NEW YORK -- Even Norman Lear probably couldn't sell a series with a Puerto Rican playing God to the commercial networks, but Warner Bros. has managed to sell six episodes of 'Steambath' to pay cable TV's Showtime.
Jose Perez stars in the series, which is based on a PBS movie based on an off-Broadway hit of the same name by Bruce Jay Friedman.
The first of the six, half-hour episodes will premiere on Showtime Aug. 16.
Perez, who appeared in the acclaimed 1973 PBS movie with Bill Bixby and Valerie Perrine, will reprise his role as God in the series.
The episodes take place in a purgatorial steambath where God appears as a wisecracking Puerto Rican attendant.
The plot lends itself well to guest stars.
'Somebody new dies every week,' Perez said.
Perez said an attempt was made to sell 'Steambath' to the commercial networks.
'They loved it, but they felt they couldn't handle that subject matter and be free.'
Even PBS had problems selling the movie to its affiliates, he said.
'But eventually it became such a cult hit, PBS has been using it as a fund-raiser ever since.
'They've gotten a lot of mileage out of it and so have I,' said Perez.
'I've done a lot of work but that's what I'm best known for. If I don't do anything else, I'm happy I did 'Steambath.' I'm most proud of that.'
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, Perez began acting as a child when a representative of the Boy's Club spotted him outside a famous Broadway delicatessen and asked him if he could sing.
Perez sang a little birthday tune and the man asked his parents if the 10-year-old child could audition for a part in the Broadway musical 'South Pacific' starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza.
He got the part, then went on to do live television, a movie in Mexico and other Broadway shows.
Hard times came in Perez's 20s, so he went to school and began studying his craft.
'The last 10 to 15 years I've started making it all over again,' said Perez.
He was in an ABC series in 1975, 'On the Rocks,' but after one season, the show was where its title put it, despite being scheduled between two hits, 'Welcome Back Kotter' and 'Barney Miller.'
'It was a show about prisoners and I don't think the network felt morally good about it because it glorified convicts,' Perez said.
Since then Perez has been in the acclaimed Broadway production of 'Two Gentlemen of Verona,' and such movies as 'D.C. Cab' with Mr. T, 'Sting II' and he just finished making 'Stick' with Burt Reynolds, George Segal and Candice Bergen.
The actor said he prefers film work to television and is uncertain of whether he would take another series for commercial television if he were offered the opportunity.
'Television is too limited. The budget doesn't allow any time. I'm very critical of myself and my work. I have to live with it.'
The fact that there are not a great number of opportunities for Latins on television does not bother Perez particularly.
'It's just the nature of the business. This country's folklore is not about Latins, it's about an Anglo culture. I don't resent that.'
Neither does he see the idea of portraying God as a Latin as being anti-establishment.
'That's something I like about the piece,' he said. ''Steambath' says God is not just that poster of a blue-eyed, white man. God is anything.'
Perez lives in Greenwich Village and has an apartment in Los Angeles.
'I don't like Los Angeles. It's not the city, it's not the country. It's somewhere in between.'
He feels that living in the city gives him an opportunity to become involved with people in real situations -- rather than Hollywood versions of real-life.
'I try as an artist to be involved in daily life. I try as much as possible to be involved with people. They're my barometer. They keep me honest, both as an artist and as a human being.'