Once Upon a Time (ABC) - 1x02 till the bitter end

[Temis the Vorta]

Having been roundly berated for my laxity I am now belatedly starting One Thread to Rule Them All for Once Upon a Time. I'll be back tomorrow to comment since last night I watched the zombie show instead.

PS, the ratings held stable, this show looks like a keeper.

It looks like ABC has a hit on its hands with Once Upon A Time. In its second airing, the fairytale drama drew a 3.9 rating/10 share in 18-49, matching the fast national for its series premiere last week. (It was adjusted up to a 4.0, which will likely happen this time, too.)

 

[timothy]

well so I have throughly enjoyed it. during this weeks episode the dark queen went to see a sorceress not exactly sure who she was. my knoweledge on fairy tales is limited. any one know who she was?

 

[Borgminister]

Having watched the Walking Dead juggernaut and shadow-of-its-former-self Dexter yesterday, I'll catch up on this tonight. Still on the fence about it being 'must see tv'.

 

[sojourner]

well so I have throughly enjoyed it. during this weeks episode the dark queen went to see a sorceress not exactly sure who she was. my knoweledge on fairy tales is limited. any one know who she was?

The blonde was the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty.

Liked this episode much better than the pilot.

Think the whole concept has a limited shelf life and would have been better as a mini-series.

 

[timothy]

so will we be seeing sleeping beauty this season?

 

[sojourner]

Ask the producers.

 

[Caliburn24]

I should have realized that this show was targeted at the female demographic during the first episode. But I am slow and the first episode had a lot crammed into it. But the second episode...man there was a lot of cattiness going on. Plus all the mothering and fighting over the kid. How many scenes of Emma and the Mayor threatening each other are we going to get? "You have no idea what I'm capable of!" It was already laughable by the end of this episode.

This show needs some male characters who aren't lackeys/kids/easily-slain-relatives/comatose-princes in a freaking hurry before the sheer estrogen content of the show drives we few male viewers bonkers.

And yes, I did not include Rump...err Mr. Gold in there, he is seemingly the one male character with any agency of his own. But so far he is being kept to the sidelines, with very little to do.

 

[AviTrek]

Did anyone else get a Sylvester Mccoy/Tom Baker feel for Jiminy Cricket? When I realized he was a doctor and they even referred to him as "The Doctor" it felt a little too blatant to be an accident.

 

[Nerys Myk]

That's a bit of a stretch, but now that you mention it I got a Peter Davison vibe from the actor. More Tristan than the Doctor though.

 

[FreezeC77]

Rumpelstiltskin is the best part of the series. I'm not really liking any of the leads and find the 'showdown/gamesmanship' between the Queen and Emma to be pretty soap operay.

 

[JD]

so will we be seeing sleeping beauty this season?

Here's the recurring cast from wikipedia

• David Anders as Dr. Whale.[5]
• Anastasia Griffith as Annette, a spoiled girl with a very "royal" past.[6]
• Jessy Schram as Cinderella/Ashley, the main protagonist of the fairy tale of the same name.[7]
• Kristin Bauer van Straten as Maleficent, the antagonist from Sleeping Beauty, and the Evil Queen's equally sinister rival.[8]
• Richard Schiff as King Leopold, Snow White's father.
• Alan Dale as King George, Prince Charming's father, Emma's grandfather, Henry's great-grandfather, and Snow White's father-in-law[9]
• Eion Bailey as "The Stranger", whose presence will add to Storybrooke's mystery[10]
• Emma Caulfield as the Blind Witch/Ms. Ginger, the main antagonist from the Hansel and Gretel fairytale.
• David Paul Grove as Doc, a member of the War Council and Personal Physician to Snow White who becomes a Doctor at Storybrooke Hospital
• Lee Arenberg as Grumpy/Leroy, a member of the War Council in the Enchanted forest who becomes Storybrooke's resident troublemaker.
• Faustino DiBauda as Sleepy/Walter, a member of the War Council
• Tony Amendola as Gepetto/Marco (the woodcarver from Pinocchio), a member of the War Council who becomes Storybrooke's handyman in the Real World.
• Keegan Connor Tracy as The Blue Fairy, a member of the War Council
• Mike Coleman as Happy, a member of the War Council
• Mig Macario as Bashful, a member of the War Council
• Jakob Davies as Pinocchio, a member of the War Council
• Meghan Ory as Red Riding Hood/Ruby, A member of the War Council who becomes an unruly woman in Storybrooke who desires a chance to leave the town
• Beverley Elliott as Granny, A member of the War Council who becomes the owner of "Granny's Inn" in Storybrooke; she is also Ruby's grandmother and whose health problems has kept Ruby from leaving town.
• James Bamford as the Black Knight
• Tim Phillips as Prince Thomas/Sean, Cinderella's prince in the TV show. Her prince in the Disney movie was named Prince Charming.
• Catherine Lough Haggquist as the Fairy Godmother
• Giancarlo Esposito as the Magic Mirror/Sydney, A spirit imprisoned by the Evil Queen who becomes a reporter for Storybrooke's local newspaper The Daily Mirror'."[11]

