Last night I witnessed an event that held me in a state of curious awe: William Shatner’s new show on Biography, Shatner’s Raw Nerve. It’s not as if I’ve never seen that type of show before, but honestly I was expecting Zap Branigan to saunter out and ham it up — and what I got was Shatner doing his best to interview Leonard Nimoy. It was spellbinding.
Before you scoff too much, let me explain: It wasn’t spellbinding in the way that, say, the Frost/Nixon interview was, but more like the moment in Mr. Holland’s Opus when everyone learned that the football players could actually dance. You know, when everyone would have put good money that they’d fall on their collective rumps.
Of course it didn’t hurt that “The Shat” was interviewing his friend Leonard Nimoy. But I have the strange impression that the “I’m gonna find something that hits a nerve with you” is going to work for him. It suits his style.
Laugh if you want to but I’m setting the TiVo to record the next one. At the very least it’s entertaining — and you can’t really ask for more than that.
Shatner’s Raw Nerve [Biography]
5 Responses to The Shat Works Your Nerves
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Huh. The only thing up on that site right now is Jenna Jameson.
I saw an episode of this a little while back where he interviewed Tim Allen. Wonderful interview.
I totally agree, Sean. It’s an oddly compelling show. The formal is as simple as it could be — two chairs, two people + conversation. And it works.
As the resident Shatnologist, I’ve been watching since interview #1.
Shat really tries to get to the core of who the person is. During the interview he doesn’t try to make the person cry, or stroke their ego (or his own for that matter). I was impressed but I’m bias. I love the man. Everything he does is gold for me. So it’s good to hear someone else enjoying what Bill is up to.
The only interview I saw that was a bit annoying was with Jon Voight. IMO, Voight was an arse. I haven’t seen the Nimoy one but I’ve been looking forward to it.
I think Shatner might have added a little juice to the television interview show…