New "Paul Reiser Show" will feature wheelchair-using actor as son

From the Ventura County Star in Calif.:

When Rhonda Waidmann got the phone call from Warner Bros., she wasn’t ready. Her son Brock, 12, had been cast in the role of Zeke for a television show starring Paul Reiser, the Emmy-nominated actor best known for his role in the 1990s sitcom “Mad About You.” Brock would play Reiser’s oldest son in the new program, “The Paul Reiser Show.”

“They told me to have a head shot, a photograph, sent to them immediately. We didn’t have one, though,” said Rhonda Waidmann, 36, of Camarillo.

She and her husband, Mel, 39, an automobile technician, scrambled through their Camarillo home to find something. They came up with a photograph they took of Brock at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park when he fed small parrot-like birds called lorikeets.

The picture features Brock’s bright blue eyes, easy smile and, of course, his wheelchair.

Brock has spina bifida, a birth defect in which a child is born with a hole in the spine. Later, it was also determined he had a rare and potentially life-threatening condition called agenesis corpus callosum, which occurs when a portion of the brain fails to develop properly.

But neither condition has really slowed Brock down.

“His comprehension levels are a little lower than some kids his age, but his rote memorization is higher than most kids his age,” said his mother, who home-schools Brock. “The spina bifida damaged the nerves from his ankles down and some in his legs. But from his knees up, he has feeling,” she said.

The family was told that Brock would never walk.

“But I do,” said Brock. “Short distances, mainly. And I use my crutches when my legs get tired.”

A series of seizures, which led to the discovery of Brock’s brain birth defect, left the family frightened and uncertain. But when they moved back to California after living in Portland, Ore., and other cities (they’re originally from Camarillo), Brock grew stronger.

“He was pretty sick,” said Mel Waidmann. “We look at pictures of him now, and we realize he didn’t look too good. But he was always smiling,” he said. Brock has been weaned off seizure medication entirely now.

The boy’s first experience with acting came when he was in kindergarten at Los Primeros School in Camarillo. “He played in the ‘Three Piggy Opera’ that they do there for kindergarten, and he got the part of the stick pig,” said Rhonda, referring to the pig whose house is made of sticks. “The speech therapist had told us not to let him sing the solo, that he’d be unable to. But when the play opened, the therapist was sitting in the front row crying listening to him,” she said.

“We all were.”

From there, Brock performed in Camarillo’s Cinemagic program just this year.

“He really doesn’t have much else on his résumé,” said Rhonda. “But he loves to do it.”

The Waidmanns’ two younger sons, William and Mel, are actors as well. William’s manager, Cinda Snow, knew that Brock wanted to act too and told the Waidmanns about Reiser’s new show.

“Cinda told us that they were looking for someone in a wheelchair. Evidently, Mr. Reiser’s real son has cerebral palsy and is wheelchair-bound,” said Rhonda. “When Brock auditioned, he was in there for a while and when (Brock) came out, he was smiling and Paul Reiser was with him,” she said.

Rhonda said Reiser introduced himself and told her that he “loved this kid” and couldn’t wait to get him in the program.

“The Paul Reiser Show” was in the beginning stages, casting for a pilot production. The show was what NBC called a “mockumentary,” a kind of mirror of Reiser’s real life with his wife, played by Amy Landecker, and two kids played by Brock and Koby Rouviere.

The show’s website describes the program as “a comedy based on Paul Reiser’s real-life experiences.”

“It was to be a show with a disabled actor playing a disabled character, but the disability is not part of the storyline. It’s just a part of Reiser’s life,” said Rhonda. So far, six episodes have been purchased for a midseason pick-up by the network. No air date has been announced.

“I really like acting,” said Brock. “It’s amazing. I get to be anything I want.”

With a constant smile and a kind, even demeanor, Brock talked about his favorite things: the “High School Musical” movies and all things Harry Potter.

“I want to do a musical someday,” Brock said. “I like to sing.”