A drama that's mostly kid stuff; 'Once and Again' turns out to be showcase for young talent

By Neal Justin; Staff Writer

It's not easy being a kid. You can't drink, you can't vote, you can't stay out past midnight. And you can't win an Emmy Award.

Oh, sure, it's happened--once.

Kristy McNichol struck a blow for youth in 1977 when she picked up the outstanding supporting actress award for playing Buddy in the soapy series "Family." That's it. In fact, only six performers under age 25 have won an Emmy. You might think that's the way it should be. Actors that young are still learning their craft. They're too focused on that cute guy at the mall or their algebra exams to commit themselves to A-plus work.

If you believe that, you haven't seen "Once and Again."

The drama, which starts its third season tonight, revolves around the romance of a middle-age couple (Sela Ward and Billy Campbell) and their families' reactions. And while their courting--and marriage--have taken center stage, the most compelling story lines involve their kids.

Eli Sammler (Shane West) is a confused 18-year-old high school graduate torn between respecting his overprotective parents and rebelling against them. Unlike many young actors, West isn't trying to pull off a James Dean impression. He's just trying to figure it all out; he dreams of being a rock star, but doesn't want to cause a scene.

Grace Manning (Julia Whelan) could be homecoming queen--if smiling wasn't, like, the hardest thing in the world. She's devastated by the tiniest tremors in her life. To understand just how embarrassing it is to be a teenager, watch the wide-eyed face of Whelan, 16, in tonight's episode when she catches her mom listening to modern rock. Oh, my gawwwwwd!

There's Zoe Manning (Meredith Deane), the 10-year-old who's desperate to be 15 and 6 at the same time. She's ecstatic about her mom's new marriage, because it means another older sister --but when the new stepsister arrives in tonight's episode, it's not the "Brady Bunch" scene that Zoe planned.

And then there's Jesse Sammler (Evan Rachel Wood), a painfully shy teenager who last season harbored a devastating secret: an eating disorder. In some exceptional scenes, we watched her express her fear of food-- and life-- during emotionally wrenching sessions with a psychiatrist, played by the show's co-executive producer Edward Zwick.

"I had to put myself in that situation and imagine how it would feel if something like that was happening to me," said Wood, 14. "It was difficult at first, a little overwhelming, because I wasn't sure how I was going to do it, but I put myself together. I think it was more nerve-racking for Ed, because it was his first acting role. I was much more relaxed."

Wood deserves an Emmy at next weekend's award ceremony, but she wasn't even nominated.

"I'm very disappointed," said co-executive producer Marshall Herskovitz, who with Zwick also developed "My So-Called Life," another excellent show about young people, which should have brought Claire Danes an award. "I think there's a bias. It's professional jealousy. They don't want to give it to a kid."

Herskovitz said that his young cast members can handle the difficult story lines, which include a teacher-student romance this season, because they're professional pretenders who aren't about to mix up reality with role-playing.

"They're basically fully formed as actors," he said. "When I work with them, I treat them as adults. When we're not working, I treat them as kids.

"We weren't concerned about Rachel last season. From the outside, you may be worried about if she was going to live it out or take it too seriously. But if you're there, it's not like that. You can see what a vibrant child she is and that she's engaged in life."

Ward, who won an Emmy for her role last year, said that in many ways the young cast members are better prepared than the adults are.

"I've been up three or four times a night with my little children," Ward said. "I've not gotten a good night's sleep, I've learned my lines in the makeup trailer. They've got moms to run their lines with, and coaches. They're very on top of it."

Very few young actors excel to such a degree. On shows like "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Dawson's Creek," the teenagers act like grown-ups, pouting and preening like full-fledged sex symbols, largely because that's what the public wants.

It's unlikely you'll see Whelan or Wood on the cover of Teen People magazine soon. These characters are too awkward, too real to be labeled hip. That's what makes "Once and Again" one of TV's finest hours, and that's what almost guarantees the young cast will never get Emmy recognition.

"Honestly," West said, "if any of us young actors for the show got nominated for an Emmy, I'd probably choke." __ Minneapolis Star Tribune (September 28, 2001)