But Once Upon a Time is both family-friendly and smart enough to win viewers of any age and level of sophistication.” Family fare is tricky these days – shows that are too G-rated aren’t usually sophisticated enough for older members of the family. ABC is clearly looking to revive that tradition.
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For years, Sunday evenings were dominated by the Walt Disney anthology series under a variety of names for, at one time or another, three broadcast networks.
San Francisco Chronicle‘s David Wiegand points out that the show’s Sunday night timeslot has traditionally done well for Disney fare: “The show is not only great, fluffy fun, but note that it occupies a traditional family time slot on Sunday nights. Once Upon a Time gets points for being creative and different, and I’ve certainly watched worse shows this season but I don’t see this fairy-tale fantasy having broad enough appeal to conjure up the kind of viewer numbers it will need to stick around.” Again, no surprise, since Disney owns ABC. It also has lots of Disney touches in the form of a CGI Jiminy Cricket, Tinker Bell and other special effects. Wear your neckbrace, because Once Upon a Time has lots of flashbacks.
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PHOTOS: Fall TV Death Pool: Will ‘Whitney’ or ‘Pan Am’ Be Axed First?Ĭhicago Sun Times critic Lori Rackl does not foresee the drama lasting: “The sparkly new drama flips back and forth between two worlds, the one we live in and the “imaginary” one inhabited by Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin of Big Love), Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle, The Full Monty) and all of those fairy-tale characters we read about in bedtime stories. Watching the pilot again, though, it became harder to ignore the soap opera underpinnings and the twee sentimentality.” Morrison, known for playing uptight snobs on House and How I Met Your Mother, uses her whiskey-and-cigarettes voice (close your eyes, and it sounds like Angie Harmon) to good effect as the reluctant savior. Goodwin ( Big Love) in the cast automatically made it one of the more promising new shows. New York Times critic Mike Hale also praises the lead actresses: “ Once Upon a Time seemed to have the richer premise and more interesting characters, and having Ms. Her Emma is predictably cynical and prickly - fairy-tale princess, my Aunt Fanny - but she’s sharp and lively enough to keep audiences begging for ‘just a few more pages’ before they go to bed.” There’s a book there an enlightened boy, Henry (Jared Gilmore) and best of all, there’s Morrison. Once the action leaves the overly Maxfield Parrish-ized world of magic trees and drooping pregnant princesses, things pick up considerably. The Los Angeles Times‘ Mary McNamara singles out Goodwin and Morrison’s performances: “Goodwin is as good a Snow White as you’re going to get this side of animation, but the Evil Queen ( Lana Parrilla) seems to think she’s Maleficent (different fairy tale if anyone’s keeping track, which clearly no one is). PHOTOS: Fall TV’s 12 Most Anticipated Shows
ABC made episode three available to critics as well, and - tragic ending alert! - the series appears to be getting worse, not better.” The show is a bold idea, and there’s hope for the modern-world portions, but it doesn’t quite know what it is (or maybe it does, but the audience won’t). You can’t tell if this is supposed to be farce it’s the opt-out moment. “In those moments - especially when modern vocabulary sneaks in and Goodwin seems embarrassed to read her lines - Once Upon a Time completely stops time. And with him, there are no happy endings. But when Once Upon a Time flashes back to fairy-tale days, Uncle Hokey goes with them. This part of the series holds at least minimal fascination. Goodman writes: “In Storybrooke, pretty much every fairy-tale character you can come up with - you know, like Geppetto - is hanging out as their modern self.
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