'Once, Again' is getting its second wind

By Hal Boedeker -- Blessed with ecstatic reviews and strong early ratings, ABC's Once and Again seemed destined to grow into a major success.

Then it looked like "Once and Never More." Viewers started wandering away, complaining that the lovers Lily Manning (Sela Ward) and Rick Sammler (Billy Campbell) were too whiny and the plots lacked pizazz.

Competitor Judging Amy on CBS overtook the show, becoming the hot new drama. And NYPD Blue returned to the schedule, pushing Once and Again to 10 p.m. Mondays.

The show, which drew 16.8 million viewers at its September premiere, was down to 10.8 million last week in its first Monday telecast. It ran third in total viewers, close behind two other freshman dramas, CBS' Family Law and NBC's Third Watch.

Despite those dire signs, Once and Again delivered a powerful episode that indicates the producers have the show back on track. They intensified the tensions between Lily and her estranged husband, Jake (Jeffrey Nordling), by putting them in marital mediation.

They gave Rick a scary opponent in Miles Drentell (David Clennon), a crafty figure resurrected from thirtysomething.

And they pushed Lily and Rick to the brink of parting forever before a passionate fadeout changed the characters' minds.

The show "needed more conflict," said Stu Bloomberg, co-chairman of the ABC Entertainment Television Group. "I love that relationship of Lily and Rick, but I was craving more. I wanted more obstacles, more story."

The declining ratings showed the audience wanted the same thing, Bloomberg said.

Series creators Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick -- who did thirtysomething and My So-Called Life for ABC -- are working to satisfy network executives and viewers. Herskovitz said the show waited too long to move the focus from Rick and Lily to other characters.

Monday's satisfying episode, at 10 p.m. on WFTV-Channel 9, concentrates on Rick's ex-wife, Karen (Susanna Thompson), and their children, Eli (Shane West) and Jessie (Evan Rachel Wood). Karen finds romance with a young doctor (Mark Feuerstein), while Eli's treatment of his girlfriend infuriates Jessie.

Lily doesn't appear in the episode, and Rick is a secondary figure. The producers have heard that some viewers were frustrated with the attractive, fortysome-thing lovers.

"The comment that came to me several times was `it was like going out to dinner with two people who are in love and they make out in front of you' -- it was somehow embarrassing," Herskovitz said. "They didn't like focusing on them being lovey-dovey all the time."

Once and Again is not just a romance, he said, adding that other issues will intervene and the lovers will have a more grown-up relationship.

"They were being immature, but you can't sustain that when you're a parent," Herskovitz said. "Lily is being forced to grow up in a way she never had to before."

In the Feb. 14 episode, Lily will hire a divorce attorney after tiring of ineffectual Jake. It's a big step for her because his infidelities had shattered her self-esteem.

The producers are reducing the distracting device of characters talking to the camera. "We're using it in slightly different ways," Herskovitz said. "We're finding we don't need as much of it."

To provide a strong foe for straight-arrow Rick, the producers looked to Drentell, who had toyed with Michael Steadman (Ken Olin) on thirtysomething.

"It's a very different relationship, because Michael Steadman was a young, impressionable man who was intimidated by Miles," Herskovitz said. "Rick is a grown-up who stands up to him more."

Drentell doesn't appear in Monday's episode, but he will be back for the Feb. 7 show and possibly two more after that.

Herskovitz played down the idea of a thirtysomething reunion. "It feels like going backward in a way," he said. "Anything could happen, but I wouldn't count on it."

For now, he's busy trying to ensure that Once and Again doesn't end prematurely, the way My So-Called Life and thirtysomething did.

The drama may never reach hit status like Fox's Malcolm in the Middle, though ABC trumpets the show's good demographics.

The producers' compelling changes suggest more viewers should give Once and Again another look and save it from being "Once and Outta Here."__Orlando Sentinel (January 30, 2000)