On TV

By TV critic, Matthew Gilbert --

("snipped")

While "The West Wing" appeals to the intellect, "Once and Again" appeals to the heart. It's one of TV's most emotionally honest shows ever. Yes, it's best known as that touchy-feely drama in which Sela Ward and Billy Campbell play pretty midlife lovers Lily and Rick. But it's really an ensemble vehicle in the broadest sense of the word, as each episode focuses on a different person in what has become a sprawling cast. "The West Wing" has an ensemble, but its members are always together, a band of merry administrators. The characters on "Once and Again" are dispersed throughout the series, intersecting only occasionally, almost never brought together artificially. The children, Rick's ex-wife, Lily's ex-husband, their respective lovers -- they're all part of this fractured community. Each episode of the show is like a camera zooming in on a different piece of broken glass lying on the floor, the fallout from two broken relationships.

The series has had an excellent season so far. Lily has been on the periphery, while Rick has faced his mother's interference, his son's wish to forego college, his daughter's fading appetite, his own professional ambition, and a deep-seated fear of intimacy. They're not wildly original story lines, and they certainly rely on melodrama, but they resist falling into easy cliche. Even this Tuesday's eating disorder episode manages to rise above the potential afterschool-special treatment. It doesn't present the problem and solve it in a single hour. In fact, Rick's daughter has been nibbling at food all season, and she'll probably continue to struggle. The character continuity on this show is extraordinary. So is the acting, particularly by Ward, who made last week's business-dinner scene painfully good. "Once and Again" is filled with committed performances, particularly by the younger cast members.__Boston Globe (December 3, 2000)