Once and Again: Difference between revisions

*Once and Again*
Once and Again
Created by	Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz
Starring	Sela Ward; Billy Campbell; Jeffrey Nordling; Susanna Thompson; Shane West; Julia Whelan; Evan Rachel Wood; Meredith Deane; Todd Field; Marin Hinkle ; Jennifer Crystal Foley; Ever Carradine; and; David Clennon; Steven Weber
Composer	W.G. Snuffy Walden
Country of origin	USA
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	63
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 21, 1999 –; April 15, 2002

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Once and Again is an American television series that aired on ABC from September 21, 1999 to April 15, 2002. It depicts the family of a single mother and her romance with a single father. It was created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the same team that created Thirtysomething and produced My So-Called Life.

One of the show's more unique aspects were the "interview" sequences filmed in black and white and interspersed throughout each episode, where the characters would reveal their innermost thoughts and memories to the camera.

Premise

Lily Manning (Sela Ward) is a 40ish suburban soccer mom living in Deerfield, Illinois. Recently separated from her philandering husband Jake (Jeffrey Nordling), Lily is raising her two daughters, insecure, anxiety-ridden 14-year-old Grace (Julia Whelan), and wide-eyed, innocent 9-year-old Zoe (Meredith Deane). For support, she turns to her more free-spirited younger sister, Judy (Marin Hinkle), with whom she works at their bookstore called My Sister's Bookstore.

Lily's life changes when, during the pilot episode, she meets Rick Sammler (Billy Campbell) in the principal's office of Grace's school, Upton Sinclair High School.

Rick is a single father and co-head of an architectural firm, Sammler/Cassili Associates, which is located in downtown Chicago. Rick has been divorced from his uptight ex-wife Karen (Susanna Thompson) for three years and has two children, Eli (Shane West), a 16-year-old basketball player at Sinclair High who suffers from a learning disability, and sensitive 12-year-old Jessie (Evan Rachel Wood), who longs for the days before her family's disintegration.

Lily and Rick share an immediate mutual attraction and begin dating. Their budding relationship causes problems in both of their respective families. Grace strongly objects to Lily and Rick's relationship as she still hopes to see her parents get back together. Karen, a public interest attorney at the downtown law firm of Harris, Riegert, and Sammler, is worried about the toll Rick's new relationship would take on their children, particularly Jessie, who is shy and emotionally fragile. She is also working through her own feelings of jealousy that Rick is moving on to a new relationship.

In addition to Lily and Rick's relationship, the show also focused to a lesser degree on their exes, Jake and Karen, and their own struggles to move on in a post-divorce environment.

Plot summary

Season one

Lily is in the process of divorcing her restaurateur husband, Jake. She is reluctant to begin dating again due to the sensitivities of her daughters, who are still emotional about the divorce. She meets and is instantly attracted to divorced architect Rick Sammler. However, their new relationship is complicated by Lily's many remaining emotional and financial issues with Jake. Grace and Eli become close when she becomes his tutor.

Season two

Lily and Jake's divorce is finally over, and she hopes to spend more time with Rick. However, Rick becomes sidetracked by difficulties at work and has to begin working with unscrupulous developer Miles (David Clennon), who played the same role on the series thirtysomething. Things become difficult for Lily when Rick has to turn to his ex-wife Karen for legal assistance. Much of the season revolves around these work problems for Rick. At the end of season two, Lily and Rick finally get married.

Season three

Lily faces domestic struggles: her mother begins to show signs of Alzheimers Disease and her brother Aaron, who is schizophrenic, wants to move in with his girlfriend. Other storylines include Judy's relationship with her boyfriend Sam, Jessie dealing with her sexual identity, the birth of Jake and his new wife Tiffany's baby, Grace's attraction for her teacher, and Karen dealing with depression. By the end of the season, Rick and Lily face big decisions when he is offered a job in Australia and she is offered a nationally syndicated radio show.

Cast

Sela Ward (Elizabeth 'Lily' Manning) Grace and Zoe's mother, separated from Jake
Billy Campbell (Richard 'Rick' Sammler) Eli and Jessie's father, divorced from Karen
Jeffrey Nordling (Jake Manning) Lily's estranged husband, Grace and Zoe's father
Susanna Thompson (Karen Sammler) Rick's ex-wife, Eli and Jessie's mother
Shane West (Eli Sammler) Rick's son
Julia Whelan (Grace Manning) Lily's elder daughter
Evan Rachel Wood (Jessie Sammler) Rick's daughter
Meredith Deane (Zoe Manning) Lily's younger daughter
Marin Hinkle (Judy Brooks) Lily's younger sister
Todd Field (David Cassilli) [2nd season 23-35, recurring previously] Rick's business partner and friend
Ever Carradine (Tiffany Porter) [2nd season 36-44 & 3rd season, recurring previously] Jake's mistress/girlfriend
Jennifer Crystal Foley (Christie Parker) [2nd season] Lily's boss at PagesAlive.com
David Clennon (Miles Drentel) [2nd season 23-43] Rick and David's primary client
Steven Weber (Samuel Blue) [3rd season, recurring in 1st season] Rick's friend and Judy's lover

