Never Again for 'Once and Again' By Marvin Kitman
THERE ARE A lot of stupid things going on in network TV these days, as I've been mentioning the last couple of weeks. It's almost as if somebody were putting something in the networks' water. Or it might be, as some say, a cultural virus that is affecting the minds of network executives. Especially hard-hit is ABC.
I say it's not a virus. I say it comes from watching too many Three Stooges comedies growing up.
The latest example of pure stupidity -in contrast to the usual impure stupidity that has been around for years at ABC -is the cancellation of "Once and Again."
Not again, you may say. Didn't they cancel it once before? Isn't there a law against cruel and unusual punishment. How many times can you cancel a TV show?
Well, it only seemed that it was canceled before. In previous years, it was only in danger of being canceled.
This time it's for real. The show's last episode runs April 15 (WABC/7 at 10 p.m.). Then it's curtains, 23 skiddoo.
This is what I call not just stupid, but spectacularly stupid, the kind of thing the Three Stooges who run the network now - Robert Iger, Lloyd Braun and Iger's good friend Alex Wallau, the ex-boxing analyst for ABC Sports-do fairly regularly.
Why are they doing this to my favorite drama?
As you know, ABC is in trouble. It is ratings-challenged under the management of Moe, Larry and Curly. Having made totally dumb moves, trying to get Dave Letterman by denigrating Ted Koppel, getting rid of "The Job," which was only their best new comedy, the stooges have now turned their attention to drama.
Iger, Braun and Wallau have hit the panic button again -and missed.
What has happened to "Once and Again" -the marvelous one-hour drama series by Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz that told the story of a divorced woman in her 40s, who with trepidation resumed dating (season one ) and remarried (season two) -is an example of that old, ingenious programming strategy: If at first you don't fail, try, try again.
After a brilliant first two seasons exploring the lives of Lily (Sela Ward) and Rick (Billy Campbell), ABC this season turned it into a game show called "Hide and Seek."
First, it did its best to hide the show by moving it to Monday nights at 10 p.m., its seventh time slot in 2 1/2 years. The audience was supposed to seek it out, at least those who didn't assume it was canceled when it disappeared the last time, from its usual (ha!) Friday night at 10 p.m. slot. You remember the uproar when the Three Stooges kicked Barbara Walters out.
By March 25, "Once and Again" managed to round up enough remnants of its old audience and some stragglers and actually won its time slot in some key demographic categories (women 18-34, among others).
All of this was accomplished despite the usual lack of promotional assistance. Which goes without saying.
Plus, the show had the added wrinkle of returning to the schedule on a new day and in a new time slot on March 4 in the company of "The Chair" as it's lead-in. In the science of audience flow, lead-ins are considered crucial, the idea being that compatible relationships lead the audience not to touch that dial. This was the electric chair of lead-ins.
The brainiacs at ABC played time-slot machine with "O&A," and, as far as they were concerned, it turned up three lemons.
I realize how disappointed Disney was with the Oscar ratings March 24. Despite the amazing hype and the longest-running Oscar show in history, some viewers didn't watch. I know at least one Oscar fan who fell asleep even before the show started.
I realize how frustrated Disney bosses are at seeing their laughing stock rise after being made the fool by Letterman, who used them as a bargaining chip while making them look extra stupid in the eyes of Koppel's "Nightline" groupies.
But why take it out on "Once and Again"? Especially now, when the show is having its most glorious season. It should be on its way to the Hall of the Greatest Dramas; instead it's going to the glue factory, a victim of network insecurity and stupidity.
There is an old Hollywood saying, first enunciated by Sam Goldwyn, as Alan King reminded me in the superb stage production "Mr. Goldwyn" at the Promenade Theatre: "If people don't want to come to the theater, you can't stop them."
Admittedly, there is a smaller audience for "Once and Again" than, say, two episodes of "Drew Carey." But there are mitigating circumstances.
"Once and Again" is a reality TV show, but real reality vs. the fake kind usually seen on TV. Real reality is never wildly popular.
It's also a show by Zwick and Herskovitz, who have a record of doing shows with a limited audience ("thirtysomething," "My So-Called Life," "Relativity"). They consistenly have had the audacity to do dramas based on human experience that is real, heart-warming and wonderful. They know they will not be in the mainstream, but on the edge of the bell curve. A grade-B audience prefers grade-B entertainment.
On the other hand, ABC has had a history of making very stupid decisions in panic mode. It was Moe, Larry and Curly who decided to kill "Cupid" in 1999 - a show that would be winning Emmys now if left alone - because the audience was "too old." They are the serial killers with a rap sheet of shooting shows in the head dating back to "China Beach" (1991), "Murder One" (1997), "Sports Night" (2000). I can't go on.
It has been said that life isn't fair. But even when it comes to TV, canceling "Once and Again" is my definition of too much.
The producers and writers have triumphed for three seasons with the sword of Disney over their heads. Down the drain go some of the best drama performances of the year by Susanna Thompson, playing Karen, Rick's ex-wife who was just getting it all together when she was hit by the car. It had all the winning elements of a classic drama: great acting, profound writing. It had daring producers who were not afraid to tackle relationships found in great dramas - love, guilt, anxiety, control - with the kind of honesty that can break a viewer's heart.
Killing the show now at its peak of glory leaves fans devastated. "I am a 36-year-old married mother of two children," explained Doreen Shephard of Hopatcong, N.J., about the role "O&A" played in her life. "It is a show that not only entertains, but also makes you think and makes you feel. It's about what really matters in life: relationships. It's served as a springboard for family discussions about love, life and, well, everything about the human condition. It has actually changed my life."
A lot the Three Stooges care.
"I cannot believe how this show moves me every week by just showing how profound daily life really is," explained viewer Corinne Barone, who has started lighting candles in memory of the show. "The episode where Jake's baby was born was so honest and real it moved me to tears." Whatever!
I know people who are wearing black for the show. The death of "Once and Again" is truly something worth mourning.
ABC has made a career of shooting itself in the foot, as we saw with the mishandling of Dave and Ted. Now, by throwing out Zwick and Herskovitz's baby with the bathwater, it is shooting itself in the heart. __Newsday (April 7, 2002)
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