DECEMBER 2001 REVIEWS Blurb reviews for "Tough Love" From Gist.com:
Eli (Shane West) and Grace (Julia Whelan) get a boost in self-confidence but not before learning some very tough lessons. First, Eli loses his job, then Grace is wounded by her teacher's (Eric Stoltz) comments on her acting.From Zap2it.com:
Tonight's theme is self-reliance, tested when a teacher criticizes Grace's acting and Eli loses his job.
From TV-now:
When Eli (Shane West) loses his job and Grace's (Julia Whelan) teacher questions her acting, they both learn the hard way that real self-confidence can be one of life's toughest accomplishments. Eric Stoltz stars as Mr. Dimitri.From TVpicks.net:
Sounds like much of tonight's new episode of Once and Again (ABC, 9pm) is about Grace and Eli. Yay! They both learn a lesson about self-confidence. Or something. I finally got caught up on this show last weekend, watched four episodes in a row. Have I mentioned it's one of the best dramas on the air? It really is.
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Swoonfests: Road to Romance Rocky Yet Rich By Matt Roush
[snip to O&A mention]: Meanwhile, look what happens when a couple actually gets together. Lily (Sela Ward) and Rick (Billy Campbell) tied the knot on Once and Again, and ABC moved it to Fridays (10 pm/ET), where it's dying in the ratings. While the series has lost some of its dramatic urgency, there's still potent magic in the stepsibling rivalry of Grace (Julia Whelan) and Jessie (Evan Rachel Wood), and depths yet to be explored in the devastation of Jessie's mom, Karen (Susanna Thompson), as she watches the newly merged family from the outside.
As Lily prophetically said at Thanksgiving, "We need to come out of ourselves and reach out to each other, because none of us really knows what will happen tomorrow. We don't even really know if we have a tomorrow." __ TV Guide (December 10, 2001)
Back to archive index Weighing in at TV's midterm By Robert Bianco
This season, the big news is old news.
From the amazingly resurgent Friends to a surprisingly potent NYPD Blue, viewers have by and large ignored new shows this fall in favor of old favorites. Seeking, perhaps, the comfort of familiarity, we cling to shows such as ER -- still America's top-rated drama, as it has been since its premiere in 1994.
Alas, these returning shows do not always return the favor. For every Friends, which is in the midst of a creative recovery, there's an Ally McBeal, which has spent the season in creative collapse.
Sometimes (as with Ally) the audience responds by bailing out, but sometimes they decide to stick things out, hoping against hope the floundering favorite will once again find its way.
So who's on track and who's lost? What follows is a returning-show report card, delivered to coincide with the season's semester break. Keep in mind, though, that series are fluid. Some of these shows--selected on the basis of popularity, quality, Emmy status or media heat--will improve. And some will go into late-season swoons, as The Practice, Friends and ER did last year.
This year, let's hope for good news, even from old shows.
[snip to O&A mention]
Once and Again (ABC), Fridays, 10 p.m. ET/PT
Best episode: Lily wants a perfect Thanksgiving (Nov. 23). A lovely example of the show's ability to explore the pressures that pull families apart and the ties that bind them back together.
Worst episode: Jake feels put upon by the women in his life (Nov. 9), which may have been justified, but that didn't make it any more interesting.
Ratings report: Down 26%
Quality status: Even
Summing up: With Rick and Lily happily married, this show has taken on a somewhat lighter tone, although its unblinking exploration of family highs and lows is still too intense for many viewers. The best episodes move you like few other series, and even its worst produce moments of shimmering beauty. __ USA Today (December 11, 2001)
Back to archive index Blurb reviews for "Pictures" From David Bianculli, New York Daily News:
It's destined to be a memorable Christmas for the newly blended family. Everyone is together for the holiday, generating tension in certain corners. That only increases when Tiffany goes into labor. Meanwhile, Judy fears she isn't making a good first impression on Sam's son.