Recurring characters

Kimberly McCullough (Jennifer) Eli's girlfriend before Cassidy and before Carla
Kelly Coffield (Naomi Porter) Lily and Karen's mutual friend
James Eckhouse (Lloyd Lloyd) Karen's ill-fated date
Paul Mazursky (Phil Brooks) Lily and Judy's father
Bonnie Bartlett (Barbara Brooks) Lily and Judy's mother
Mark Feuerstein (Leo Fisher) Karen's younger boyfriend
Alexandra Holden (Cassidy) Eli's girlfriend after Jennifer
Patrick Dempsey (Aaron Brooks) Lily and Judy's schizophrenic brother
Audrey Marie Anderson (Carla Aldrich) Eli's girlfriend
Mark Valley (Will Gluck) Handyman and Judy's lover
D. B. Sweeney (Graham Rympalski) Lily and Christie's co-worker at PagesAlive.com
Marco Gould (Spencer Lewicki) Grace's boyfriend
Eric Stoltz (August Dimitri) Grace's English teacher/acting coach/romantic interest
Paul Dooley (Les Creswell) Lily's boss at WIPX
Mischa Barton (Katie Singer) Jessie's friend/girlfriend
Natasha Gaty (Alexa) class play stage manager who later cracks the Dimitri story

Episodes

Season 1: 1999-2000

1. Pilot (Boy Meets Girl) - September 21, 1999
2. Let's Spend The Night Together - September 28, 1999
3. The Scarlet Letter Jacket - October 5, 1999
4. Liars And Other Strangers - October 12, 1999
5. There Be Dragons - October 19, 1999
6. A Dream Deferred - October 26, 1999
7. The Ex-Files - November 2, 1999
8. The Past Is Prologue -November 9, 1999
9. Outside Hearts - November 16, 1999
10. Thanksgiving - November 23, 1999
11. Where There's Smoke - December 7, 1999
12. The Gingerbread House - December 21, 1999
13. Mediation - January 24, 2000
14. Sneaky Feelings - January 31, 2000
15. The Mystery Dance - February 7, 2000
16. Daddy's Girl - February 14, 2000
17. Unfinished Business - March 6, 2000
18. Strangers And Brothers - March 13, 2000
19. Cat-In-Hat - April 3, 2000
20. My Brilliant Career - April 10, 2000
21. Letting Go - April 17, 2000
22. A Door, About To Open - April 24, 2000

Season 2: 2000-2001

23. Wake Up Little Susie - October 24, 2000
24. Booklovers - October 31, 2000
25. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down - November 14, 2000
26. Feast Or Famine - November 21, 2000
27. Ozymandias 2.0 - November 28, 2000
28. Food For Thought - December 5, 2000
29. Learner's Permit - December 19, 2000
30. Life Out Of Balance - January 10, 2001
31. Scribbling Rivalry - January 17, 2001
32. Love's Laborers' Lost - January 24, 2001
33. Thieves Like Us - January 31, 2001
34. Suspicion - February 7, 2001
35. Edifice Wrecked - February 14, 2001
36. The Other End Of The Telescope - March 7, 2001
37. Standing Room Only - March 14, 2001
38. Aaron's Getting Better - March 21, 2001
39. Forgive Us Our Trespasses - March 28, 2001
40. Best Of Enemies - April 4, 2001
41. Armageddon - April 11, 2001
42. Won't Someone Please Help George Bailey Tonight - April 18, 2001
43. Moving On - April 25, 2001
44. The Second Time Around - May 2, 2001

Season 3: 2001-2002

45. Busted - September 28, 2001
46. The Awful Truth - October 5, 2001
47. Kind Of Blue - October 12, 2001
48. Acting Out - October 19, 2001
49. Destiny Turns On The Radio - November 2, 2001
50. Jake And The Women - November 9, 2001
51. Chaos Theory - November 23, 2001
52. The Sex Show - November 30, 2001
53. Tough Love - December 7, 2001
54. Pictures - December 14, 2001
55. Taking Sides - January 4, 2002
56. Gardenia - January 11, 2002
57. Falling in Place - March 4, 2002
58. The Gay-Straight Alliance - March 11, 2002
59. One Step (Parent) Backward - March 18, 2002
60. Aaron's List Of Dreams - March 25, 2002
61. Experience Is The Teacher - April 1, 2002
62. Losing You - April 8, 2002
63. Chance of A Lifetime - April 15, 2002 (Series Finale)

