44 | NOVEMBER 4 • 2021 

MOVIE NEWS
THE TREK STORY, 
HANKS’ ‘HUMAN’ 
ROBOT, COURIC’S NOT 
NEW “REVEAL
” 
On Nov. 5, The History 
Channel will premiere a 
10-part docuseries called 
The Center Seat: 55 Years 
of Star Trek. It’s directed by 
Brian Volk-Weiss, 45, the 
director/producer of The 
Movies That Made Us, a 
hit Netflix series. Each epi-
sode focuses on different 
“chapters” of the Trek fran-
chise: live-action TV series, 
animated series and films. 
Many people associated 
with Trek were interviewed 
for the docuseries, including 
actor Walter Koenig, 85 

(‘Chekov’ in the original Trek 
series), actor Brent Spiner, 
72 (‘Data’ on Star Trek: The 
Next Generation), Nicholas 
Meyer, 75 (He directed Star 
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 
and co-wrote Star Trek IV: 
The Voyage Home), and 
Rick Berman, 75, the head 
producer of five Trek TV 
series — beginning with Next 
Gen and ending with Star 
Trek Enterprise.
It’s always seemed a ‘mir-
acle’ to me that three of the 
seven main cast stars in the 

“original” Trek were Jewish 
(Koenig; the late Leonard 
Nimoy as Mr. Spock; and 
William Shatner, now 90, as 
Capt. Kirk). I hope the docu-
series, as it covers the first 
“failed” Trek pilot and the 
“retooled” successful pilot, 
provides some support for 
my (following) explanation of 
this “miracle.” 
Trek creator Gene 
Roddenberry wanted good 
actors, but he had a small 
budget. He managed to 
get a “name actor,” Jeffrey 
Hunter, for the failed pilot. 
But Hunter walked away 
from Trek after NBC opted 
to not turn that pilot into a 
show. Roddenberry then 
followed the example of 
Rod Serling, the creator of 
The Twilight Zone, and hired 
low-salary but very talented 
character actors and cast 
them in lead roles. For a vari-
ety of reasons, Jewish actors 
were/are much more likely to 
be first-class character actors 
than leads. 
Shatner didn’t have much 
of a track record as a leading 
man. But he did guest star 
on two memorable Twilight 
Zone episodes. Nimoy was a 
guest actor on other shows 
Roddenberry had worked on, 
and he knew Nimoy was tal-
ented. As for Koenig — well, 
he could do a really good 

Russian accent because 
his parents were Russian-
speaking Jewish immigrants.
Post-Script: Of course, we 
all know that Shatner recent-
ly went into space. Here are 
answers to two questions I 
always get asked about him: 
(1) Yes, he is very open about 
being Jewish (see his two 
volumes of memoirs) and he 
has done some Jewish char-
itable events and (2) His first 
wife was Jewish, and she is 
the mother of his children 
(three daughters). Shatner 
often celebrates Jewish holi-
days with his daughters. 

‘HUMAN ROBOT’
Finch is a new film that 
was set to be in theaters 
in 2020, but the pandemic 
intervened, and it will now 
premiere on Apple+ on 
Nov. 5. The premise is that 
the Earth was turned into a 
wasteland by a solar event. 
Tom Hanks plays Finch, a 
robotics engineer and one 
of the few survivors. His 
companion is a beloved 
dog. Things get dicey when 
Finch learns he is dying. He 
creates a robot and trains 
it to be “so human” that it 
will be able to take over the 
care of his dog. The director 
is Miguel Sapochnik, 47, a 
British Jew whose parents 
were Argentine immigrants. 
Sapochnik is best known as 
the Emmy-winning director 
of the spectacular, big-battle 
Game of Thrones episodes 
(Battle of the Bastards and 
others).
You might have read a 
recent JTA piece about a 
new autobiography by Katie 
Couric, the former NBC 
anchor. The headline said 
that Couric “revealed” that 
her late mother was Jewish. 
Well, Detroit Jewish News 

readers found this out in 
2004 when I reported that 
Couric had just told a Fox 
reporter that her mother was 
Jewish. Couric added she 
was raised in her father’s 
Protestant faith. Then, in 
2007, I told News readers 
about a new full-scale biog-
raphy of Couric. It reported 
that Couric’s Jewish-born 
mother had converted to 
Christianity after marrying 
her father. This import-
ant detail isn’t in the JTA 
piece. In 2015, I reported 
that Couric wed her current 
husband, a Jewish banker.
The fourth season of 
the Paramount Network’s 
modern Western 
Yellowstone, starring Kevin 
Costner, begins on Nov. 7. 
Yellowstone is one of the 
bigger hits in the land of 
basic cable. I thought it was 
time to clue you into what 
I know of the Jewish back-
ground of Cole Hauser, 46, 
one of the show’s stars. His 
father wasn’t Jewish. He 
was raised by his Jewish 
mother, Cass Warner, 73, 
the granddaughter of Harry 
Warner, one of the founders 
of Warner Brothers. I regret 
to say that I’ve never been 
able to find out if Hauser has 
any “Jewish ties” other than 
being the son of a Jewish 
mother. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

BY GAGE SKIDMORE VIA WIKIPEDIA

Brent Spiner

BY SUPER FESTIVALS VIA WIKIMEDIA

Walter Koenig

BY GAGE SKIDMORE VIA WIKIMEDIA

Miguel Sapochnik

