinking "you know what our fall lineup needs? another reality show!"
This comment is fully compliant with RFC 527.
They should team Shatner up with Hasslehoff.
A Space / Beach setting with the Olsen twins thrown in as well... with a reality twist maybe ?
Money baby... money.
The networks are out to make money, not be your friend. They wouldn't be airing reality TV if they didnt make money at it.
However, the profit margins on a reality TV show are MUCH higher. They don't have to pay expensive actors, they don't have to build or maintain sets, they don't need to hire extras from the screen actors guild, etc. They can even usually do product placements *on* the shows to make more money.
Then you have shows like American Idol - not only is the show cheap, but afterwards, they have an artist that is guaranteed to sell at least a few records - and they don't have to spend any money promoting them!
The marketers that convinced the masses to watch these shows are pure genius. And the networks are laughing all the way to the bank.
According to the article, Shatner, when he announced it was a hoax, gave the town $100,000 as a gift. The crew of the "film" donated $12,000 to the library. Most people where just happy to have him in town...and Shatner said it wasn't going to make fun of anyone - the reality TV show was when a big Hollywood production company comes in to a small town.
They also spent $1,000,000 to make the show, much of that going into the towns economy. What would be REALLY cool was if the reality show went over well and Shatner decided to actually make the movie into a real movie. That could be pretty cool, and it would already have tons of publicity and marketing started for it.
Maybe we DID take the blue pill. You wouldn't remember anyway.
I guess it would make sense for Shatner to have a cameo in whatever Trek show they might make about Kirk, but he won't be playing Kirk in any prequels :)
But reality TV? Blech. I'd rather have a 73 old old Shatner trying to play a 30 year old Kirk :)
He perhaps could have brought along a few Tribbles...
Then, just to make it interesting you could, in the same way they do for MUDs, allocate points to internet participants who (via videoconferencing) have the most convincing characters, and then have them participate with greater ships, which they got by using their points.
Of course there would have to be some 'mission' to the whole thing (pick your trekkie episode), or perhaps a second crew on another ship (another studio).
Finally the studios would have to be modified to allow the participants to actually live there for a while...
Reality TV is about as cheap as infomercials and cooking shows, if not more so. Quality Programming, on the other hand, is a lot more expensive.
We've been told America Loves Reality TV when the Reality is that the networks LOVE it because it's PURE PROFIT.
I got a better one for you.. Shatner is starring in some TV commercials for breakfast cereal here at the minute.
I could barely believe it when one came on this evening..
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
"They also said they created their own little soap opera where Shatner pretended to be a jerk to his cast"
Good thing they didn't try to make him act.
How is it that a first post can be redundent?
Because *every* article has a first post.
Stop the world; I need to get off.
This seems to be a going trend for TV producers to claim they are working on project A in order to get people to unwittingly participate in project B... here on Slashdot not to look ago there was a warning story about MTV Networks fooling experts into appearing on a Comedy Central project called "Crossballs"
MTV Networks seems to be making a habit of this. MTV itself fooled a half dozen college students who thought they were interning on a music video project into being the stars of Faking the Video. And let's not forget TNN/SpikeTV's project called The Joe Schmo Show.
There oughta be a law against these things... because apparently basic fraud hasn't caught up to when fraud is being done in the name of TV.
No, THIS is his low-point, William Shatner's Spplat Attack, a DVD of a Star Trek-themed day of paintball. A friend bought this and brought it over one night.
It was painful.
Very painful.
How painful was it? There was actually a moment when I wished I was watching Star Trek V instead.
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
It would be very appropriate for them to drive the "Shatner / Hasslehoff Industries Two Thousand".
;-)
cLive
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
Tannoy: Captain Kirk, this is Big Brother.
You have been voted off the Big Brother starship, please collect your belongings and beam down to the surface immediately.
Kirk: DEVINNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
liqbase
His new CD, Has Been comes out on Tuesday. Here is a review.
