Campbell Hopes Ratings Bloom 'Again'

By Richard Huff

Billy Campbell is frustrated. He's the co-star of ABC's "Once and Again," a series that generally gets great reviews but has struggled in the Nielsen department this season after being moved to Friday nights.

Numbers Crunch: Sela Ward and Billy Campbell star in 'Once and Again,' beloved by critics, but not by that many viewers. "Creatively, I think it's going really well," Campbell told The News. "Unfortunately, the numbers are lagging. It's kind of an odd situation."

The series — built around Campbell and Sela Ward, who play Rick and Lily, a fortysomething couple with children from past marriages — won reasonable ratings last season when it aired on Tuesdays.

When it was announced in May that "Once and Again" would air Fridays at 10 p.m., industry experts questioned the move.

Last Friday, the show averaged 6.9 million viewers, down from last season's average of 8.4 million on Tuesdays. "Sure, it's frustrating," Campbell said. "One part of me wishes the show will sail on happily forever. But the other part of me — I'm an itinerant actor at heart — is kind of excited to move on and see what's happening down the road."

Although all the networks appear to reshuffling schedules this week, ABC executives are sticking with their plan to keep "Once and Again" on Fridays.

"I don't think anyone knows," Campbell said of the possibility the show will be canceled. "I don't think the network knows. It's an odd thing. The show has a very vocal core following, but that's not what the networks base their lineup on. They base it on slightly different things.

"I have a suspicion that a lot of network executives' wives are saying, 'Honey, if you cancel this show, you're going to be in big trouble,'" he added.

An ABC spokesman said yesterday that network programmers are pleased with the show's performance with viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, its target audience. He said no changes were planned.

As for the series itself, the on-air dynamic has shifted with the addition of Steven Weber as a boyfriend to Lily's sister Judy (Marin Hinkle).

Also, at the actor's request, his character has been toughened up this year.

"I felt like the character was written a little squishy" he said. "But I think they've gone a long way toward fixing that." __ NY Daily News (October 25, 2001)