The Storybrooke Daily Mirror: OUaT in the Media, Cons and Other Real Life Encounters

[Rumsy4]

Is there a video?

[Rumsy4]

Adam's Instagram post (X).

[KingOfHearts]

6 minutes ago, Rumsy4 said:

Adam's Instagram post (X).

This means they're finally going to free Geppetto's parents right?

LOL, JUST KIDDING!

[Camera One]

It's another really satisfying call-back when that puppet flashes onscreen for 10 milliseconds in the finale.

[KingOfHearts]

8 minutes ago, Camera One said:

It's another really satisfying call-back when that puppet flashes onscreen for 10 milliseconds in the finale.

The only call-back I'm dying to see is that heart of a titan disguised as a holy grail.

Side note: it's weird that Geppetto made a puppet son. Wouldn't he be traumatized after his parents were turned into them?

Edited April 6, 2018 by KingOfHearts

[Rumsy4]

Here is the JMo interview.

ETA: I was embarrassed for the host when she asked Jen if she would go back to act on Grey's Anatomy or House, the first a show Jen's never been in, and the second ended a long time ago.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Rumsy4

[Camera One]

Sheesh, did they do their research at all?  What was this?  An interview for H-Town?

It was a little funny when she compared directing in between Season 5-6 and then going back to set and not having to make 10 thousand decisions every second.  Except maybe how frequently to shake your hand.

[Serena]

It is pretty striking the difference between the publicity push for the latest seasons for Once, where they had all but given up, and the push for Sun Dogs, which I'm guessing was coordinated by someone who could actually do their job over at Netflix.

[Souris]

Emilie throwing some shade on RB at a convention:

“We’ve seen rumple hurt belle a lot. Do you think it was wise of the writers to still give them a happy ending?”

[Rumsy4]

I think her response was diplomatic, without agreeing with A&E's stance. Like Ginnifer Goodwin over the Season 6 mess.

Edited April 7, 2018 by Rumsy4

[Camera One]

That is just so awesome.

[KingOfHearts]

I love how she didn't even know that S7 was set in Hyperion Heights. She really doesn't care, and neither should we, lol.

[Camera One]

Jennifer Morrison also didn't seem to know much about Season 7.  I wonder if Ginny and Josh continued to watch the show.  She loves Disney so maybe she wanted to see Tiana and Rapunzel.

Edited April 7, 2018 by Camera One

[superloislane]

That's pretty telling that even the actors that were on the show didn't continue watching - so how was the audience supposed to continue?

[Rumsy4]

Many actors don’t watch the show even while they’re in it. I think most actors would move on once they’ve left it.

[Camera One]

Filming pretty much ended last night, according to Adam's Twitter.  He posted a picture of Lana, Colin and Robert.  

Please shed a tear into a bottle, I need it for something special.

[OllieSocks]

15 hours ago, XrystalPond said:

Many will binge watch later if they are interested or need to watch. Some won't even read full scripts because they don't even want surprises ruined. This can be hard since things are filmed in of order. 

If you watch the Game of Thrones commentaries with Lena Headey she is just as into the shows as any fan because she doesn’t read the other storylines in the scripts - wants to be surprised. I’m pretty sure the actor who plays Sam, can’t think of his name right now, says something similar.

[KingOfHearts]

2 hours ago, XrystalPond said:

From a character perspective, it makes sense. Imagine playing a role and there was going to be this big reveal coming up. Other characters had scenes that might tip you off. If you watched those scenes with the other characters hinting at the outcome, it would be hard to fully engage in that scene as surprised. However, if you read the surprise for the first time when you got the script, you are more likely to be able to remember and channel that feeling in your performance. 

But on this show, Lana knows that Regina killed Marian when A) Regina didn't even remember, and B) it wasn't even pivotal to the plot. Yet, the actress playing Marian didn't know she was Zelena the whole time.

Edited April 9, 2018 by KingOfHearts

[Shanna Marie]

4 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

But on this show, Lana knows that Regina killed Marian when A) Regina didn't even remember, and B) it wasn't even pivotal to the plot. Yet, the actress playing Marian didn't know she was Zelena the whole time.

See also: Colin knew Hook was the Dark One all along even though it was an important plot point that Hook didn't know, while they didn't tell Jen that Hook was the Dark One, even though Emma's entire storyline was about her trying to keep Hook from finding out and finding a way to save him. As I understand it, Colin figured it out for himself, but that doesn't explain/excuse them not telling Jen the very important thing that was going on with her character. I'm sure she'd have played a lot of scenes differently if she'd known she was supposed to be protecting him rather than trying to tempt him and/or get him to accept her the way she was.

