Sue - I can easily explain the Shatner mystery. Here's my history of TV-watching:

I grew up in a house where there was no TV until I was about 18 or 19 years old! It was also a nonsmoking family. These 2 items made us extraordinarily unusual in those times (the 50's and 60's). Virtually unique, in fact. As a result I read thousands and thousands of books, became much more literate than most of the other kids, and also acquired a rather unconventional view of things. That had its advantages (in making me more aware of society's oddities) and its disadvantages (I was out of sync with my own age group and their social values).

I did watch a little TV now and then at friends' houses...but only once in a while. I totally missed out on many popular shows that other people took for granted. They totally missed out on most of the books that I read. And I read a lot of pretty serious stuff...as well as science fiction, novels, adventure stories, history, etc.

Now, at age 21 (in '69) I started watching quite a bit of TV. Some of my favorite shows at the time were: Mary Tyler Moore, Mod Squad (dumb show, in retrospect), The Name of the Game, NHL Hockey, The Avengers, and Star Trek. I like Star Trek a lot, while appreciating its humorous side too.

I continued watching a fair bit of TV from '69 until about the early 90's, but I never actually owned a TV of my own...there was just usually one around anyway. That's about 25 years worth of TV watching. I think my favorite show of all time was Star Trek Next Generation, which had a superb cast and some very good scripts.

After the early 90's I just gave up on it. I was fed up with the advertising and felt I could better spend my time doing other things.

As for Shatner, I've always been kind of fond of the man and the characters he played, and I decided to see if I could get a longlasting running joke about him going on Mudcat. I did. There you have it.

- LH