Invasion Iowa is a television mini-series that aired on Spike TV beginning on March 29, 2005, on ITV4

ITV4

ITV4 is a British television station which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a male-oriented line-up, including sport, cop shows and US comedies and dramas, as well as classic ITV action...

 beginning on 3 November 2005 and The Comedy Channel

The Comedy Channel

The Comedy Channel is an Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television.-History:...

 in April 2007. The series depicts events from September 2004, in which William Shatner

William Shatner

William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...

 played a hoax on the small town of Riverside, Iowa

Riverside, Iowa

Riverside is a city in rural Washington County, Iowa, United States, along the English River on Iowa Highway 22. It is part of the Iowa City, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 928 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Highland Community School District.Riverside proclaimed...

 by claiming to film a science fiction movie there. Unbeknownst to the residents of Riverside, the movie was in fact fake, a satire on the genre. In front of and behind the cameras, Shatner and his purported entourage performed a living, breathing parody of Hollywood. Producers designed the various plots and gags to elicit reactions from the townspeople. Shatner played the part of the eccentric star. Improvisational actors pretended to be members of his entourage. Residents of Riverside were encouraged to audition for parts in the movie and take jobs on its crew, only to bear witness, firsthand, to an elaborate send-up of tinseltown.

Producers chose Riverside because it is the self-proclaimed future birthplace of Shatner's most enduring character, Captain James T. Kirk

James T. Kirk

James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...

.

Invasion Iowa was created by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

Paul Wernick

-Television:Wernick created, executive-produced, and wrote The Joe Schmo Show with writing and producing partner Rhett Reese for Spike TV. The critically acclaimed series drew Spike's highest ratings in history...

, who also created Spike TV's earlier "reality parody" series, The Joe Schmo Show

The Joe Schmo Show

The Joe Schmo Show is a reality television parody show which aired on the American cable network Spike TV from 2003–2004. The show's premise is that a target person or persons are led to believe that they are contestants on a reality television show; in reality, all of the other participants in the...

, and its sequel, Joe Schmo 2.

In May, 2009, the series was released as a two-disc region-1 DVD set.