Once Upon an Awesome

It finally happened, Freaks!

After months of watching, countless hours logged with my remote, even posts about how boring fall TV has been, somebody decided to do something different.

They made a good show. And then put it on network TV.

I know, I know. I'm stunned too.

Once Upon A Time premiered last night, and judging from the great ratings (highest non-sports ratings of the night) there were lots of people tuning in. If you weren't one of them, you missed an exciting and ambitious ride.

Ill admit, I didn't even want to like this show, due mostly to my insane petty jealousy of Gennifer Goodwin  and my annoyance at Jennifer Morrison's misguided stint on HIMYM last year, but damn it if it wasn't the first show of the season I ended thinking, "That was awesome! I can't wait for next week!"

The show switches deftly from Make-Believe Land, where Snow White (Goodwin) has just married Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) and the Evil Queen (Lana Parilla) promises a curse that will destroy all of the happy endings, to the "real world" where Emma Swan is a bounty hunter confronted with the son she gave up for adoption a decade ago. Morrison is fantastic as the tough Swan, using her natural wryness to great effect, and showing impressive moments of vulnerability.

Vulnerability and cheekbones.

The rest of the cast (on both sides of the reality divide) are fleshed out with familiar fairy tale characters turned townsfolk, including Jiminy Cricket and Gepetto, Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, and Snow's faithful dwarfs. Emma Swan seems to be the key to breaking the curse and releasing the characters from their prison in Storybrook, Maine and back to fairy tale world where they belong. It's a great premise made better by fantastic production values (the music is particularly spectacular, as are the costumes) and it's nice to have a show that feels like it could reach a wide audience.

Yeah, I'm not talking about you. You are so cancelled.

So after you tune in to Once Upon A Time next week, dear Freak, do you know what you should do? Keep watching. Don't change the channel, and give the much-improved Pan Am a shot. Look, this show is not perfect, and it does lack some of the gravitas one would expect from its West Wing pedigree, but it has made a valiant effort to develop the characters, creating more interesting and complex storylines. It got started by dealing with the childhood trauma experienced by Colette (the great Karine Vanasse) during the Nazi occupation of France, a dark turn for the usually more lighthearted fare. The relationship between sisters Kate (Kelli Garner) and Laura (the ethereally beautiful Margot Robbie) has developed genuine-seeming problems, and former "just-the-playboy-sidekick" Ted earned a character-expanding backstory of his very own. Is it occasionally still fluffy? Sure, but it's trying, and it has the potential to be a really great show.

But only if it gets to stay in the air.

Oh, ha ha! See what I did there?

So get to watching, Freaks!