be able to act! I’m loving this show, and I’m beginning to be, how can I say it? I’m beginning to be impressed by Denny Craig. He’s almost a parody of Shatner, and at first I thought it was just Shatner overacting as Shatner. I mean, the role is perfect for Shatner–if he wasn’t in the role, it would have to be someone trying to act like Shatner. But, dare I say? His performance in last night’s episode contained nuance, pathos even. Maybe hanging around actors all his life has finally paid off.
The rest of the cast is great as well. I had not been watching The Practice when James Spader was on it, but I love his slimey lawyer with a very hidden heart of gold. The women characters need a bit more development–Sally is a bit of a drip, but the blonde and the one with the accent both have possibilities.
Shatner was always a reasonably skilled actor; he just tended toward camp and self-parody after his Star Trek years, and it’s not like T.J. Hooker gave him a big chance for subtlety.
I actually liked the other Twilight Zone episode with him better. You know, the one where he and his wife are newlyweds on their honeymoon, and their car breaks down in this little town, so they go into the diner and find a fortune telling machine that seems to tell the truth?
I’ll concur with the consensus. Shatner is an idiosyncratic but not untalented performer who found himself in a somewhat difficult pigeonhole after Trek ended. Go back and look at Judgment at Nuremburg or better yet The Andersonville Trial sometime.
Shatner is not just reasonable talented, Shatner is great. There are several episodes of Star Trek - and several scenes in the films - which are only watchable because of his performance, and the performances of the actors around him. TJ Hooker would have collapsed under the weight of bad writing if not for two things: William Shatner’s acting and Heather Locklear’s looks.
As I said before; Shatner has decided to run with the scene stealing hack persona. I love it. I think it’s great. He’s not trying to be anyone but himself. Still a little disappointe with James Spader just being Mini-Me to Shatner, but, eh. I can live with it. He still has that lecherous perv thing that he had going in Secretary.
Shatner got recognized in the first place because he was tearing up the stage playing the Royal Shakespearean theater. He knows how to act. He’s like Christopher Walken - he’s built a persona for himself that his parts have to fit into. But when they do, he can be fantastic. If they don’t, he becomes a parody of himself.
Both he and Walken have mannered ways of speaking and carrying themselves. Both are successful because they have learned to have fun with it.
I love Boston Legal. The writing isn’t as strong as the best on TV (Deadwood, Sopranos), but for a network show it’s one of the best. Shatner and Spader are great, and surprisingly they seem to have some chemistry together. I think there are Emmy nominations still to come for both of them.
Shatner got his break when he understudied Christopher Plummer in Henry V.
Supposedly he did a great job filling in for Plummer, and got support from CP himself. Later he returned the favor by getting Plummer a choice role in Star Trek VI