Former SNL and Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd has some harsh words for reality TV. "It's eliminating, it's Darwinian in its whole origin," he says, "and there's very little compassion in it, I don't think. It's just hollow and shallow."

Dan Aykroyd had no problem calling someone an "ignorant slut" for humour, but what to do when TV actually is littered with them?

"There's a very mean-spirited thing happening with shows like I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me out of Here, Survivor, all this reality stuff," the legendary Canadian comedy performer said in an exclusive interview with Sun Media.

"It's eliminating, it's Darwinian in its whole origin, and there's very little compassion in it, I don't think.

"It's just hollow and shallow and materialistic and I'm just so happy that I do not have anything to do with the reality world. I'm really glad to let them go do their thing, bye-bye."

Aykroyd, 56, wandered into the subject of reality TV while discussing some of the characters he played back in his classic Saturday Night Live days. He'll be re-adopting one of those personas for a concert date in Canada this Friday, when the Blues Brothers -- Aykroyd and Jim Belushi -- play a concert at Casino Rama, north of Toronto.

"It's the one hour and a half in my life where I don't have to think about business or personal matters or anything beyond just playing the music," said Aykroyd, who still performs with Belushi as the Blues Brothers about 20 times a year. "It's just full of soul-satisfying elements."

Of course, Aykroyd also used to play a snarly, snarky newscaster on SNL's Weekend Update, and his point-counterpoints with co-anchor Jane Curtin were legendary. Aykroyd's diatribes usually began with the line, "Jane, you ignorant slut."

The ironic thing is, if you tune into U.S. cable news outlets these days, the Bill O'Reillys and Keith Olbermanns of the world sound a lot like Aykroyd's old newscaster. Sure, Aykroyd was doing it for humour, but depending on how you look at it, he was several years ahead of his time.

"It's true, we may have got it there," Aykroyd said. "I suppose we had a lot of predictions that came right. But we missed the reality-TV thing. We didn't see that coming at all."

The mere thought of reality TV got Aykroyd's blood boiling.

"Who could imagine that people like that poor family from the Carolinas with the eight kids (featured in the reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8) could be that interesting to the viewing public?" Aykroyd asked. "It's just astounding that this is what passes for entertainment today."

That said, there are some people in the entertainment world today who have the ability to entertain Dan Aykroyd.

"Oh, yeah, I like Will Ferrell and I like his films, so I'm looking forward to seeing his new one (Land of the Lost)," Aykroyd said. "And I'm looking forward to Harold Ramis' movie Year One, that should be good."

Most of Aykroyd's time these days is spent with his wine and vodka businesses.

"I've been signing bottles at liquor stores and people bring all the DVDs and vinyl records and CDs from my career, so I have this built-in retrospective," Aykroyd said. "That's when I realize, first of all, just how long I've been around, and second, that I was involved in some great collaborations that still hold up today.

"No, I didn't think I'd go that way," added Aykroyd, when asked if he ever dreamed he'd be waist-deep in the alcohol biz. "I thought I'd be in corrections. But I guess I'm correcting people's taste in fine liquor."

Hey, that sounds like a great idea for a celeb-reality show!

Just kidding, Dan, just kidding.

His spirit is willing

The dream of a new Ghostbusters movie is basically Ghost-busted, if you listen to Dan Aykroyd.

"(Director) Ivan Reitman has the best quote about it, and that is, 'It's just all talk until you have a production number,' " Aykroyd said when asked about the current state of the long-rumoured project. "So it's just all talk now.

"Until we have a script and a production number, the only thing carrying it is my enthusiasm."

Aykroyd, of course, was one of the stars of the original 1984 Ghostbusters movie, which also featured Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts. Ghostbusters was a huge commercial success, and it spawned a sequel, Ghostbusters II, in 1989.

A third instalment has fit snugly into the "on-again, off-again" category for years. But Aykroyd said he is the only key player who still is really intrigued by the possibility.

"And I'm afraid that's not enough to get a movie going," Aykroyd said.

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