sharky

It's still like that though, which is a problem. How much longer is the main romance going to be apart? How much longer can we talk about dark fairies? Or Emma's impending doom? Where is the hope in that? I love Captain Swan but when was the last time they just had swashbuckling fun? I would come back if the reboot was a swashbuckling pirate princess adventure if it's not dark and dour. I get that this has more drama than a "happily ever after" fairy tale but don't sell a show about hope if there's no hope -- and there will be no hope until the last two episodes of the season according to spoilers.

Colin and others have said the musical episode isn't a gimmick or one-off but actually integrated into the storyline. I believe him before I believe Adam. And yes, I get the desire to blame the writers for this current mess, but the responsibility for all this uncertainty lies squarely with Adam and Eddy. This season has especially proven how inept they are as showrunners. Just because you have an idea for a show because you've written for a show doesn't mean you know how to properly run one. I'm taking Lana's comment with a grain of salt. I'm sure there's some drama going on, but she's been a drama queen in the past. Plus if the rumors are true that she's renegotiating her contract, it helps her if she stirs up her base with melodrama.

Advertisers don't care about live+ viewers because most of them fast forward through commercials. And the men's demo is fine, but men aren't the ones who do most of the shopping for a household -- as sexist as that may sound. Ratings are the best thing we have right now to measure a viewer's buying power. Once has better live ratings and better live viewers. That's money. And yes, Shield has other forms of revenue after that but so does Once. Merchandising, streaming, etc. With the numbers Shield is getting compared to Once, there's no way that Shield would get renewed while Once gets cancelled. They may both get cancelled, they may both get renewed, but if ABC chooses only one of them, it's choosing Once.

The "hovering around" description came from the Cancel Bear story, not from ABC's PR department. They're basing it on their renew/cancel chart, which averages the entire season. Right now, Once is at a 0.99 on that chart, hence their "hovering around" description.

Yeah, I don't think she dies, but I doubt Bex is coming back next season.

USA Today is a pretty big reliable and respected entertainment source. They're definitely more reliable than the TV ratings websites, set rats, autograph hounds and paparazzi that we seem to be putting so much trust in these days.

Their average for the season is 0.99 at this point so I guess that's the 1 they're referring to. But still more expensive than most comedies. They're using CGI for that one. USA Today is running a save their shows poll and put Once at Renewed or Almost Renewed.

And on par with the number Match Game got on Sunday in the 9pm slot. Plus, you have to factor in that they're going to have football back in the fall to compete with. From the article:

So apparently JMo really takes that many suitcases for a weekend trip to New Orleans. Autograph hound said he saw her today for her final week of shooting.

Cancel Bear highlighted Once this week in their write up and put it at likely to be renewed for a final season.

Those Bex photos are from Saturday so I don't know how last minute that is. An extra day? Meh. But if they shot over the weekend and are still shooting today, it's a little weird.

When JMo said she was still filming, it was in response to a set rat on Twitter saying she was already done for the season. I just assumed JMo meant that she was still filming that day. The picture she posted on Instagram was her heading to the airport with two huge suitcases -- hardly what I would consider packing to shoot in New Orleans for a weekend before going back to Vancouver. Plus, we've had indications like the Snowing statue in front of the studio and posts on Twitter that this was the end for some characters and therefore they were wrapped. And I always just assumed that Colin and his family went back to Ireland every year during the hiatus, but it would make sense if circumstances kept him in Van for a bit.

So Adam just tweeted a photo of the caves with a caption that said "Back on set" and dated today. Seems strange considering we thought the season wrapped on Friday and most of the people on the show have left Vancouver. And the only person from the main cast who looked to be in attendance at the wrap party on Friday was Colin. Plus, he tweeted last week that he was going to be at the fan appreciation night for the Canucks on April 8. So why is he still in town while everyone else seems to have left? And what are they still shooting? I was thinking maybe it was pick-ups for Neverland and the cave shots could be from Neal's place, but that episode airs Sunday so it couldn't be that, right? Something is afoot.

Oh, burst my bubble, I know you're right, but a girl can dream. Maybe the reboot means he knows he's not going to be on the show next year so there's still a chance? Probably not though. Le sigh....

It reminds me of the news this weekend that Hayden Christensen is going to Star Wars Celebration in a few weeks. I think alot of people didn't like his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker but in retrospect realize it wasn't that he was a bad actor. It was that he was given terrible lines. It's amazing how much acting has to be done to save a bad story and how little actors can really do when the writing is just that awful.

I mean, you could keep the writers and replace the showrunners, which has been done before for other shows, but that was something ABC should've done back in season 4 after the post-Frozen crater.

