I finally bought the DVD of season one of Once & Again, perhaps the most extremely underappreciated television series of my adult life. And last night I was loving it to the tune of 3 episodes in a row. What happened to this cast? Sela Ward (as Lily) is a sensational TV star. Where's her next show? (Don't say the 7th installment of L&O or the 5th spin-off of CSI if you don't want to be strangled by moi.) I also miss Billy Campbell (as Rick) he of the so-cute-it's-impossible-to-believe-he-exists face, voice, body, etc... Marin Hinkle (as Lily's sister Judy) was also great but the only time I've seen her outside of this show was in a bit part in the Pfeiffer/Penn travesty I am Sam where she played an assistant to Michelle's bitch goddess lawyer and spent her limited screen time cowering in fear of La Pfeiff. The only cast member who has really thrived afterwards, not so surprisingly to me --but surprising to many no doubt, afterwards is Evan Rachel Wood who kills as Rick's young daughter.This is one of my favorite television drama series (others being Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,My So Called Life and Six Feet Under--well about half of that one... ) and I hadn't bought it previously because I live in fear that evil ABC will not release the other two seasons (ever) leaving my fandom only 33% complete. Plus if they never release the second and third season the uninitiated will never get the chance to see why Evan Rachel Wood's startling star turn in thirteen wasn't so startling to Once & Again addicts.
In the second or third episode of this show --I watched it in a marathon last night so I'm fuzzy-- Rick and Lily sleep together for the first time. And damn America's revived Puritanism because it felt watching it like "how did this show ever exist?" I simply can't imagine network television even attempting a sex scene this frank, well-acted, lengthy, and dramatically interesting these days (and this show is not that old!). They've basically ceded all adult emotional terrain to the cable stations at this point I guess. sigh
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You know how much I love this show, too. My Mom taped most of Season 3 for me since I don't get ABC up here, so by default, I have a lot of those shows. But I wish they'd put it on DVD, too.
I met Marin Hinkle once, after seeing her as Juliet when I was doing an internship at a Shakespearean theater in DC (1994). She was great as Juliet and also incredibly kind during an hour-long lunch.
Also a shout-out to the unmentioned Julia Whelan, who was amazing as Lily's much-put-upon daughter Grace.
Became a fan of the show through the DVDs a few year back, but was absolutely seething that Buena Vista have showed zippo signs of following up with Seasons 2 and 3 on DVD.
Thanks to good old ABC1 cable, I've at least managed to finally see the other 2 seasons now, but for a while there, I was in a Buena Vista hatred zone.
Which is enough to prompt a not-unrelated rant about production companies dangling carrots with DVD releases that they then don't follow through on... But I'm going to assume I'm preaching to the converted, and move on with my day.
Rob
"Once and Again" was just wonderful. I hope there will be a great tv show soon that will work (with) the same themes that "Once and Again" did.
"Once and Again" was definitely a fantastic show, but right now, I don't think there's anything out there better than "24". Shohreh Aghdashloo is like... OH MY GOD, an even better villain than Nina Myers! And she's so ridiculously beautiful.
I also like "Nip/Tuck" a lot, and "Everybody Loves Raymond", and hey, even "Gilmore Girls" is pretty fun (the dialogue is witty witty and the acting is a gem).
But no one tops my 24. Shohreh I love you. Oh and Kiefer too.
Clearly the best show on TV is Desperate Housewives, right?
And then The Amazing Race for being the only truly geniunely exciting television series on at the moment.
-Glenn
Arrested Development is so deliriously brilliant you know Fox can't wait to cancel it to make another reality dating show, except this one will have incest or something. I can't believe it's gotten a pass for this long.
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