Television's Older Actors: Still Working and at the Top of Their Game

Sept. 20, 2010— -- They're baaaack!

Despite Hollywood's general habit of putting older actors out to pasture, the new crop of fall television shows this season features some of television's biggest icons.

They read like a Who's Who of the small screen, in some cases going back decades

William Shatner, who'll be 80 next year, returns to television this Thursday in the CBS series "S#*! My Dad Says" – informally known as "Bleep My Dad Says."

The show is based on the bestselling book and Twitter feed created by Justin Halpern. Shatner plays the feisty over-the-top older guy – a much older guy – with a saber-edged tongue.

This summer, NBC's popcornbiz blog reported that Shatner was Justin Halpern's first choice to play his father, a retired doctor in his seventies. The site also noted the younger Halpern had felt Shatner "hit the role 'out of the park' during the taping of the pilot, and that Halpern senior, commenting on the pilot's filming, felt that Shatner "was way into it."