Comet Network Salutes ‘Star Trek’ With Comet Fest ’23
William Shatner interview to air throughout the June 16-18 weekend
Multicast network Comet hosts Comet Fest ‘23, its first annual multiplatform fan festival, June 16-18. The inaugural event will celebrate Star Trek, and William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk on the original Star Trek, will be interviewed. The festival features TV series, movies and digital experiences on Comet, a sci-fi and fantasy network, across that weekend.
On Friday, June 16, Comet Fest ‘23 kicks things off with Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in primetime. On June 17, it’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in prime. June 18 features all four movies, starting at 11 a.m., then a primetime preview of new show Grimm. Grimm, which lasted six seasons on NBC, premieres on Comet the next day.
The Captain’s Closeup, a five-episode docuseries directed and hosted by Shatner, features one-on-one interviews with actors who played Star Trek series captains, including Sir Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula and Chris Pine. It will air following Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn on Day 1 and prior to the film telecasts on Day 2 and Day 3 of the festival.
Sinclair Broadcast Group owns Comet.
“Star Trek is huge! Some 13 feature films and 11 television series later, fans continue to search out and explore everything Trek,” said Adam Ware, senior VP of Sinclair’s Growth Networks Group. “Broadcasting and streaming the first four movies, the five-episode docuseries, and a special one-on-one interview with the legendary William Shatner is the perfect way to launch Comet’s first annual fandom experience.”
Shatner will be interviewed by Matthew Hoffman, correspondent on Extra and narrator and co-writer of Love Island USA. Viewers will see excerpts from the interview all weekend long during commercial breaks and watch it in its entirety at CometTV.com/CometFest.
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Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.