I really enjoyed the episode, although I do hope Emma starts to believe Henry soon.
So apparently the Evil Queen hates Snow White because of something that happened with her horse? I'm curious what happened there that pissed her off so much.
Have we seen the who the Sheriff was in the Fairy Tale world yet?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Pretty fun show. Love the idea that the Evil Queen (are some characters calling her "Evie"?) and Maleficent know each other.

I was excited to see David Anders in the previews for next week. Does Dr. Whale mean his fairy tale persona is the whale who ate Pinnochio?

And I looooove Eion Bailey (who doesn't get nearly enough exposure). Once upon a time, I thought he'd be a great Kirk for Abrams' movie - he has a strong resemblance to a young Shat. I wonder how soon he shows up?

I also get a kick out of seeing that the Evil Queen has Gus Fring on her payroll.

shadow-of-its-former-self Dexter

Aw! Well at least I feel good about cancelling Showtime, then.

I should have realized that this show was targeted at the female demographic during the first episode.

ABC skews female, like the CW does. FOX skews male.

 

[AviTrek]

I should have realized that this show was targeted at the female demographic during the first episode.

ABC skews female, like the CW does. FOX skews male.

Yes, but V and Flash Forward weren't targeted at a female demographic. Granted they didn't last, but it means ABC is not opposed to trying to expand their demographic reach.

 

[sojourner]

I really enjoyed the episode, although I do hope Emma starts to believe Henry soon.
So apparently the Evil Queen hates Snow White because of something that happened with her horse? I'm curious what happened there that pissed her off so much.
Have we seen the who the Sheriff was in the Fairy Tale world yet?

Rewatch the second episode. It explains what happened to the horse. Though I don't recall the Evil Queen blaming Snow White for that.

For some reason I think the sheriff is tied to Little Red Riding hood. He may be the wolf in human form, or the woodsman?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I should have realized that this show was targeted at the female demographic during the first episode.

ABC skews female, like the CW does. FOX skews male.

Yes, but V and Flash Forward weren't targeted at a female demographic. Granted they didn't last, but it means ABC is not opposed to trying to expand their demographic reach.

Or they might get the message that they should stick with the female demo, since shows that are targetted that way do better than ones that aren't.

It's a sticky question for all the networks. Do you try to reach the male demographic which has bailed on TV (especially 18-34) and risk total failure, or do you target the female demo, even though that means you'll never break through past a certain level?

I think it depends on how good your ratings are right now. CBS could stand to be more adventurous in targetting a younger demo (they skew the oldest now) but NBC should be very happy if Grimm is appealing to a female demo, because they're having trouble appealing to anyone.

ABC is in the middle. Going into this season, they were almost as bad off as NBC. Next season, they might feel a bit more confident and expansionistic.

For some reason I think the sheriff is tied to Little Red Riding hood. He may be the wolf in human form, or the woodsman?

How about the nice woodsman who let Snow White live?

 

[Sindatur]

Temis, yea, if you're bleeding viewers and ratings points, you gotta shore up and cater to your Base. If you're doing well, and don't feel the need to grow (as if any Corporation is satisfied with what they have these days) you don't change anything up, but, if you can afford to take a risk, and want to grow, you try to expand to favorable Demo groups that don't won't hurt your base.

 

[SeamusShameless]

For some reason I think the sheriff is tied to Little Red Riding hood. He may be the wolf in human form, or the woodsman?

How about the nice woodsman who let Snow White live?

I assumed he was the Sheriff of Rottingham.

 

[Borgminister]

Caught up with the show, and it's one of those that's better than it has a right to be. I too wonder how they can sustain the series beyond a mini, but will tune in again next week.

The voice singing that song at the beginning sounded like Cat Stevens to me.

The actress that plays the evil witch is very emotive, and to me almost carries the show.

 

[Stiletto]

I am really enjoying this show!

After the first episode, I wasn't totally sure if the evil queen (ms. mayor) hadn't been caught up by own her spell and didn't know anything about her other life, but now I'm sure she knows what is going on. I thought that maybe she was just a mean person. AND! Even better, Rumplestilskin also knows. I loved that "please"!

 

[doubleohfive]

ABC orders full season of Once Upon A Time.