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*** Is William Shatner mocking hayseed America?

Still, ''Invasion Iowa," Shatner's new prank reality show on Spike TV, made me more uncomfortable than not. The four-part series, which premieres tonight at 9, and airs each night this week, dupes the farm town of Riverside, Iowa, into believing it is the filming location of Shatner's new sci-fi movie. Riverside has long identified itself as the future birthplace of the fictional Captain Kirk, and so its citizens are thrilled to have Shatner and his crew filming on site. Dazzled, the locals work on the shoot and play key roles in the movie. What they don't know is that it's all a ruse for a reality TV show, that Shatner and his entourage are there simply to reveal just how pathetic and hungry for fame Riverside (pop. 928) truly is.

Is hayseed America mocking William Shatner?

At once a Hollywood sendup and a spoof of the unscripted genre itself, the four-night, five-hour show (concluding with a two-hour finale April 1) starts out like a sardonic jab at Smalltown America. But it quickly evolves into something of a lampoon of showbiz convention itself, one that revels in the stereotypes and excesses so prevalent on movie shoots while concurrently illustrating that hayseeds maybe aren't quite as dumb and sheltered as we expect them to be.

Set irony shields to maximum.

*** Senator Bill Frist, remote MD:

Dear Dr. Frist,

I have environmental illness. I feel horrible all the time, especially in the morning. My wife says she's sick of my endless self-pitying whining. Should I divorce her?

Suffering

Dear Suffering,

Marriage is sacred. You have sick building syndrome because your house has dry rot. I'm also picking up a disturbance in the force, indicating a crime was committed in the guest bath. Or possibly the gazebo. Your lucky numbers this week are 19, 43, 21, 17, & 23.

*** The perks of Canadian government service:

OTTAWA -- A group of MPs studying Canada's prostitution laws is seeking $200,000 in federal funds to visit European cities with red-light zones and legal brothels. The five-member justice subcommittee plans to visit Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden. Reno, Nevada, is also on the destination list.
...
John Carpay, Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is skeptical MPs will see a measurable research benefit from visiting brothels and red-light districts.

"The onus would have to be on them to show why it's vital to visit those places in person," Carpay said. "There's a lot of research and a lot of literature available that the MPs' staff and the library of Parliament staff can make available."

Books and articles are no substitute for hands-on experience in the trenches, ya hosers.

Then again, it might not be as glamorous as a Canuck lawmaker would hope ...

(Via BA and small dead animals)

Posted by Bill at March 29, 2005 08:34 AM | TrackBack (1)

Comments

Posted by: rbj at March 29, 2005 10:10 AM

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Posted by: B. Minich, PI at March 30, 2005 03:10 PM