The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 170

J2 The INDIANAPOLIS Sunrjay1, MsCv' 13. i960 Williams making comeback after bout with drugs 1 )4) fV "tt for letting me live and work," he said earnestly. "I do a lot of work with the homeless, specifically recovering alcoholics and addicts. It's so wonderful to watch -somebody who doesn't have a bed to sleep in pick themselves up and eventually have jobs and apartments Those are the people I respect and emulate." 'Rock the House' NBC is Jumping on the rap bandwagon with Rock the House at 8 p.m. Monday on WTHR (Channel 13).

This energetic half-hour special features live performances by 1989 Grammy winner Young MC and Kid 'n Play, stars of the hit movie House Party, before a stylish crowd in what looks like a warehouse. This is about as wholesome as rap gets, with Young MC, for example, limiting the usual braggadocio of the genre to his fellow rappers being out of touch: "They're an eight-track tape, I'm a compact disc." Kid 'n Play are Ben Gazzara. Connie Sel-lecca and Dennis Farina, whom Williams enjoyed working with. "Particularly Connie Sel-lecca," he said. "I'm always happily surprised when beautiful women have great hearty laughs.

On Ishtar, Isabelle Ad-Jani was so angelic-looking, but she had this terrific truckdriver laugh. It was the kind of laugh you'd hear in a bowling alley." Nobody in the cast was laughing when the reviews of Ishtar came in. The $40 million-plus film, with Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as crummy song and dance men involved in international intrigue, was a massive critical and box office flop in 1987. "After reading the reviews, it, took about four months to get me out of bed," said Williams. "I think people reviewed the budget instead of the film.

They were laying for the picture before it ever came out. "I was hired to write bad songs, but the songs were actually pretty well-received. Maybe I'm as great a failure as everybody." Williams said that Ishtar was "the last of the major party films for me." Asked when he decided to go sober, he said, "When I couldn't dress myself any more." He started chuckling. "I sat up in bed and asked the person next to me, 'Who are you? Are these your high heels or He was laughing hard by now. As the Interview wound down, Williams seemed to realize he'd spent most of it in mirth.

He became serious. "I thank God There was a time, Paul Williams says, that hiring him for anything would have been "like having Gumby and Pokey as your surgeons." The diminuitive actor and Oscar and Grammy winning songwriter (Evergreen, The Muppet Movie) spent part of the '80s making "bad Smokey and the Steve Hall Bandit sequels, Ishtar and alphabetizing my drawers" doing most of his filing under for booze and for drugs. Today he's a recovering alcoholic and addict, with his first directing Job on the horizon (a syndicated Christmas special) and roles in the NBC miniseries People Like Us and a big-screen effort about the rock group The Doors. To paraphrase the song he wrote for the Carpenters: He's only just begun. "It really hit me on the set of the movie about the Doors how lucky I am," Williams, 49, said during a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

"There was all this make-believe craziness going on, around me, and I realized how many of these people (depicted) aren't around anymore. "It's one thing to have lived through those habits. To be able THIS WEEK IN SPORTS SUNDAY 6:00 A.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 7:30 A.M.

ESPN Auto Racing. Formula One Grand Prix of San Marino. From Imola, Italy. 8:00 A.M. NASH Exciting World of Speed Beauty.

The 1975 Pantera. 8:30 A.M. NASH Truckin' USA. Monster trucks from Yakima, truck hardware; turbos. 9:00 A.M.

Southern Sportsman. 9:00 A.M. NASH Trucks Tractor Power. Four-wheel-drive truck pulling at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. 9:30 A.M.

Trophy Fishin'. 9:30 A.M. ESPN This Week in Sports. 9:30 A.M. NASH Hidden Heroes.

Porsche Motorsports manager Derek Walker 10:00 A.M. a NWA World Wide Wrestling. 10:00 A.M. ESPN Sports Reporters. 10:00 A.M.

NASH Inside Winston Cup Racing. 10:30 A.M. CNN Sports Week in Review 10:30 A.M. ESPN GameDay. 10:30 A.M.

NASH Championship Rodeo. From Mesquite, Texas. 11:00 A.M. WWF Wrestling Challenge. Hosts: Gorilla Monsoon and Tony Schiavone.

11:00 A.M. ESPN- Indy 500: Race for Heroes. Jimmy Bryan. 11:00 A.M. USA -WWF All American Wrestling.

1 1:30 A.M. The Basketball Show. Host: Pat O'Brien. 11:30 A.M. (D Golf Doctor.

