The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 184

J2 The INDIANAPOLIS STAR, Sunday, May 21, 1989 Grim kidnap story bolstered by stellar performances Steve Hall ISi started coming my way." At 17, this 11th grader is awaiting word on whether CBS will pick up What's Alan Watching? for the fall. Sounding like an industry pro, he said, "I think they'd be crazy not to buy at least six shows." Me too. Critics raved about the comedy, which showed Alan (Nemec) Interacting with the people on his TV screen, parodied classic shows such as Mr. Ed and featured a furious, funny James Brown imitation by Murphy. But working with the comic wasn't as hilarious as one might think.

For one thing. Murphy never showed up on the set with Nemec and the other actors. "He mostly watched the dailies," Nemec said. "I'd have freaked if he showed up in person." A I Cl Steven Stayner (Corin "Corky" Nemec) carries Timmy White (Jacob Gelman) to freedom. Know My First Name Is Steven is a grim, harrowing tale about how a child's abduction robbed a family of seven years together.

John Ashton Beverly Hills Cop). Cindy Pickett St. Elsewhere) and Corin "Corky" Ne-mec What's Alan Watching?) turn in powerful performances in the miniseries airing at 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday on WTHR (Channel 13). It is based on the real-life abduction of 7-year-old Steven Stayner in Merced, on Dec.

4, 1972. Stayner was held captive and sexually molested for seven years and led to believe his financially struggling parents didn't want him anymore. He only realized he'd been duped when his abductor took another child. At age 1 4, he escaped with the five-year-old and told the police in Uklah, "I know my first name is Steven, and I think my last name is Stayner." Hence the title! Know My First Name is Steven is really two stories. Part one deals with the abduction and captivity, part two Steven's difficulty to adjust to normal family life.

He also initially denied the molestation took place, but finally had to tell a crowded courtroom about it during the trial of his abductor, Kenneth Parnell. The subject matter is wrenching and sordid, but J.P. Miller and Cynthia Whitcomb's script and Larry Elikann's direction handle it tastefully. (The molestation takes place off camera, for example, and is suggested more by the grimace of a listener to Steve's pleas to his abductor than the dialogue per se.) Still, some viewers may find the mini-series too tragic and overwhelming to enjoy. Steven (Luke Edwards) is taken on his way home from school by Parnell (Arliss Howard) and his reluctant accomplice, Ervin THIS WEEK IN SPORTS SUNDAY 6:00 A.M.

ESPN SportsCenter. 10:00 A.M. NWA World Wide Wrestling. 10:30 A.M. ESPN GameDay.

11:00 A.M. WWF Wrestling Challenge. On the card: Rockers vs. Rougeau Brothers, Ultimate Warrior, Ted Diblase, Tito Santana, Brutus Beefcake, Dino Bravo. 11:00 A.M.

NASH Mesquite Championship Rodeo. 11:00 A.M. USA -WWF Alt American Wrestling. NOON NBA Basketball. Eastern Conference Semifinal Game Seven or Eastern Conference Final Game One.

NOON IB Golf. Mazda LPGA Championship, Final Round. From the Jack Nicklaus Sports Center, Kings Island, Ohio. NOON 3) WWF Wrestling Spotlight. NOON ESPN High-School Basketball.

McDonald's Capital Classic. From Landover, Md. (Repeat) 12:30 P.M. Andretti: Watching a Legend Grow. Tom Carnegie profiles the fatherson racing team of Mario and Michael Andretti.

(Repeat) i 1:00 P.M. Auto Racing. NASCAR The Winston. From the Charlotte Edward "Murph" Murphy (Pruitt Taylor Vince). Parnell, whom Howard plays effectively with a low-key creepiness, immediately begins convincing Steven that his parents are having problems and that Parnell has been given custody of the boy.

Eventually Steven believes Parnell's the only one who wants him. He accepts a new name, Dennis, and starts calling Parnell "dad" as they move from town to town, school to school. The show's filled with several heartbreaking narrow misses where Steven could have been rescued. He tries to call home, for example, but doesn't know how to operate a pay phone. Meanwhile, his distraught parents (Ashton and Pickett) never give up hope their son will return.

His father goes into hysterics when one of Steven's siblings almost paints oyer the youngster's name scrawled on the garage. Nemec plays the teenage Steven, who comes home troubled after his ordeal. He was three when the real abduction took place, and he didn't get a chance to meet Stayner until the last week of filming. (Stayner, now 24 and married, has a cameo appearance as a police officer hustling Steven through a crowd of reporters.) So Nemec whose credits include Tucker, a year on Webster and the first pilot from Eddie Murphy's production company. What's Alan Watching? made his own decisions on how to portray Stayner.

"I went and tutored with act- Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C. 1:00 P.M. WGN Lead-Off Man. 1:05 P.M. TBS Baseball.

St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves. 1:15 P.M. WGN Baseball. Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds.

2:00 P.M. CD Boxing. Glenwood Brown vs. Young Dick Tiger, Welterweights. From London.

2:00 P.M. ESPN Auto Racing. Nissan Off-Road 400. From Las Vegas. (Repeat) 2:00 P.M.

NASH American Sports Cavalcade. Stock-car racing, ASA Milwaukee Twin Qualifiers, from the Wisconsin State Fair Speedway. 2:30 P.M. Golf. Southwestern Bell Colonial, Final Round.