Awards

Trivia

Todd Field played David Cassilli on the show until midway through the second season. It is fair to assume that co-writing and directing the Academy Award-nominated film In the Bedroom played a significant role in his departure from the series. He has also directed episodes of Once and Again and Carnivàle.
Miles Drentel, the arch client who destroys Rick and David's partnership, nearly had a similar effect on Michael Steadman and Elliot Weston's friendship on thirtysomething.
Miles Drentell would die of pancreatic cancer in the 2000-2001 season.[1], [2]
Series creators and executive producers Herskovitz and Zwick also appeared as minor characters on the show. Herskovitz played Dr. Frankl, the physician who reported Phil's death to the Brooks/Manning family. Zwick portrayed Dr. Daniel Rosenfeld, the child psychologist who counseled Jessie while she had an eating disorder, in six episodes.
Series producer Winnie Holzman appeared as Aaron's social worker, Shelly, in three episodes.
The show received particular media attention and, in the introductory episode, ratings figures, for its depiction of Jessie's budding lesbian relationship with Katie, a previously introduced friend. Besides the expected piqued interest and controversy over an instance of homosexuality (or possibly bisexuality) on TV, in a drama series, the storyline also stood out as one of the few depictions of a lesbian relationship between two teenaged girls in a drama series with recurring manifestations of affection, distancing itself from an often used angle in the media, that of attributing the experience to sexual experimentation.
For the second season, Steven Weber was cast in Cursed and was not available, so Mark Valley as Wil Gluck was introduced to fill the void. The next season Valley was unavailable because of his role in Pasadena, so he was written out and Weber (who was again available) returned, this time as a regular cast member.
As of episode 39, the ABC network eliminated the opening credits and replaced them with a brief interstitial logo. This graphic had previously been used as a bumper between the double commercial break at the half-hour mark. The cast listings were then incorporated into the opening scene(s). It is likely that ABC used this additional time to add an extra commercial and therefore increase ad revenue, since the episodes did not increase in length. This technique had been used once before, in the pilot.

Broadcasts

It originally aired on ABC from 1999 to 2002. In the U.S it was in syndication on Lifetime Real Women the spinoff channel from Lifetime Television. The channel stopped running O&A in April 2005, and no American outlet presently carries the show. However, on August 2, 2008, it was announced that Once and Again will return to United States television for the first time since April 2005. It might return to U.S. TV for the first time in 4 years by the first quarter of 2009. Once and Again was seen on the now-defunct ABC1 in the United Kingdom and the Seven Network in Australia. In Canada, the show was seen on the W Network until late 2007 or early 2008. Today, the show might be seen in full-length episodes on YouTube.W Network will be broadcasting the series at 3 am beginning September 2008 (from their network schedule).

DVD releases

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (formerly Buena Vista Home Entertainment) released Season 1 on November 5, 2002, mere months after the series finale. It was expected that the remaining two seasons would be released soon afterward. However, it took three more years and numerous petition drives for season two to be released, which occurred on August 23, 2005. A little over a month later, on September 30, 2005, news broke about the release of the third and final season, which was slated to occur on January 10, 2006, but by October 2005 the title was delayed and has been ever since, with no explanation. It was almost two years before another official word was uttered on the subject and in July 2007, it was reported that Buena Vista's license on the program was soon to expire and, as a result, could lead to a new company acquiring the distribution rights to the title and thus a potential third season release.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
Season 1	22	November 5, 2002
Season 2	22	August 23, 2005
Season 3	19	TBA

External links

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 Lily's life changes when, during the pilot episode, she meets Rick Sammler ([[Billy Campbell]]) in the principal's office of Grace's school, [[Upton Sinclair]] High School.
-Rick is a single father and co-head of an architectural firm, Sammler/Cassili Associates, which is located in downtown [[Chicago]]. Rick has been divorced from his uptight ex-wife Karen ([[Susanna Thompson]]) for three years and has two children, Eli ([[Shane West]]), a 16-year-old [[basketball]] player at Sinclair High who suffers from a [[learning disability]], and sensitive 14-year-old Jessie ([[Evan Rachel Wood]]), who longs for the days before her family's disintegration.
+Rick is a single father and co-head of an architectural firm, Sammler/Cassili Associates, which is located in downtown [[Chicago]]. Rick has been divorced from his uptight ex-wife Karen ([[Susanna Thompson]]) for three years and has two children, Eli ([[Shane West]]), a 16-year-old [[basketball]] player at Sinclair High who suffers from a [[learning disability]], and sensitive 12-year-old Jessie ([[Evan Rachel Wood]]), who longs for the days before her family's disintegration.
 Lily and Rick share an immediate mutual attraction and begin dating. Their budding relationship causes problems in both of their respective families. Grace strongly objects to Lily and Rick's relationship as she still hopes to see her parents get back together. Karen, a public interest attorney at the downtown law firm of Harris, Riegert, and Sammler, is worried about the toll Rick's new relationship would take on their children, particularly Jessie, who is shy and emotionally fragile. She is also working through her own feelings of jealousy that Rick is moving on to a new relationship.