11:30 A.M. ESPN Baseball's to go back and show, in a movie, where they lead He giggled. Forgive Williams if he has a giddy approach to life these days. The Nebraska native feels he's finally being taken seriously as an actor with his casting in the Doors movie, which Is directed by the Oscar-winning Oliver Stone Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July. This from the man who once aspired to be "the John Garfield of the 1960s and 1970s although I looked too much like Hay ley Mills for that." Fortunately, Just he- was about to give up on Hollywood in the late '60s, his songwriting talent was recognized, as he penned a quick succession of hits for Three Dog Night Out In the Country, written in 20 minutes), Bobby Sherman Cried Like a Baby and the Carpenters (Rainy Days and Mondays).

We also have him to blame for The Love Boat "I always get that response from people in the business that 'for a songwriter, you're a pretty good actor' or vice versa." said Williams. "Obviously Oliver Stone doesn't do favors I guess my acting ability is one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood, like" he began to chortle "Fatty Arbuckle's sex life." In the Doors movie, he plays a strange little publicist "who would make Truman Capote look butch." Capote references ran through the conversation. It seems Williams turned down playing the writer in the.one- Greatest Hits. World Series Spectaculars. 11:30 A.M.

NASH -Celebrity Outdoors. 11:50 A.M. TBS Wrestling's Greatest Hits. NOON Baseball's Heirlooms. NOON NBA Basketball.

Conference Semifinal, Game Three or Four. NOON OD Sprint Auto Racing. NOON Q) WWF Wrestling Spotlight. Hosts: Ian Mooney and Sensational Queen Sherri. NOON ESPN Golf.

Senior PGA Southwestern Bell Classic, Final Round. From Quail Creek Golf Country Club in Oklahoma City. NOON NASH BASSmasters. Virginia Top BASS Pro-Am, from the Buggs Island Reservoir. 12:30 P.M.

03 Boxing. Jemal Hinton vs. Porfirio Hernandez, Junior Featherweights. From Corpus Christi, Texas. 12:30 P.M.

NASH Hank Parker's Outdoor Magazine. Largemouth bass in the Potomac and Niagara rivers. 12:30 P.M. WGN This Week in Baseball. 1:00 P.M.

WGN Lead-Off Man. 1:00 P.M. Auto Racing. Indianapolis 500 Time Trials. From the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

1:00 P.M. FNN SCORE Card. 1:00 P.M. NASH Bill Dance Outdoors. Catching shellcracker fish.

1:00 P.M. USA Tennis. U.S. Clay Court Championships, Men's Singles Final. From Charleston, S.C.

1:05 P.M. TBS Baseball. Atlanta Braves at St. Louis Cardinals. 1:15 P.M.

WGN Baseball. Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds. 1:30 P.M. NASH Hidden Heroes. Porsche Motorsports manager Derek Paul Williams man show that Robert Morse has turned into a critical and popular success.

"After they talked me in off the ledge, I decided to get on with my life," he said, with a deprecatory laugh. Williams also portrays a Capote-like character, Ezzie Fen-wick, in People Like Us, which airs at 9 p.m. today and Monday on WTHR (Channel 13). The role's small, but Williams has fun playing the compulsive gossip with a lethal wit who has the dirt on everyone in high society. In one memorable scene, fully attired in tuxedo and top hat, Ezzie comes out of a lavish New York dinner party and passes a group of the homeless sleeping on the sidwalk.

"Shouldn't be allowed," Ezzie sniffs. "I see him as being a to the rich women he escorts to high society functions," Williams said, beginning to giggle again. "As shallow as a cookie sheet." The stars of People Like Us 2:00 P.M. Golf. Memorial Final Round.

From Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio. 0 2:00 P.M. ESPN TennisBMW German Open, Men Final. From Hamburg, West Germany. 2:00 P.M.

NASH American Sports Cavalcade. Motocross, CMC Golden State Nationals, from Carlsbad, Calif. 2:30 P.M. NBA Basketball. Conference Semifinal, Game Three or Four.

3:00 P.M. 03 Bicycle Racing. 1990 Tour de Trump. 3:30 P.M. NASH NHRA Today.

Highlights of the TNN Mid-South Nationals in Memphis and of Sportsman competition in Englishtown, N.J. 3:55 P.M. TBS Wrestling's Greatest Hits. 4:00 P.M. ESPN Auto Racing.

Indianapolis 500 Time Trials. From the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 4:00 P.M. NASH Inside Winston Cup Racing. 4:30 P.M.

