Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040062
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL COLLINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
``The Charles Perez Show'' began in eight TV markets in December and is now carried on 65 stations (on WGN in the Roanoke viewing area). It has shared in the criticism directed at daytime talk shows for racy excess, but Perez says he offers more.
``A couple of times a week, we entertain topics responsibly that no one else is doing, that are on the pulse and the heartbeat of America,'' he said.
Programs have focused on people who feel victimized because of race or weight or sexual orientation, along with those from similar backgrounds who deny encountering discrimination.
Other topics included guns in schools, street gangs, AIDS and parent-child relationships.
``We did a great show on rap music,'' Perez said. ``It was about whether or not Hollywood contributes to violence. We used rap as an example.''
Perez, 32, says his show is for young adults who don't watch ``This Week with David Brinkley'' and ``The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour,'' two of his own viewing favorites.
``The average person has a story to tell,'' Perez says. ``People's opinions are valid and they become experts when they start talking about them. I think the common man deserves a place to talk.''
But there are the dubious offerings, such as strippers in action, that seem clearly to be ratings-seekers.
``Let's be fair here,'' says Perez. ``Don't tell me the evening news isn't out to beat the next evening news. We're all playing the same game and hopefully you can do good television at the same time you make enough in terms of ratings.''
Perez launched his TV career early. He was a student at Florida State University when he started a TV magazine show called ``1,800 Seconds,'' which ran weekly on the ABC affiliate in Tallahassee.
After college, Perez moved to Los Angeles to ``hit the entertainment industry and hit it big.'' He could only get hired to read scripts.
He recalls one movie script on which, ``I did four pages of notes, with all my thoughts from scene to scene. We were at Warner Bros. at a big table. The person I did the notes for passed them around with his name on them.''
Perez quit and sold real estate for two years. ``I was not put on this planet to sell real estate,'' he says.
In 1992, he called Garth Ancier, a television programming executive he had met, and asked for a job - whatever it was and whatever it paid.
Ancier told him to report in New York in four days to the new ``Jane Pratt Show,'' a talk show, salary $400 a week.
``I'd been through so much personally in my own struggles; I guess you have to do this. I had to get humble enough,'' Perez said.
``I didn't need to feel like an executive. I went there and became the best coffee maker and package carrier I'd ever seen. I had come to the point where I was content with the idea that if I could do that better than anyone else, then this was a life worth being lived.
``I started to move up very quickly, because I think when you're humble and you work very hard, people notice,'' he said. Perez became a producer for talk shows, then created the pilot for his program, using money from friends.
``I thought of Lucy and Desi [Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz] a lot; I thought about them every day,'' Perez said. ``I kept remembering that nobody gave them a chance. They paid for the pilot of `I Love Lucy,' mortgaging their own house. Sometimes when you take risk into your own hands, it is the fruit of great success.''
Perez recalled telling Ancier of his decision to become a talk show host.
``I told him I was going to be on the air and his eyes started to water as he said, `This is so sad, to see somebody like you throw his career away.' I knew where he was coming from but I knew I was young enough that I could still make the shot and, if it didn't work, return to producing.''
Even Perez's mother had doubts.
``All the people who did not believe in me, as close as they were and as much as I loved them, I made a very strong decision not to talk to them about it. Because I knew if I had this dream, I didn't need somebody like a woodpecker, pecking all the time.''
Asked where he hopes to be in five years, Perez says ``I hope to be the top male talk show host. I would love to think of myself as moving toward the perfect union of Phil Donahue and Oprah Winfrey. Phil Donahue is so great; he's so smart. Oprah is very warm and nurturing.''
Perez wants to start a Spanish version of the show once a week, reflecting his heritage and upbringing in South Florida. His grandmother sees the program by satellite in Peru.
by CNB