Last Stand for ‘Once and Again’?

Much to the disappointment of an intensely loyal audience whose numbers fall into the “not quite big enough” category for ABC, “Once and Again” faces an almost certain shutdown following a brief resurrection scheduled for this month.

The drama, which stars Sela Ward and Billy Campbell and premiered in 1999, was pulled in January, prompting viewers to dash off e-mails to network executives and the show’s producers, Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. The series, which has bounced around ABC’s schedule, returns Monday for what many presume will be its last flight of episodes.

For fans, the drama provided an honest look at the demands placed on families in the wake of divorce and conflicts that arise as adults seek to find love again.

ABC has yet to make any final determination about the show’s future (the network will officially set next fall’s schedule in May). But with the network having already reduced the number of episodes ordered, the producers acknowledge the program’s prospects for a fourth season appear bleak.

“Never say never,” Herskovitz said. “But I think the greatest possibility is that the show will end when we go off the air in the spring.”

Herskovitz added that the criteria of what qualifies as a success, given the shrinking audience for network television, have blurred.

“A big hit today has 18% of the [available] viewing audience watching. A failure has 8% watching. That’s absurd,” Herskovitz said.

“Once and Again” broke ground in a number of ways, not the least of which was to place Ward front and center as a sexy 40-something woman in a TV landscape overrun by midriff-wearing 20-somethings. The actress won an Emmy for her role as Lily Manning in 2000.

The show also continues to deal with challenging dramatic issues. The March 11 episode, for example, will feature a lesbian theme with two teenage girls kissing.

So what, if anything, have Zwick and Herskovitz learned from their most recent experience trying to make a quality drama? Not much, Herskovitz said, maintaining that “Once and Again” is just as good as “thirtysomething,” the series he and Zwick produced in the 1980s, exploring the same sort of universal and contemporary themes.

“Our idea of ‘targeting’ was to say, ‘Ooh, there are a lot of divorced people in the country, maybe a lot of people will watch,’” Herskovitz said.

“Once and Again” returns Monday night at 10 on ABC. The network has rated that episode TV-PG-V (may be unsuitable for young children, with a special advisory for violence).