"JEERS"

JEERS to a take-all prisoners approach. ABC's Once and Again is very often the most powerful family drama on television, finding its strength in the intimate struggles of daily life. Unfortunately, intimate struggles don't always translate into viewership. So we understand ABC's own struggles to boost rating for the series, but the network recently did so at the risk of the show's soul. The March 7 episode involved a disgruntled busboy taking everyone on the show's family-run restaurant hostage. The episode itself wasn't as violent as the promos suggested (the promos, we should point out, did indeed help boost viewership), but it was a disheartening development nonetheless. Quiet desperation is one thing; making the show look like an action series is just plain desperation.__TV Guide (March 24 - 30, 2001)