Colin did a podcast recently -- with Adam's brother no less -- where he talked about how he came on in season 2 after they had this huge break out success first season. And my heart just kind of sank. I love these characters, I've become a big fan of the actors who play them. But wow, what happened after that first season? The show was about cursed fairy tale characters in the real world. There was SO much potential! Imagine if Damon Lindeloff had actually been involved in the show after his kind of benevolent anonymous mentor ship of the first season? It could've been epic. At the same time, I've said it before and I'll say it again. If this show gets cancelled, I need Colin to be the new Doctor Who. If he can make me believe in Captain Hook with the crap writing around him, he can definitely make me believe in aliens on a cheeseball budget. (good to know about Black Sails @daxx It's on my binge list along with Twin Peaks. I have plenty to catch up on in June.)

No basketball in prime time -- big game is tonight. Country Music Awards pulled a 2.1 at 8pm, which may account for some drop, and Walking Dead finale could've pulled people away early. That's all I can think of. ETA: digging into numbers more, it was a bloody night. Everything went fractional on the four networks except for three shows -- and one of them was a special awards show. I particularly liked one comment on a ratings board about how OUAT had great numbers and will definitely get renewed. Someone responded with "I guess 0.8 is the new black."

Yep, and Match Game got a 0.6, which doesn't bode well for a game show Sunday. Sure, game shows are cheaper but you have to get something better than 0.6 to justify it. At least it did better than Time After Time. So another week with a meh number that doesn't clarify anything. I am starting to think this reset is going to be a major reset, which could give execs hope that they could perhaps pick up viewers next year, but who knows. Agents of Shield is back this week too and those numbers are going to be really interesting. I wonder what a pirate adventure ad can do for the episode next week. At least people recognize Hook as part of the show.

First of all, I'm fully embracing our new Gidiot nickname for that moron. I guess we should be thankful he's been stuck with the idiot ball instead of one of the regulars. If breaking the curse doesn't have anything to do with Snowing, then I really think this is a Hook thing, that his quest leads him to a cure, and that the cure proves he doesn't just love Emma but also Emma's family. Perhaps it ties into the second proposal while we're at it.

Ha! And I was thinking that was in reference to her killing Killian in s5 to save everyone, which is different from the darkness in s4. For a show about hope, there's a lot of darkness. I guess we should be thankful that it looks like daylight has returned to Neverland next week. Geez.

Not sure but I guess cutting out one of them would be cheaper than having both. I'm also starting to wonder about this reset after the episode tonight. There was another mention of the Land of Untold Stories, which makes me think that story isn't totally dead. Could the new characters be untold story people that are hanging around? You could tell that story with new in-house sets and less on location in Steveston. Or perhaps there's an EF element to it as @Souris said. With the extra Hook pirate adventure right now, I could see a reset with Hook -- sometimes with Emma and sometimes without -- acting as a pirate ambassador for the Charming regime as he swashbucklers his way through different realms to unite them. And it would possibly bring back an element of fun that the show seems to only display in fits and spurts lately.

I'm really hoping part of his trip to Neverland means there's some cure for the sleeping curse there. Maybe the water from that spring that saved David from the dream shade could be used for the curse. They hugged it out so I'm OK with that. Hook needs a new "bro" now that David doesn't like him. And from a post-show EW interview... What? Where the hell was that in this episode? I guess we're supposed to infer that's how Snow feels by the way she gets drunk and plays darts with Vikings because I did not see that at all.

And is being "watched" by a parent under a sleeping curse. That sounds responsible. *eye roll* I'm trying really hard to hand wave the people thinking Hook is a bad guy for leaving. The fact that he "left" without saying a word seems drastic, which may be why Emma expected the worst. Plus, she gave him his ring back the last time she saw him. Perhaps there's some guilt on her part blocking her ability to think clearly. But it definitely was a bit out of character for quite a few people to doubt him. And I seriously yelled "What the fuck? Are you kidding me?" at my television after that Jasmine/Aladdin TLK. Still none for Captain Swan but you're giving one Jaladdin? Grrr. BUT OHHHH! Killian Jones! You sweet angsty prince saving this damn episode like a fucking rock star hero! That shot of Killian popping out of the Nautilus to find Jasmine and Aladdin was awesome. Then add to it his frustrated matchmaker, the little moment with Nemo and his brother, Ariel welcoming him with a hug and calling him a hero. I'm here for all those things. And his shell phone call to Emma! Dammit. Heartbreaking and amazing and delicious and angsty and just....guh. You could tell that Jane Espenson was responsible for the Hook stuff and it saved the episode for me. If they do the reboot/reset next season, I just want a whole show about Captain Hook with Jane writing all the episodes. They've been doing that since Ginny got pregnant the first time and it's a huge pet peeve of mine. I know she gained a few pounds after being a mom, but it's like the costume department doesn't know how to dress a normal woman so they just toss a frumpy potato sack on her and call it a day.

NBC hasn't made their announcements yet for renewal aside from a show here or there. Shows may be likely to come back, but there's nothing official yet. And while ABC may have made some announcements early, like they did this year for Shonda shows, Once announcements have always been in May except for last year. Dungey renewed everything early last year because they canned Lee in February.