Tone-Loc Lends His Cool to ‘Roc’

TV or not TV. . . .

COOL HAND LOC: Rapper Tone-Loc’s appearance on Fox TV’s “Roc” series this Sunday is an attention-getter.

When he joins “Roc” star Charles S. Dutton in a story that finds them opposing drug dealers who have moved into their neighborhood, the splendidly performed comedy series takes on a new dimension.

“I know somebody who casts for the show,” says Loc, “and she just asked me if I’d like to go on it one time. And I said yeah. I like the show.

“They gave me the script, and they liked the way I portrayed the character, so they wrote me in at the end too, where I wasn’t supposed to be. They gave me more than I was supposed to do. They were all excited about it and asked me if I was interested in coming back. I said sure.”

In its first season, “Roc,” in which Dutton plays a decent, hard-working garbage man with a family, has stood out among other new entries. On Sunday, it moves from 8:30 p.m. to a new time period at 8. And the notion of Loc joining the show as a recurring regular by next season certainly adds spice to its prospects.

He’s a natural for the gritty nature of the series, as Sunday’s episode shows.

“Basically, they let me play a character who’s kind of like myself, which is fun and easy,” says the rapper. “He’ll do anything for peace, even if it means violence, even if he has to shake you up. He’s kind of like the guy you don’t want to mess with.”

In the story, the characters played by Dutton and Loc have different ideas about how to get rid of the drug dealers.

“Roc doesn’t want them on his street,” says Loc. “He wants to go over there and discuss with them how he feels. It’s a nice neighborhood and he doesn’t want them destroying it.

“His brother is watching TV one day and hears about people in Detroit who had the same problem. They marched and picketed in front of the house whenever a deal was going down, and made a lot of noise. Roc likes that. And the neighbors are with him until he talks about marching and picketing because (the dealers) have automatic weapons. So they walk out, except for me.

“I tell him that you’ve got to talk (the dealers’) own language and use any means necessary to get them out.”

Eventually, the dealers threaten Roc in his own house and there is a heated confrontation.

Was Loc surprised at getting his role?

“Hell, yeah,” he laughs. “I mean, come on. I see people out there every day who can’t get a break. I’ve always dreamed about being on TV and in the movies. A lot of people want that, and I want the same thing. But how often does that happen?”

Besides his TV and movie attempts, Loc says that he’s also “doing voice-overs for cartoons. I’m hustling. You know what I’m saying?”

That gravelly voice is money in the bank.

LEGACY: The late Alex Haley seemed genuinely proud and enthusiastic as he promoted the rerun of his historic 1977 TV miniseries, “Roots,” shortly before it was shown in January on cable’s Family Channel.

He died in February. But his legions of admirers will be able to see the grand 1979 continuation of the story, “Roots: The Next Generations,” in another Family Channel rerun from April 6 through April 11.

Some viewers may have forgotten that Haley is portrayed in “Roots: The Next Generations” by James Earl Jones. In addition, Marlon Brando made a rare TV appearance as George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party, whom Haley interviewed for Playboy magazine.

VCR SPECIAL: HBO airs Francis Ford Coppola’s entire “Godfather” trilogy the weekend of April 3-5.

BOOK NOTES: In only 700 pages or so, you can get an awfully good, highly detailed fix on the TV medium from Les Brown’s “Encyclopedia of Television,” newly updated by the veteran broadcast journalist.

“It’s a library standard now,” says Brown. It’s also a must-read for serious couch potatoes, with entries ranging from Bill Cosby and Howard Cosell to agent Marvin Josephson, producer Aaron Spelling, soap operas, “Roseanne,” “South Africa Now” and the quiz show scandals.

“There are 3,000 entries in the book,” says Brown. And the appendix has a wealth of lists--including top-rated prime-time motion pictures (“Gone With the Wind” is No. 1); leading sports events; most-watched network shows (the “MASH” finale is the all-time champ); a record of cable penetration; and even worldwide TV ad expenditures.

Willard Scott and Ronald Reagan make the encyclopedia too, but so do “Tabloid Television” and the “Surgeon General’s Report on Violence.”

FRANCHISE-MAKER: “Who’s the Boss?,” which bows out after eight years on April 25, may not have been “The Cosby Show,” but it was one of the most commercially valuable series in television history.

The Tony Danza-Judith Light comedy not only was a smash on its own, but, used as a lead-in weapon by ABC, also helped establish such long-term successes as “Growing Pains,” “Roseanne,” “The Wonder Years,” “Full House” and “Perfect Strangers.”

In addition, “Who’s the Boss?” made a fortune as a syndicated rerun for Columbia Pictures Television, which produced it. It drew more than $300,000 an episode in Los Angeles alone when first sold as a repeat.

As a series, it was an amiable time-killer.

ON THE ROAD: Garrison Keillor and his touring American Radio Company will do a live broadcast April 4 in Bridges Auditorium at Claremont Colleges. It’ll be broadcast on KUSC-FM (91.5) that evening, with all the news from Lake Wobegon. If you miss that performance, you might catch the one in Boise, Ida., on April 18.

AMUSEMENT PARK: Johnny Carson noted that the city of Burbank will name a park after him. He said it will be open three days a week and that the water in the drinking fountain will be cool and aloof.

FOR THE AGES: No one who ever saw John Ireland, who died Saturday, as Broderick Crawford’s disillusioned political aide in “All the King’s Men”--in a movie theater or on TV--will ever forget his performance. Few actors could convey skepticism about the human race better than Ireland.

TRUE GRITS: Caught “Austin City Limits” on KCET Channel 28 during the weekend, and if there’s anything better than a country fiddle, I don’t know what is--except maybe a country banjo.

BEING THERE: “Hi, Mom, I’m home.”--Bud (Billy Gray) in “Father Knows Best.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .