Sex doesn't sell: ABC series' fans are fazed by bed scene

By Phil Telander -- Who of us hasn't been in a relationship where we said or did something we wish we hadn't and then spent weeks agonizing over it, trying to atone?

Fortysomethings Rick and Lily jumped into bed in the second episode of ABC's "Once and Again" and, while it caused problems in their courtship, the damage was nothing compared to what the incident did to the budding romance between viewers and the series.

So much for the idea that sex sells. "We lost a lot of viewers that night," said Marshall Herskovitz, who shares creator and executive producer credits on the show with Ed Zwick. "It was a combination of how explicit it was and how quickly they had sex. The American public will accept Ally McBeal kissing another woman on the mouth. They see that show in a different way. The public doesn't accept that kind of behavior on our show."

For "Once and Again," which returns in a new 9 p.m. Monday slot on WLS-Channel 7 tonight, the episode was a critical turning point. The ratings dropped off, and a flood of e-mails almost immediately told Herskovitz and Zwick that putting actors Billy Campbell and Sela Ward together so quickly was a horrible mistake.

It's as though all of America read The Rules and decided that going to bed together too soon sent the wrong signals. Viewers, by and large, dismissed the drama about a mom and a dad dipping back into the dating pool as being about finding a time and place to get it on like teens, rather than on the issues and conflicts that face single parents getting on with their lives.

"That (episode) wasn't about sex, it was about how terrified those two people were to make love," Herskovitz said. "But the comment that came to me several times was that it was like going out to dinner with two people who were in love and they make out in front of you. It was somehow embarrassing. Maybe it was the fact that they're in their 40s and their kissing all the time was upsetting to people.

"Whatever it was, there was a sense (from viewers) that they liked each of the characters, but they didn't like focusing on the two of them being lovey-dovey all the time."

With any luck at all, Herskovitz and Zwick will get another chance to make a first impression with tonight's return. It will be clear that Lily jumped into her relationship with Rick just a tad too soon, though they clearly do care for each other. "It's not just about being in love," Herskovitz said. "The real problems of life, the real issues of life, are constantly intervening and, as you'll see in the next few episodes, intervene in a major, major way. Their romance becomes in many ways irrelevant in the next few episodes."

One distraction Rick has to deal with is an eccentric client in the familiar form of Miles Drentell, the idiosyncratic and abrasive boss played by David Clennon on the Herskovitz-Zwick classic "thirtysomething." Then there are kids, ex-spouses and the rest of the world pulling at them. "Like every relationship, not everything about them is healthy," Herskovitz said.

If ABC seems to be giving "Once and Again" a wide berth in trying to repair everything, one reason is that parent company Disney has an ownership stake in the show. Another reason is that the network was far too quick in giving the hook to the Herskovitz-Zwick teen angst drama "My So-Called Life," which propelled Clare Danes to stardom and proved the inspiration for half the hits on the upstart WB network. "These executives at ABC have said a number of times that they consider canceling (`Life') the worst mistake they ever made," Herskovitz said. " `My So-Called Life' was ahead of its time. I do take some pride in that. We were just a little ahead of that curve. I'm glad something came of it. I just wish it had been our show that came of it."__Chicago Sun-Times (January 24, 2000)