Category: TV

I imagine that just about every human being can look back and think of events or decisions made that profoundly changed the course of their life, inflection points that in retrospect mark a clear delineation between “Before” and “After.” What if I had gone to this school rather than that one?  What if I had/had not taken this job or followed this career path? What if I had/had not moved to this city?

What if I had never met him/her? What if I had/had not married this person? What if I had not had three children?

For William Shatner, I would argue that the most impactful inflection point of his personal life, and quite possibly of his career as well, came as a direct result of his involvement with this episode of On Camera, “Dreams.”

Continue reading “On Camera – “Dreams” (04/28/1956)”

*Update – Peter Sloan found out in 2020 or so that his real father was NOT William Shatner. Still this post and his journey are interesting and I’ll leave it all here as originally written!

In March of 2016, a man named Peter Sloan filed a $170 million lawsuit in Florida federal court against one Mr. William Shatner. Sloan, given up for adoption in New York City just five days after his birth in December of 1956, began searching for his birth parents in the early 1980’s at the urging of his first adoptive father. He eventually tracked his birth mother down in Toronto and discovered that she had been (in the mid-1950’s) a minor Canadian actress named Kathy McNeil (at the time Kathy Burt, her maiden name.) McNeil later told Sloan in a letter that his birth father was either a law student from Montreal whose name she could not recall, or William F. Shatner.

Continue reading “General Motors Theatre – “Forever Galatea” (12/06/1955)”

According to my records which may be (admittedly) incomplete, William Shatner did not appear in any TV productions for three months near the end of 1955. This is a bit odd for a guy that had just lost his life savings and who had, just one year earlier, already been in at least four television shows by the time December started. However, I think the reason for this absence is actually quite explainable and provides a somewhat happy addendum to the story of Shatner losing his Broadway seed money.

Continue reading “On Camera – “On a Streetcar” (12/03/1955)”

One of the most famous names in Canadian history is Louis Riel. I know this because I just read the entire Wikipedia entry about the man. Prior to beginning my research for this Shatner appearance, I honestly had no idea. So, Canadians, please forgive me my ignorance.

Because I’m obviously not an expert on him or on Canadian history in general, I’m going to try and hit on the highlights of Riel’s life and times as briefly as I can before discussing the production of “The Verdict Was Treason” itself. Oh…and spoiler alert. The verdict was treason.

Continue reading “Scope – “The Verdict Was Treason” (04/03/1955)”

About two months after first appearing on the CBC’s anthology television program Playbill, in an episode penned by the great Rod Serling, Shatner would come back for a second (and apparently final time) for an episode called “The Swamp.”

It’s actually slightly surprising that I don’t see more of Shatner on Playbill, because it appears that it was an interesting proving ground for new and innovative Canadian directors, producers and actors. It’s certainly possible (and even probable) that I’m missing one or more entries for this particular series, so let’s briefly discuss what made Playbill stand out from some of its peers.

Continue reading “Playbill – “The Swamp” (03/30/1955)”

On William Shatner’s 24th birthday, March 22nd, 1955, he appeared in yet another episode of General Motors Theatre, “The Coming Out of Ellie Swan.” It had been almost a month since his last television appearance, so the (small) paycheck provided by this program would probably have made his birthday  a better one than he otherwise would have enjoyed. In other words, I’m sure that Shatner had no compunctions about working on his birthday.

Continue reading “General Motors Theatre – “The Coming Out of Ellie Swan” (03/22/1955)”

One day…just one day (!) after Shatner appeared in On Camera’s “Man in 308” he appeared in an episode of Scope, “One Soul in Two Bodies.” Truly, Shatner is a golden god!

Continue reading “Scope – “One Soul in Two Bodies” (02/27/1955)”

Just four short days after appearing in the General Motors Theatre episode “Never Say No,” Shatner appeared on yet another CBC anthology program called On Camera, in the episode “Man in 308.” However, unlike some of the other anthology programs that Shatner would appear on over the years he was in Toronto, On Camera had one distinguishing feature…and one other singular distinction in the life of Le Shat.

Continue reading “On Camera – “Man in 308” (02/26/1955)”