When did Shatner become "The Shat?"

I'm all for irony.

Even post-ironic civilization is OK with me.

But when I first realized that William Shatner -- perhaps the worst successful actor of the last 40 years -- had now become "The Shat," I realized that we had gone way too far.

Give the man some credit. After playing the lead in two television series -- the original "Star Trek" and "T.J. Hooker" (cop by day, prostitute by night) -- he has managed to hang around for another 30 years or so basically by making fun of himself.

But "The Shat?"

I'm not so sure about that. At least when I was growing up, "shat" was the past tense of a verb that people didn't say in mixed company. I feel the same way about that word that I did when I first learned the "scrod" wasn't the pluperfect subjunctive of another nasty verb.

I saw every one of the original 79 "Star Trek" episodes, and I think I caught all the movies, either in theaters or on cable, and watching Shatner play James T. Kirk has become something like watching Benny Hill. It's an inside joke.

Let's keep it that way.