Jury's out: 'Judging Amy' or 'Once and Again'

By John Levesque, [Seattle] POST-INTELLIGENCER TV CRITIC --
Networks view a downward trend in the ratings with the sort of sweaty-browed dread reserved for a plague of addled critics or a complaint from the NAACP. And after only two ratings periods in this new season, "Once and Again," the sterling drama about divorced parents, ABC was nervous.

In its first week, "Once and Again" finished in the Nielsen top 10. The second week, it dropped to No. 21. Meanwhile, CBS's "Judging Amy," which goes head to head with "Once and Again" on Tuesdays nights, is causing ABC execs to pop a few Zantacs. After a very strong preview showing on Sunday, Sept. 19, "Judging Amy" got clobbered in its first head-to-head matchup with "Once and Again" on Sept. 21. But just the reverse happened the next week. While the Sept. 28 episode of "Once and Again" slipped out of the top 20, "Judging Amy" rebounded all the way to No. 12.

The results of week three won't be known till later today, but the trendlet presented by just two weeks of airings was sufficient to have an ABC publicist call last week and suggest that "Once and Again" could use my help.

Moi? I'm not disposed to treating ABC generously, given how it has treated good shows such as "Nothing Sacred," "Relativity" and "Sports Night." But if there's a chance that my mentioning it will keep "Once and Again" on the schedule for a few years -- or another week -- then call me Mr. Shill.

"Once and Again" is the sort of TV show that makes a viewer forget it's on TV. The writing -- not artificially writerly like Kevin Williamson's, not eagerly precocious like David E. Kelley's -- connects without resorting to coyness and pretension. And the acting of Sela Ward and Billy Campbell makes one appreciate television as theater-in-a-box, not mindless entertainment to accompany one's folding of the laundry.

Tonight's episode (10, KOMO/4) is the strongest to date, with Rick Sammler (Campbell) and Lily Manning (Ward) coming to understand that their blossoming romance, which they continue to pursue like adolescents in heat, is having an impact well beyond the mussed sheets of each passionate rendezvous.

Where all this takes them is part of the appeal of the stories spun so realistically by creators Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, who kept "thirtysomething" going for four seasons. But therein may lie a problem if America is indeed forsaking the reality of "Once and Again" for the feel-goodness of "Judging Amy."

For many Americans stung by divorce, "Once and Again" may be too real. "Judging Amy," also about a woman coping with single parenthood, is sappier and less jarring. But if that relegates "Once and Again" to a lower (but still comfy) rung on the Nielsen ladder, ABC owes it to us and the industry to worry less about ratings and more about keeping such quality on the air.__Seattle Post-Intelligencer (October 12, 1999)