See Shatner Talk Past and Present on ShatnerVision!

William Shatner (Captain Kirk) chatted on ShatnerVision about his birthday last week, a 1975 game show appearance and the fact that ABC has picked up Boston Legal for a fourth season, which makes the actor hopeful that it will receive a fifth season as well to create a stronger syndication package for ABC.

"The people here have been so nice," Shatner told his daughter Lisabeth in a clip linked from his web site, explaining that the Boston Legal staff had been wishing him a happy birthday and been generous in letting him have days off to travel. While speaking to Lisabeth, daughter Melanie also called to sing happy birthday. Though pleased with the good wishes, the actor told his daughter that he hates the idea that another year has gone by. "You're so cognizant of the fact that the years are limited...there's a countdown going on: 7, 6, 5, and then I'm launched."

In another clip linked from WilliamShatner.com, Shatner expressed his happiness that his current series will run at least one season longer than the original Star Trek did. "Boston Legal is on the air for 2008," he announced. "And everybody says if you get four years, you'll get five, because of syndication." Lisabeth, however, noted that her dad would never wear ties in real life like the ones Denny Crane wears. "I would never wear this," Shatner agreed, flopping the end of a fuschia tie around, "but my taste has been educated, fashioned, honed, trained, by some of this, so that I might now wear a brighter color with a conservative suit."

And in yet another video from ShatnerVision, the actor watched himself on Match Game PM, remembering the host as being funny and sardonic. He was at the time starring on Barbary Coast and recalled, "I was the guy with all the disguises." He did not enjoy the rubber-and-cement makeup of the day, which irritated his skin.

In addition to his own web site, Shatner provides updates on his MySpace page.

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