William Shatner's Brown Bag Wine Tasting

Former pro football player and high school valedictorian Marcellus Wiley talks about his introduction to football during his childhood and markedly increasing his size in college. He discusses how football gave him a sense of identity and kept him out of trouble in his neighborhood. William and Marcellus also converse about the naturally cyclical process of starting out and playing in the NFL, eventually leading into retirement as new, young players come along. Marcellus employs his status as a typewriting legend to rate and describe the mystery wine.

Veep's Matt Walsh talks about his movie, A Better You, which had scenes written without dialogue, allowing the actors to improvise their lines within the confines of the action of each scene. After elaborating on the intention of improv, Matt and Bill set a scene in which they drink and describe imaginary wine. Matt's intrigued by the accessibility of alternative therapies in Los Angeles, sharing a story about his own experience with hypnotherapy. He draws from these hypnotic experiences to rate and describe the mystery wine.

Food and Wine magazine executive wine editor Ray Isle knows his vintages. He joins William Shatner to discuss the best wines to go with Texas BBQ. Ray explains how, in the past, wine that was considered unsatisfactory was mixed with other ingredients to mask its taste, and William and Ray ponder how the addition of mercury could affect a wine. Ray shares a story of an opportunity he had to taste wine from a 200 year old shipwreck, and he harnesses his writing skills in order to describe the mystery wine.

Actor Grant Harling won the Brown Bag Wine Tasting charity contest, and this week he and William Shatner sit down and sip. Grant and Bill discuss the challenge of meeting people in Los Angeles, whether it be for professional networking or in order to forge new friendships. William speaks about the internal desperation for companionship that accompanies a move to a new and unfamiliar place. Grant draws upon his aptitude for making new friends when he rates and describes this week's spicy red mystery wine.

In this episode, actor Wil Wheaton joins his old friend William Shatner to converse about home brewing beer, the outer limits of space, and video games. Wil and William compare movies and video games by highlighting the added layer of interactivity that games offer. Wil excites William when talking about undiscovered dimensions and other-dimensional lifeforms that can't yet be perceived by humans. Utilizing his beer brewing knowledge, Wil rates and describes the mystery wine.

So You Think You Can Dance’ creator and ‘American Idol’ producer Nigel Lythgoe sits and sips with William Shatner. Nigel and William discuss how younger generations perceive fame and equate it to success. Nigel explains that, in dance, once you've extensively studied technique, it's best to then forget about it and let it flow naturally. He relays how children dancing today are more talented than professional adult dancers were years ago, with gravity limiting them more so than their own abilities. Using tap vernacular, Nigel rates and describes this week's mystery wine.