I'm still looking for a copy of Transformed Man if anyone knows where to get one.....
Much as I loved Deforest Kelly, I doubt he's rolling in his grave.
Don't forget, Mr. Kelly had a role in "Night of the Lepus" - a film about mutated giant Bunny Rabbits!!
DeForest was obviously a little desparate for work after the original series.
Riverside, Iowa is the alleged birthplace of James T. Kirk, not William Shatner (though sometimes I think Shatner himself gets the two confused ;-) ).
Don't underestimate the power of The Source
This isn't a "good thing all around". It's a terrible thing. Basically, a bunch of people in "the biz" decided it would be funny to fool a small town community. They came in, lied, manipulated, and essentially disrespected these people, then decided that their trust was worth about $100,000. The donated money is a bribe, plain and simple, to buy off the feeble stirrings of conscience in Shatner, et al.
I see this happening more and more, and it's starting to get to me. People aren't here for your entertainment. Real people aren't the Sims, for Pete's sake. They don't go about their lives just to relieve the tedium of yours. It's a bad thing to treat people as if they were just means to be used in achieving your ends, whether that's something cartoony grand or as mundane as filling half an hour of that gaping void that is your life.
People are not means only.
I don't care that they got "genuine reactions" and "true feeling" and all that other crap that producers of shows like this believe justify their deceptions. In the end, a bunch of Hollywood types decided that small town people can be easily duped for the entertainment of a jaded national audience.
And for all those who asked, back when the reality craze fist hit, what harm Survivor etc. could do... well, here we are. These people didn't volunteer for the reality show; they were impressed into service, kidnapped.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
Cut back to Peter and William Shatner dancing barefoot in puddles by the side of the road. Meg comes along the road, and spots them.
Peter: Aaaargh!
William: My God! Look out!
The car skids to a stop, but knocks them both down. Meg and Lois get out.
Meg: Oh, my God. I hit William Shatner.
William: Light... growing... dimmer... can't... breathe. Beam me up, God.
He lays flat on his back, his shirt pops open and his gut pops out. Ensign Ricky and a crowd of people stand watching.
Ensign: Whoo. I did not see that coming.
-----
The only preformance outside Star Trek that I can stand by Shatner.
[shatner mode="kirk"]You don't understand why we must have such diversions? Do not your own people ... seek enjoyment in their own way? So it is with us. You see, we humans ... we need to ... relax ... to entertain ourselves. All of the great leaders in history have realized this: Caesar, Napoleon, Darius of Rigel IV. That's why ... we created ... television. If. You. Deny us. The chance to relax ... we will grow weary of our lives ... our less human lives?[/kirk]
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
Hey hey! He was at the University of Iowa on Friday to use our satellite uplink for interviews. I work in the same building and we tracked him down and got a pic.... here's the scoop
I guess you can look at this two ways... One, a good ol' boy playing a friendly prank on his old town, or the one I'm favoring at the moment; Galaxy Quest primadonna trying to make it off the dying embers of his career. I mean, why his town? Why not some other middle America? I'm thinking because that's where his name was the strongest and would be least likely questioned. In otherwords, the easiest marks they could find. Yeah, so they gave em' a $112,000... BFD. That's called a bribe in order not to litigate Shatner's ass for being played the fool, like every other "you're a fool and we secretly know it" show out there. Besides, only $112,000 to the entire town? They're obviously hoping to make $$$ off it's syndication, which means $100,000 divided by 903 people is fucking peanuts.
I know they could portray them as decent folk as Rev. Rich Adam hopes, but these shows don't get viewership off folks being good and decent. They get it by putting people in tight spots and making em look like fools. Oh hey, Guess who didn't attend James Doohan's (suffering from Parkinson's disease, diabetes, lung fibrosis and Alzheimer's disease) annointement to the Hollywood Walk of Fame? Probably too busy getting a great hotel rate.
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I think I'll go weep for the fate of the world now.
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