Croce isn’t about to let any of his TV subjects stand pat
In an era when makeover shows are the craze, Pat Croce has a less sweeping goal: to make that needed first step.
The syndicated “Pat Croce: Moving In” (weekdays at 2 p.m. on KAYU-28) puts this self-described “cheerleader for change” on his subjects’ home turf, where he aims to serve as “a kick start.”
Croce kick-starts the likes of a stay-at-home father so remiss in his domestic chores it’s destroying his family and marriage; a single mother’s rebellious 16-year-old son who threatens to move out; and an actor, David, who is putting off marriage until he achieves stardom, leaving girlfriend Deana hanging.
At the beginning of each half-hour, Croce pulls up in his motor home, briefs the audience from his subjects’ front yard, then knocks on the door.
What follows is an intensive but evenhanded session with all concerned.
“I’ll support you either way,” Croce tells the disgruntled Deana as David looks on, “but should you not stay together, I have for you a ticket on a singles cruise, where you can meet hundreds of good-looking, eligible bachelors.”
He doesn’t promise “a face-lift change. It’s a change of direction, a change of thought. ‘The ancestor of every action is a thought’: Emerson. I love that quote.”
Granted, Croce doesn’t look to be someone who quotes Emerson. But he has made a career – actually, several of them – by defying expectations.
A self-made multimillionaire from the streets of Philadelphia, he was a physical therapist who built a chain of sports-medicine centers while hosting a radio show.
Starting out as the Philadelphia 76ers’ conditioning coach, he became president and an owner of the franchise, which zoomed from last place to first in the National Basketball Association’s Eastern conference. Then he served as a studio analyst for NBC’s NBA coverage and, last summer, as a color commentator for Olympics martial arts coverage.
Croce, who turned 50 last week, has the wiry frame befitting a fourth-degree karate black belt. He’s been married for 27 years to his high school sweetheart.
His earring is a testament to his rebel love of buccaneers that spurred him to create a pirate museum in Key West, Fla., set to open after Thanksgiving. He is generous with hugs. And should anyone doubt his positive outlook, he is known to wear glasses with rose-colored lenses.
“I have a God-given gift of energy and optimism,” he says, “and this talent to affect people from the street to the elite.”
No wonder Croce commands up to $50,000 an appearance as a motivational speaker. And after three self-help books (“Lead or Get Off the Pot!” is his latest) a talk show was the logical next step.
He’ll need luck to make it in the perilous world of syndicated TV.
“I’m not Tony Danza, I’m not Jane Pauley,” he says. “I don’t have that kind of name recognition to launch a show.”
Not that Croce is ceding any ground. He’s proved naysayers wrong too many times before.
“You can’t create a sports fitness center! You can’t work for the NBA. You can’t own a team!” he laughs, parroting former prophets of doom. “And you can’t do a daily show!”
He laughs again and grins his pirate grin. “Watch me!”
The birthday bunch
Actor Norman Lloyd (“St. Elsewhere”) is 90. Singer Patti Page is 77. CBS newsman Morley Safer is 73. Singer Bonnie Raitt is 55. “Entertainment Tonight” host Mary Hart is 54. Actress Alfre Woodard is 51. Singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones is 50. Singer/actor Leif Garrett is 43. Actress Courtney Thorne-Smith (“According to Jim”) is 37. Actress Parker Posey is 36. Actress Tara Reid (“American Pie”) is 29. TV personality Jack Osbourne (“The Osbournes”) is 19.