SpoilerTV's own Kyle wrote a very eloquent and favorable review of Once Upon a Time earlier today, so I apologize that I'm posting another — but my review is not exactly favorable. And it pins Grimm versus Once Upon a Time, in a sense. Unfortunately for me I'm not as eloquent, but if you're interested in my thoughts about the Once Upon a Time pilot, please read my review here!
—
ABC and NBC both, this fall, premiered 1960s-set series about (supposedly) female empowerment that road on the coattails of iconic American brands. One, NBC's
The Playboy Club, has already been cancelled and the other, ABC's
Pan Am, is close. Unfortunately, both shows forgot to just have fun and have suffered, from my point of view, quite too dramatic storylines. And both networks have done it again with fairy tale-themed
Grimm (NBC) and
Once Upon a Time (ABC). Both even have delayed premiere dates, getting their start in the same week (actually, it was supposed to even be the same weekend before NBC pushed the date back further).
But don't be fooled:
Grimm and
Once Upon a Time are
not the same show nor are they somewhat similar in tone or style (at least not as much as
The Playboy Club and
Pan Am are). For one,
Grimm focuses its story much more on fable folklore, something I was going to note in my review of the show since NBC was really pushing the fairy tale aspect, while
Once Upon a Time aims for the traditional fairy tale feel.
[*] And where
Grimm was absolutely exposition-less,
Once Upon a Time's pilot is
nothing but exposition. A lot of stuff happens, but you'll realize once the credits rolled that: wait, nope, nothing happened. …
Read the rest of my review here!
