BILLY CAMPBELL'S READY AND WILLING

BYLINE: Allan Johnson (Special from the Chicago Tribune) --
Is Billy Campbell ready to be the next big sex symbol?

"I don't mind that," he says. "If it means more work, then I'm happy for it."

Campbell, 40, had better invest in some dark sunglasses if the numbers remain promising for "Once and Again," ABC's Tuesday night romantic drama in which he plays an honest, sensitive, levelheaded, and drop-dead gorgeous, divorced father of two trying to develop a relationship with a 40-ish woman (Sela Ward) who also has a failed marriage and two kids.

The series had close to 17 million viewers when it premiered Sept. 21, giving it one of the largest audiences for a dramatic show's debut on any network in four years.

So Campbell is no doubt happy to be on what is turning out to be a hit. But he doesn't mean to sound "disingenuous," he says, when he calls success or failure "beside the point."

"The real joy of the job is the job itself," he says."It's working with these people, coming to work, getting to work on a quality show, saying good words with cast members that I like and admire and enjoy working with."

Campbell's show is one of a handful of new series that aren't about people younger than 30 years of age.

Which makes "Once and Again," a product of "thirtysomething" producers Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, very refreshing as it celebrates the lives of two 40-somethings.

"It certainly was a relief to be able to read something that was for adults. And I think, I'm hoping, we're all hoping, anyway, that most of the viewers will feel the same way," says Campbell.__Bergen County Record (October 5, 1999)