William Shatner aims to get under the skin of celebrities

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - William Shatner, who made his name playing Captain Kirk on "Star Trek", is turning his laser-like focus on the raw nerves of other celebrities in a new chat show starting this week.

In "Shatner's Raw Nerve" premiering on Tuesday on U.S. cable television outlet the Bio Channel, he will interview the likes of actors Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer and Leonard Nimoy.

Shatner said the weekly show allows him to discover an inner truth about each guest. As for his own raw nerves, the 77-year-old Shatner listed things that get under his skin.

"We all have many, but choose a subject -- onions, snakes, loneliness, fear of death," Shatner told Reuters. "I mean it goes from the sublime to the absurd."

In ads for the show, Shatner is pictured sitting opposite an empty chair with a rising flame where the guest should be.

But he said viewers should not expect "Shatner's Raw Nerve" to focus on trying to make his guests angry.

"There are many aspects to a raw nerve that don't have to do with negative emotions, like anger," said Shatner, who has already taped 13 interviews.

For Nimoy, a fellow "Star Trek" traveler, the raw nerve Shatner said he uncovered centered on Nimoy's grandfather.

Nimoy related that as a young man, he often watched as his grandfather fingered his shoes. Only later did Nimoy realize his grandfather, a leather worker, was literally getting a feel for how his grandson was doing by checking on such things as the wear on the soles of his shoes.

"That was the raw nerve about Leonard, and I thought that was beautiful," Shatner said.

GEORGE TAKEI ON DECK?

Tuesday's show will feature Shatner's interviews with actors Valerie Bertinelli and Tim Allen.

Shatner has invited actor George Takei, another former "Star Trek" star, to appear on the show.

Takei and Shatner feuded in the press a couple months ago over their differing accounts of whether Shatner was invited to Takei's marriage to partner Brad Altman, and Takei has publicly bashed Shatner over the years.

"Here's a guy in whose company I've been not too many times who doesn't seem to like me, so it's only like a curiosity, what did I do?" Shatner said.

Takei's manager Mike Greenwald told Reuters that Takei would like to appear on Shatner's show in the future.

In his own career, Shatner has faced detractors who call him a bad actor, but he said that has not affected him.

"No one likes to hear somebody think bad things about them, but I know my talent and if I didn't have any ability I wouldn't be around all these years," Shatner said.

Shatner starred as Captain Kirk in the original version of "Star Trek" in the 1960s and in several movie versions of the saga. For the last four years, he starred as attorney Denny Crane in the courtroom TV series "Boston Legal."

But that hardly rounds out the list of Shatner's many pursuits. The actor recently launched a business called Live Autographs that has him sign keepsakes for fans on video.

He also has a series of comic books coming out next year.

Shatner said that, like a shark, he must always move forward, and he has no plans for quiet retirement.

"I have to have the river of activity, the current of activity going by my gills," he said.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Jill Serjeant)