From Gist.com:
TV babies are always born at the most inappropriate time, so it should not surprise anyone that Tiffany (Ever Carradine) and Jake's (Jeffrey Nordling) baby decides to make its debut on Christmas Eve — during a blizzard. As a result, everybody ends up at Lily's (Sela Ward) house in the midst of the chaos. In other parts of town, Judy (Marin Hinkle) doesn't exactly click with Sam's (Steven Weber) 11-year-old son (Jacob Smith) during their first encounter.From Tim Cuprisin, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
It's the usual whiny, argumentative and sometimes sullen holiday season, until Tiffany goes into labor and upsets the family's Wassail Bowl of psychodrama.From the Columbus Dispatch
Tiffany (Ever Carradine) goes into labor on Christmas Eve, drawing the family together. Meanwhile, Judy (Marin Hinkle) meets the 11-year-old son (Jacob Smith) of Sam (Steven Weber).From Scott Pierce, Salt Lake City Deseret News:
Christmas Eve turns exciting when Tiffany goes into labor.From John Maynard, Washington Post:
The early arrival of Tiffany and Jake's baby brings the entire family together on Christmas Eve.
Back to archive index TV Gal Narrows Down Her Top 10 Shows by Amy Amatangelo
"Once and Again": This is one of those amazing shows where the minutiae of every day life becomes fodder for great drama. Family dramas are the most difficult to do -- there are no crimes to solve, patients to save, cases to litigate, or, even, vampires to slay. There's just the family and their interactions and no one does it better than "Once and Again." They have television's most believable teenagers (and four of the best young actors around), two of the best female characters on television (Judy and Karen), and they've managed to make a married couple one of television's sexiest. "Once and Again's" brilliance lies in its ability to get all of life's little things right -- whether it's Lily covering herself with yellow post it notes on Thanksgiving so she doesn't forget anything or Jesse and Grace fluctuating comfortably between friends and quasi-enemies. Each character is so fully defined that even when they appear briefly in an episode, the weight of their appearance, their connection to the family, their history can be revealed with the slightest of gestures. No one seems to be watching this show on Friday nights, let's hope the new year brings it a better time slot.
Quotes of the Week "Isn't there going to be like epic grossness?" Tiffany to Lily about having her baby on "Once and Again." __ Zap2it.com (December 17, 2001)
Back to archive index Best of 2001 Memorable Performances: Patrick Dempsey on "Once and Again." As Lily's schizophrenic brother, Aaron, Dempsey was heartbreaking, intense, and most of all, true. A rare example of TV getting the trauma of mental illness right.
Best of Televison:
Ken Tucker's list of ten 10 shows...
8. Once and Again. The hightest compliment I can give this show is that, if anything, it has become even more fragile and delicate -- precious in the best sense. The series is finely attuned to the thousand tiny slights and joys that make up teenagers' daily existence, in addition to dramatizing the unexpected awkwardness of a new second marriage. And this season, O&A also illuminated the inner lives of the ex-spouses of Sela Ward's and Billy Campbell's characters, thus providing showcases for heartbreakingly precise work by Jeffrey Nordling and Susanna Thompson. __ Entertainment Weekly (December 21-28, 2001)
Back to archive index Tube Talk: 'Once and Again' does it again By Lauren Robeson -- El Camino Fundamental High School
Walk down any high school hallway and you will not see anyone who looks like the WB's Katie "Dawson's Creek" Holmes or Jessica "7th Heaven" Biel, and therefore not like the "normal" teenagers they portray on television. You are more likely to see students who resemble Evan Rachel Wood, Shane West or Julia Whelan, who portray Jessie and Eli Sammler and Grace Manning on ABC's "Once and Again," which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award (10 p.m. Fridays on Channel 10).
While Billy Campbell and Sela Ward, the series' stars, generally get all the praise, I marvel at the realism that producers Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (creators of "My So-Called Life") incorporate into the show. Rather than presenting dilemmas that center around fashion or the tragedy of being the object of affection of two guys, the powers-that-be on this "dramedy" write episodes that focus on real issues, such as eating disorders, drug use and the general pressures of being a teenager in a world that glorifies the Joeys and Jens.
The anorexia plot was handled with aplomb by Wood. Her portrayal was touching, yet was not plagued by sugar-coated, carefully chosen words or a preaching Stephen Collins, the dad on "7th."
The drugs storyline began when Eli, West's character, was busted for possession. West is one of the few pretty boys on television who can also act. On a series that is targeted at women and teenage girls, he manages to shine as one of the best young characters.
Last, we have Whelan, whose character, Grace, has no specific problems, except for the fact that she faces all of the superficial teen dilemmas, which are indicated with fresh ideas rather than stale traditions. Whelan portrays Grace with an alarming amount of modesty and a bit of cruelty, which is a nice change from the cookie-cutter characters of the WB.
