Ordinary Life Writ Large On 'Once and Again'

When "Once and Again" arrived last season on ABC, it was welcomed by many, including myself, as the best new drama on network TV. By the time the season was over, it had been eclipsed, at the Emmys and in the ratings, by NBC's own brilliantly written and performed ensemble series, "The West Wing."

Both ended their seasons with cliffhangers. "The West Wing" fired bullets at the President of the United States; "Once and Again" had one family walk tentatively to the porch of another family and ring the doorbell.

That is what sets "Once and Again" so far apart from other dramas. This Marshall Herskovitz-Edward Zwick series, which returns tonight at 10, examines life from a different, more focused perspective.

Instead of a telescope trained on faraway big things, it's a microscope looking at the small stuff. Instead of dealing with such life-or-death settings as emergency rooms and police beats, it deals with everyday life.

All last season, "Once and Again" kept its focus small and tight, yet widened its reach to follow other strands in its emotional spider web.

What began, a year ago, as the story of the meeting and flirtation of divorced Rick Sammler (Billy Campbell) and recently separated Lily Manning (Sela Ward) evolved into a show that examined what might be called their characters' six degrees of separation.

Her two kids, bouncy, young Zoe (Meredith Deane) and anxious teen Grace (Julia Whelan), and his two kids, likable Jessie (Evan Rachel Wood) and usually quiet Eli (Shane West), were the closest of those affected by the growing affection between Lily and Rick. Also visited, early and often, were their former spouses: Rick's ex-wife, Karen (Susanna Thompson), and Lily's almost ex-husband, Jake (Jeffrey Nordling).

By the time the season was over, though, viewers were familiar not only with Jake and Karen, but with those characters' new business ventures and lovers. Life went on for them as well as for Lily and Rick — and the kids, especially, had to deal with it. Then there was Lily's sister, Judy (Marin Hinkle), who kept running My Sister's Bookstore even after partner Lily left to join an online magazine staff; David (Todd Field), Rick's best friend at work, and their feared new architectural client, Miles Drentell (played by David Clennon, brilliantly reprising his role from the Herskovitz-Zwick series "thirtysomething"), and Lily's high-strung new editor, Christie (Jennifer Crystal).

And while there were deaths and breakups, most of the tremors were minor. Yet those everyday events — and this is the unique point of view of the series — are anything but minor, at least to the people involved.

The artistry of "Once and Again" is that, through its mixture of careful plotting, nuanced performances and illuminating interior monologue asides (filmed in black and white), we come to each scene knowing the contents of the emotional baggage every character is carrying. When this is done well (and on "Once and Again," it always is), conflict and drama can arise from anything.

Tonight, tension is found in such unlikely things as a roll of the Monopoly dice and whether a hello is exchanged in a high-school cafeteria or hallway. One subtly potent scene, in which brand-new freshman Jessie negotiates the school's crowded and imposing corridors, is an echo and salute to a similar scene in "My So-Called Life" — from the same producers.

Tonight's premiere lets us know how far, and how little, things have progressed among the two families since the doorbell rang last April, and takes them on the next tentative step. Next week's show shifts focus to Lily's sister, Judy, who renames the bookstore, launches a bold and very clever lure for customers, and meets an attractive but enigmatic young man.

That may not sound like much — but with "Once and Again," as with "Seinfeld," a show about very little, in the right hands, can be a very big deal.__New York Daily News Online (October 24, 2000)