From the Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas. 3:00 P.M. 0D SportsWorld. Boxing, Nigel Benn (22-0, 22 KOs) vs. Michael Watson (21-1-1, 17 KOs), middleweights, 12 rounds, from London.

(Live); Bermuda International Triathlon (Tape). 3:30 P.M. Boxing. IBF Featherweight Championship: Jorge Paez vs. Louie Espinoza.

From Phoenix, Ariz. 4:00 P.M. ESPN Auto Racing. Indianapolis 500 Time Trials, Final Day. From the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

6:00 P.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 6:00 P.M. NASH American Sports I Baby Continued from Page 1 movie based on Call Me Anna. Duke will play herself in later scenes: "I want someone tall with a great figure to play the young me." About 50 percent of Duke's time now is spent traveling and speaking about mental illness.

Two weeks ago, for example, she testified before Congress in favor of a larger appropriation for mental health research. Such activities are cathartic but hard. "I'm up there saying let's get rid of this stigma (about mental illness), but I'm one of the people who grew up with this stigma," she said. "It's painful and embarrassing every time I make one of these speeches. But afterward I feel better, and the good outweighs the bad.

I'm getting a chance to help someone else." 1:30 A.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 2:00 A.M. ESPN College Baseball. Carolina Invitational: Clemson vs.

North Carolina. From Chapel Hill, N.C. (Repeat) TUESDAY 7:30 A.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 12:30 P.M.

ESPN Water Skiing. Budget Classic. From Orlando. 1:30 P.M. ESPN U.S.

Gymnastics Challenge. From Denver. 3:00 P.M. ESPN Legends of World Class Wrestling. 6:00 P.M.

ESPN SportsCenter. 7:00 P.M. ESPN Karate. U.S. Light Heavyweight Championship.

From Rock-ford, III. 7:05 P.M. TBS NBA Basketball. Eastern Conference Final, Game One or Two. 7:30 P.M.

WGN Baseball. Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros. 8:00 P.M. ESPN Boxing. Mickey Ward vs.

Clarence Coleman, Junior Wei-' terweights. From Atlantic City. 10:00 P.M. ESPN Indy 500: A Race for Heroes. Troy Ruttman.

10:30 P.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 11:00 P.M. ESPN -Monster Truck Mud Racing Spectacular. From cinnati.

MIDNIGHT ESPN Auto Racing. ing coach John Lynn, reading different scenes, forming the character," Nemec said during a telephone interview from Los Angeles. "It was a real challenge mentally, because the character was rarely a regular kid. He was always in some type of mood. So we tried to figure out how he would walk, talk.

He evolved through the ordeal he'd been through." He found he had guessed right when he met Stayner. "It was strange how accurate my portrayal was," Nemec said. Cavalcade. Stock-car racing, ASA Milwaukee Twin Qualifiers, from the Wisconsin State Fair Speedway. 6:30 P.M.

Qualification Summary Report. Highlights of the final qualifying runs for the Indianapolis 500. 6:30 P.M. CD SpeedQuest. Highlights of the fourth day of qualifying for the Indy 500.

6:30 P.M. ESPN College Baseball. Carolina Invitational: Arizona vs. Miami. From Chapel Hill, N.C.

6:30 P.M. USA Tennis. Italian Open, Men's Finals. From Rome. 8:00 P.M.

NASH Hidden Heroes. Don Devendorf, crew chief for IMSA GTP driver Geoff Brabham. 9:30 P.M. ESPN Baseball's Greatest Hits. The 70s.

10:00 P.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 11:00 P.M. ESPN Gymnastics. McDonald's International Mixed Pairs.

From Jacksonville, Fla. (Repeat) 11:00 P.M. NASH American Sports Cavalcade. Stock-car racing, ASA Milwaukee Twin Qualifiers, from the Wisconsin State Fair Speedway. 1:00 A.M.

ESPN SportsCenter. 2:00 A.M. ESPN College Baseball. Carolina Invitational: Arizona vs. Miami.

From Chapel Hill, N.C. (Repeat) "Just talking to him, it seemed like we'd been pretty on target." Nemec "took this role mainly because of the morals involved," he said. "The whole script is a warning. The movie says, 'Kids, look what can happen to you and your family if you're not It's really pretty scary." By contrast, Nemec hasn't had much trouble in his life. Back home in Atlanta, he was in a few school plays, thought it was cool and decided to give acting a shot.

When he moved to Los Angeles, he got into an acting class and "everything just MONDAY 7:30 A.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 8:30 A.M. ESPN Tennis. German Open, Men's Singles Final.

From Hamburg, West Germany. (Repeat) NOON ESPN Bicycle Racing. Sundance Juice Sparkler Grand Prix. From Houston. (Repeat) 1:00 P.M.

ESPN 1989 Fitness Challenge. From Nassau, the Bahamas. 1:30 P.M. ESPN National Skateboard Championship. From Anaheim, Calif.

2:30 P.M. ESPN Running. Lilac Bloomsday 12K. From Spokane, Wash. 3:00 P.M.

ESPN Legends of World Class Wrestling. 6:00 P.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 7:00 P.M. ESPN College Baseball.

Carolina Invitational: Clemson vs. North From Chapel Hill, N.C. 7:30 P.M. WGN Baseball. Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros.

8:00 P.M. USA WWF Prime Time Wrestling. 9:35 P.M. TBS NBA Basketball. Western Conference Final, Game One or Two (Time tentative).

10:30 P.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 11:00 P.M. ESPN Men's Pro Beach Volleyball. From New Orleans..