NASH Exciting World of Speed Beauty. The 1975 Pantera. 5:00 P.M. Q) InSporL Tony Dorset! interview; athletes discuss groupies. 5:00 P.M.

CNN NBA '89. 5:00 P.M. FNN SCORE Card. 5:00 P.M. NASH Truckin' USA.

Swamp-buggy racing; engine plumbing; spoilers. 5:05 P.M. TBS NWA Main Event 5:30 P.M. NASH Road Test Magazine. Eagle Talon; Ford Ranger; Toyota 4 Runner.

6:00 P.M. American Gladiators. 6:00 P.M. ESPN Baseball Tonight. 6:00 P.M.

NASH American Sports Cavalcade. Motocross, CMC Golden State Nationals, from Carlsbad, Calif. 6:30 P.M. Speedway Today. come across as the next likely big cross-over act with their fun music and moves.

(Love that Eraserhead haircut. Kid.) Rock the House also includes a segment that's sort of America's Rap-iest Home Videos, with teens across the nation showing off their moves to Paula Abdul's Opposites Attract. Add the Dance Possey shaking their booty to Technotronic's Pump Up the Jam and other hits, and the whole affair seems like rap's answer to American Bandstand. Yo! Homeboy Dick Clark! You taking notes, bro? 12:30 A.M. NASH Celebrity Out doors.

1:00 A.M. O-Other Side of Vic-tory. Academic failure of top college athletes. Featured: Dexter Manley, Dean Tol son, Duke Ferguson. (Repeat) 1:00 A.M.

ESPN SportsCenter. 1:00 A.M. FNN Final SCORE. 1:00 A.M. NASH Championship noaeo.

hrom Mesquite, Texas. 1:30 A.M. CNN Sports Latenight. 2:00 A.M. ESPN College Baseball.

Arkansas at Wichita State. (Repeat) 3:00 A.M. FAM IMSA Grand Prix Hour. 3:00 A.M. TBS NWA Main Event.

4:00 A.M. CNN Sports Review. MONDAY 7:30 A.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 8:30 A.M.

ESPN Bowling. LPBT Clearwater Classic. From Rainbow Lanes Clearwater. Fla meneati NOON ESPN Tennis. BMW German open, Men Final.

From Hamburg, West Germany. (Repeat) 3:00 P.M. ESPN AWA Championship Wrestling. 4:00 P.M. ESPN Play Ball With Reggie Jackson.

Brett Butler. 4:30 P.M. ESPN 1982 Indy 500 Highlights. 5:00 P.M. ESPN Scholastic Sports America.

5:30 P.M. fD Sportslook. 5:30 P.M. ESPN SportsLook. 6:00 P.M.

03 Raven Sports. 6:00 P.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 6:30 P.M. ESPN MotorWeek Illustrated.

6:30 P.M. WGN Baseball. Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves. 6:30 P.M. CNN Sports Sunday.

7:00 P.M. ESPN Baseball. Houston Astros at Pittsburgh Pirates. 7:30 P.M. NASH NHRA Today.

Highlights of the TNN Mid-South Nationals in Memphis and of Sportsman competition in Englishtown, N.J. 8:00 P.M. NASH Inside Winston Cup Racing. 8:30 P.M. NASH Bill Dance Outdoors.

Catching shellcracker fish. 9:00 P.M. FNN Final SCORE. 9:00 P.M. NASH Outdoor News Network.

Hunting antelope in eastern Montana. 9:30 P.M. NASH BASSmasters. Virginia Top BASS Pro-Am, from the Buggs Island Reservoir. 9:40 P.M.

WGN Instant Replay. 10:00 P.M. ESPN SportsCenter. 10:00 P.M. NASH Exciting World of Speed Beauty.

The 1975 Pantera. 10:30 P.M. CNN Sports Tonight. 10:30 P.M. NASH Truckin' USA.

Swamp-buggy racing; engine plumbing; spoilers. 1 1:00 P.M. Q3 SportsView. 1 1:00 P.M. ESPN Bowling.

LPBT Clearwater Classic. From Rainbow Lanes, Clearwater, Fla. (Repeat) 11:00 P.M. NASH -Trucks Tractor Power. Four-wheel-drive truck pulling at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.

1 1:25 P.M. Sports Locker. 1 1:30 P.M. NASH Hidden Heroes. Porsche Motorsports manager Derek Walker.

MIDNIGHT NASH Inside Winston Cup Racing. 12:30 A.M. S3 SportsView. (Repeat) 12:30 A.M. ESPN Scholastic Sports.