The age of content

40s absolutely fabulous, says actor Sela Ward

By Pat St.Germain -- A few years back, Sela Ward auditioned for a James Bond movie, thinking it would be a fun project after a six-year run on the NBC series Sisters. But at the time, Ward just didn't fit in as a Bond "girl."

"And I'll share with you," she says of the experience. "The comment from the director was, 'You know, what we really want is Sela 10 years ago.'

"And I went 'Aarghh! Does that mean I'm no longer sexually viable? Does this mean life is over? My career is over?' "

Hardly. At 43, Ward is kicking TV butt, playing middle-aged mom Lily Manning, who falls in love with delectable divorced dad Rick Sammler (Billy Campbell) on ABC's romantic drama Once And Again.

In fact, it's thanks to Ward and co. that the famously bare- butted cops of NYPD Blue are now cooling their heels until January. NYPD Blue creator Steven Bochco is reportedly spitting bullets over ABC's decision to push the season premiere back to Jan. 11. But it's exactly the move Once And Again creators Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz were hoping for when they were promoting their show this summer.

"You're a network executive. A show goes on the air, and it does extremely well. It seems to build momentum. Do you take it off the air?" Zwick said in a moment of prescience weeks before the series premiered.

Zwick and Herskovitz, creators of thirtysomething and My So Called Life, were initially told that Once And Again, airing at 9 p.m. on ABC Ch. 13/46 and CKY Ch. 5, would go on hiatus after tonight to make way for NYPD Blue's season premiere, originally scheduled for Nov. 9.

But Herskovitz claimed he was confident even then that the show would be a winner with both the network and viewers.

"I think first of all, we see the Tuesday night timeslot as a wonderful timeslot. It was the thirtysomething timeslot. We have a particular fondness for that time.

"I just -- I have a really good feeling about the show's position at the network. I think they're incredibly supportive."

ABC may also wary be wary of sending female viewers over to CBS, which is fielding the slightly more popular Judging Amy starring former NYPD Blue staffer Amy Brenneman) in the same timeslot.

And while it looks like the age of extreme teen TV is drawing to a close, the alphabet net may be hesitant to shelve a show that's on the leading edge of what Herskovitz predicts will be the next new wave in television.

"God knows Hollywood and this country worship youth, but also the baby boom generation is getting older and older. And you know, the baby boom generation ... we're going to be the first generation ever to get old," he jokes.

"We're going to see this whole concept of sexuality redefined in the next 10 years because it's what this generation has always done. And it will just say, 'What do you mean I'm old? I'm not attractive any more? Give me a break!' And it will change."

For her part, Ward, a 43-year-old mother of two, says she's learned that life really does begin at 40 and she doesn't understand why Hollywood executives haven't caught on yet.

"I'm having a real problem with this issue because turning 40, I feel like my life is just beginning. I don't think I've ever been happier," she says.

"I feel right, I feel yummy, I feel incredibly intelligent and, you know, having a lot of life experience to offer."

Ward says she understands why Hollywood sells its wares to a youth culture -- teens have the time to go to movies several times a week and they don't have to hire a babysitter to do it. But she says women get the short end of the stick when it comes to casting.

"It is a wasteland for roles for particular women. I mean, if you look -- I'm getting off on a tangent here, but you asked me, you can cut me off any time -- if you look at actresses playing opposite the Michael Douglases or even Harrison Ford, you know, excuse me? They can't play opposite someone their own age? Or even 15 years younger?"

Shows like Once And Again and CBS's similarly titled Now And Again and Family Law, both of which also feature fortysomething women in lead roles, may pave the way for change, at least on the small screen.

In fact, Ward has never looked better and she's downright luminous segments shot in black-and-white, in which she and Campbell share their private thoughts on the action.

Of course, now that they're a couple, the weak-kneed romance of the first few episodes is losing some of its lustre, but there are still plenty of relationship dilemmas left to explore. Tonight, for example, Rick spends the weekend with his ex-wife when their son plays in a basketball tournament, a family reunion that rankles Lily.

And let's face it, there are not many TV romances out there that involve conflicts surrounding parental roles, which is one of the aspects Ward says attracted her to the show.

"One reason why I fell so in love with this script is because, perhaps unwittingly, they've written something that celebrates age, that celebrates that at 40, there is life," she says.

"At 40, there are new experiences. At 40, you can have the same feelings and emotions and state of expectancy that you had when you were 18 or 19, about life. So, that's why I was drawn to this project."

And sure, she's a few years older than her character but in this case, Sela, at 43, was just what the director ordered.__Winnipeg Sun (November 2, 1999)