Fairy Tales on TV

I must admit -- for more than a decade television fell by the wayside for me; the broadcast schedules were not conducive to my schedule. Books were easier and portable entertainment, and rented (or bought!) DVDs convenient to my schedule. Regular TV watching didn't occur in my life until a couple of years ago, when I discovered places online where I could watch episodes of current or not-so-current shows. As a result of this spectacular flexibility, I almost never watch an episode of a show the first night it comes out, and sometimes not even the first week. This means I only just now caught a couple of this fall's new shows, Once Upon a Time and Grimm.

Of course I'd have to watch a couple of TV shows based on fairy tales. I've only been waiting for them since I saw the previews back, um, in the recent past. Probably summer. I dunno, I've slept since then.

My impressions of te previews -- well. Let's start with Grimm, since that was the one I was looking forward to.

First of all, I really liked the concept. Not a new concept, really, but all the same, it was one I knew I'd enjoy, and I couldn't wait to see how they handled it. Part of the anticipation for me was because David Greenwalt was one of the executive producers, and he worked on Angel. However, despite my excitement, I wasn't really enamored by the previews. You know how sometimes someone can put together a really awesome trailer and the actual show is pretty lame? Well, the trailer, despite pitching some interesting concepts and an intriguing (to me) character (the bald aunt, the previous Grimm), the trailer just didn't really blow my skirt up. I was especially disappointed when, during the trailer, we got to see the lead character rescue the missing girl. Um, yeah, okay, granted, the likelihood that he'd rescue her was high, but did you really have to show that in the trailer?

Still, my interest was piqued, and I waited patiently for Grimm to come out.

Then there was the trailer for Once Upon a Time -- an intriguing concept, of how the Wicked Queen stole everyone's happy endings and deposited them here, in our world, to live in abject misery, and their only hope is a woman with a mysterious past who's drawn into this strange town by a mysterious little boy. Wicked cool concept, but I wasn't sure it would work in a television show. A movie? certainly. A miniseries? Hell, yeah! A television show? You know, something that could be cancelled and leave us all hanging? Are you people nuts? And further, while I was intrigued by the inclusion of Robert Carlyle (I loved to hate him in Stargate: Universe), I wondered at the casting of Jennifer Morrison (Cameron from House) as the lead character. Don't get me wrong -- she's an awesome actress, and I loved her on House. From the trailer, I could see that it had high production values, but even so, I wasn't sure whether it would succeed.

So, I waited for OUAT as well.

Next: my impressions of the first episodes of both shows.