This series is one of the best on television because it refuses to conform to popular ideas and mass thought. Each of these teenage characters faces real problems, which is extremely refreshing in a world overrun with superficial TV characters. __ Sacramento Bee (December 21, 2001)
Back to archive index The bright spots, minor irritants from '01 television By Charlie McCollum
As the year winds down, some notes, thoughts and the occasional rant on television as we love and hate it:
[snip to O&A mentions:}Is there any better supporting actress on TV than Susanna Thompson? Thompson -- who plays Karen, Rick's ex-wife on ''Once and Again'' -- positively dazzled in two recent episodes, one involving her loneliness at Thanksgiving and one dealing with her search for physical love. __ San Jose Mercury News (December 24, 2001)
Back to archive index Comfort me with ziti: The year in television by Robert David Sullivan
[snip]
5. Once and Again (ABC). It's not the only commercial-TV drama with a great cast or intelligent writing. But unlike The West Wing, it also gives us sharply delineated characters. I refer you to the contrast between trying-to-stay-hip mom Lily (Sela Ward) and control-freak mom Karen (Susanna Thompson). Better yet, there's the train wreck waiting to happen between two stepsisters, steel-eyed Grace (Julia Whelan) and fragile Jessie (Evan Rachel Wood). And I give Once and Again bonus points for raising hot-button issues — anorexia, drug use, kleptomania — without the moralizing that bring other shows to a halt. Its best food scene: Grace's discovery of a pizza slice in Jessie's desk drawer. __ Boston Phoenix (December 27, 2001)
Back to archive index Glad-to-see TV: '24' and 'Band of Brothers' By Robert Bianco
We began the TV year fretting over one form of televised reality, and we'll end it facing another. Hard as it may be to believe it now, in January the so-called "reality" genre — a mixed bag of games, stunts, endurance tests and relationship humiliation — looked as if it would take over TV. A year later, the genre is in mass retreat, with even the most successful shows, Survivor and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, suffering serious ratings erosion.
It's tempting to attribute the fall of the reality format, particularly the seedier representatives, to changing attitudes after Sept. 11, and no doubt that played a part. (With so many people facing real suffering, how could you listen to the Survivors whine about a can of beans?) Still, there's a more common TV answer to keep in mind: The networks scheduled too many of the same kind of shows at once, and too many of them were awful.
Luckily, other shows came to the rescue. There was some remarkable TV this year, from a few exceptional movies and specials to a host of great series (including some that didn't make the Top 10: NBC's Will & Grace, WB's Angel, Fox's Malcolm in the Middle and Titus, and ABC's NYPD Blue).
So we'll end the year with a look at the best, and worst, TV had to offer. Let's hope for more of the former and less of the latter in 2002.
Best
[snip to O&A mention]
6. Once and Again (ABC): This beautifully told and sometimes painfully honest drama goes where few other shows dare or deign to tread: deep into the soul of family life. This season, with the main couple married, Once has explored the problems facing blended families, while reaffirming the joy and love that makes the blending worth the effort. Among a flawless cast, note in particular the almost unprecedented skill of the younger actors, who allow Once to delve into teenage issues few other series have been equipped to tackle. __ USA Today (December 28, 2001)
Back to archive index HBO led the way in making more sophisticated television By Matthew Gilbert
When it came to series TV in 2001, HBO was the place to be. The networks were in love with reality series and game shows, genres that sank in the ratings after the events of Sept. 11. But HBO consistently delivered topnotch material, as it expanded on its ''Sopranos''-bred popularity with ''Six Feet Under'' and a killer second season of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm.''
[snip]
ABC treats ''Once and Again'' poorly, throwing off viewers by moving it around the schedule. But it remains an excellent drama about the fine points of broken families, and it has lost not an ounce of steam since Rick and Lily got married. The children remain fascinatingly confused, particularly Evan Rachel Wood's Jessie, who appears to be flirting with lesbianism. And the peripheral adult characters, including Marin Hinkle's Judy and Susanna Thompson's Karen, are both sad and intriguing. __ Boston Globe (December 30, 2001)
Honorable mentions from critics' "best of" lists:
- Mike Duffy, Detroit Free Press
- Rick Kushman, Sacramento Bee: "The most emotionally courageous show on TV."
- Marc Berman, MediaWeek.com
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