Getting A Naughty Look From William Shatner

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Just another day at the office:  one of our CBS2/KCAL9 executive producers, Jessika, said "Kent, come here for a minute: this is William Shatner."  Oh, OK.

I've always been a fan of Shatner; but not because of any particular performance. I'll explain. And in real life, he's just as charismatic as he is on-screen. He has that permanent twinkle in the eye- thing that makes me feel like he's just done something naughty. 

We get celebs coming through, fairly regularly. Shatner was here to talk about his (just-about) annual Hollywood Charity Horse Show, which takes place at the L.A. equestrian Center, April 30. Sheryl Crow is set to perform. What fascinated me, was what my coworkers said about seeing him: everybody had a story....

One of our show producers asked me if I'd ever seen his spoof of the movie Se7en, shown on an Oscar telecast. Another asked for his autograph for her husband, a hard-core Star Trek fan. One of our 20-something production assistants knew him from the Priceline.com commercials and "Bleep" My Dad Says.

Boston Legal? TJ Hooker? The list goes on. And that's what I have always like about William Shatner: in an industry that throws Tomorrow's Next Big Star out with the weekly floor-sweepings, Shatner just keeps working and working and working.

Maybe in this town that kind of survival is naughty. Well, we would all be lucky to be so naughty. Mr. Shatner was kind enough to allege that he knew who I was.  Like I said, just another day at the office. If your office happens to be located in Fantasy Land.