By Steve Rhodes
I suppose William Shatner wants to keep working, but he keeps showing up in the weirdest ways. His latest is a Biography channel show called Aftermath, described thusly:
“William Shatner takes an in-depth look at what happens when people are tragically or infamously transformed from unknown citizens into household names overnight, taking viewers back to the dramatic events that dominated the American news cycle as he gains exclusive access to the newsmakers at the heart of each story – heroes, villains, perpetrators, victims, family members and law enforcement officials – to dig deep and separate the fact from the fiction.”
Well, yes, but he’s not exactly a newsman and with episodes on Mary Kay Letourneau and the Unabomber, the whole enterprise just sounds like an another excuse to play the television version of search engine optimization – hammer those buzzwords! Or in this case, those buzzpeople.
I was, however, quite interested in the episode I saw over the weekend about Randy Weaver of Ruby Ridge fame because I had ever so slight touch upon the story back when I was a reporter in Iowa. And I have to give the show’s creators credit – it was fascinating to hear from the central characters now reflecting upon the tragedy (particularly Weaver’s daughter, Sara).
It’s just too bad Shatner played the role of inquisitor instead of someone with a more serious mien. Perhaps he would have been a bit more skeptical; I guess I always viewed Weaver as less victim and more provacateur than the general view because of my reporting experience.
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Posted on September 7, 2010
