1 If any "old man" deserves the chance, it's him. He may be a pain in the ass to work with, as I've heard (who isn't, in Hollywood these days?), but he has a few good notches on his gun, including (according to him) the first interracial kiss on TV, when he kissed Lt. Uhura. That's gotta count for something (and I envy him that last).

2 Yeah; it would be poetic for Bill to go.

Shatner WAS a huge prima-dona in his day. I read that James Doohan (Scottie) despised Shatner and wouldn't be in the same room with him except when they were doing their scenes.

Supposedly Shatner was shocked when he learned all his castmastes hated him. He never knew.

I think the death of his wife - and the subsequent suspicion on him for murder - changed the man quite a bit.

He's really funny. I thought he was hilarious in that show where he traveled with Henry Winkler and Terry Bradshaw and George Foreman. Loved it when he told Foreman he was going to knock him out in boxing match the two had on Shatner's birthday and Foreman, after taking it easy on Shatner, got mad and sent him down with one punch.

3 He was also funny on that TV sitcom "Boston Legal," that was spun off from "The Practice." James Spader and Candice Bergen were the co-stars. I always wondered how much of his dialogue was written, and how much he improvised on the spot. He was "over the top" just by walking into a room.

4 Boston Legal used to cheese me off because it was solidly left-wing but Shatner was great in it and it could be hilarious.

5 Yes, it was left-wing, and Shatner's character provided balance. We always figured that the Right ended up winning all the time.

6 Yep Dana. Shatner's character gave balance, and he was not protrayed as a cretin - senile maybe, but not a bad man. That showed progress.