And I certainly wouldn't blame Jen for not watching this season.

[Rumsy4]

Are you sure Jen did not know Colin was going to be a Dark One? I think she did.

[RolloTomasi]

I thought Jen knew? For some reason I recall Jen saying she knew all along and that Colin was told early on Hook was immortal, and guessed he was a Dark One. 

[Shanna Marie]

8 minutes ago, Rumsy4 said:

Are you sure Jen did not know Colin was going to be a Dark One? I think she did.

I could have sworn she didn't because I was surprised to learn it. I wouldn't have been so shocked if she'd said she knew. Maybe it was something about learning midway through the arc -- she didn't know at the beginning of the season (during the episodes when she acted like she was trying to seduce Hook to the dark side) but learned before the episode when it was revealed.

[kingshearte]

20 hours ago, XrystalPond said:

From a character perspective, it makes sense. Imagine playing a role and there was going to be this big reveal coming up. Other characters had scenes that might tip you off. If you watched those scenes with the other characters hinting at the outcome, it would be hard to fully engage in that scene as surprised. However, if you read the surprise for the first time when you got the script, you are more likely to be able to remember and channel that feeling in your performance. 

I've heard this sort of argument before, but as a stage actor, I don't really buy it. A good actor can make you believe this is the first time they're learning something despite hvaing played that exact scene for months, and rehearsed it for months before that. And, if it's not a brand-new work, they might have read the whole script well before any of that ever started. So the idea that someone couldn't possibly act surprised unless they actually didn't know what was coming is... well, not really acting, and I'd give most of these people more credit than that.

[CCTC]

Good point, it is not like someone who is cast as Romeo is not going to know he does not set up a house in the suburbs with his new wife and a dog at the end of the play.  Still he is not going to play the balcony scene like - what is the point, we are going to be dead soon anyways.

[KingOfHearts]

It's been said before, but I think a lot of information is withhold from the actors because either the writers have a spoilers phobia (#NoSpoilers) or they just don't know what's happening in later episodes because they haven't planned it yet.

[CCTC]

29 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

or they just don't know what's happening in later episodes because they haven't planned it yet.

It would not completely shock me if that was the case in this show from time to time...

[kingshearte]

19 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

It's been said before, but I think a lot of information is withhold from the actors because either the writers have a spoilers phobia (#NoSpoilers) or they just don't know what's happening in later episodes because they haven't planned it yet.

And this is a much bigger problem. You can pretend not to know something your character shouldn't know yet. It's effectively impossible to act like you do know something that your character should know when you don't know it. There's likely to be some of that in any long-running show — especially one that regularly incorporates flashbacks — but it shouldn't happen left, right and centre within a season. Writers should have at least the broad idea of the arc and what elements are important for a season, and they should respect and trust their actors enough to fill them in on the relevant points — even the ones whose characters won't find out about them until later. To do otherwise just does a huge disservice to your story and its believability, your actors, and your audience. This is certainly not the only show guilty of this, but it's definitely one of the more egregious offenders, and it's maddening.

[Free]

2 hours ago, kingshearte said:

And this is a much bigger problem. You can pretend not to know something your character shouldn't know yet. It's effectively impossible to act like you do know something that your character should know when you don't know it. There's likely to be some of that in any long-running show — especially one that regularly incorporates flashbacks — but it shouldn't happen left, right and centre within a season. Writers should have at least the broad idea of the arc and what elements are important for a season, and they should respect and trust their actors enough to fill them in on the relevant points — even the ones whose characters won't find out about them until later. To do otherwise just does a huge disservice to your story and its believability, your actors, and your audience. This is certainly not the only show guilty of this, but it's definitely one of the more egregious offenders, and it's maddening.

I'd say OuaT is one of the worst offenders, sometimes it feels like it constantly changes directions several times in a single season, like this one.

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, XrystalPond said:

I think that some of them do not fully engross themselves in the scripts and know every nuance of every character, plotline, and red herring. 

Maybe they just realized that even if they do read the whole script they are still going to have no clue what is going on because the people who wrote the script seem to have no clue what is going on. hahaha

There are as many different ways to act as there are people acting. I do think it's different for everyone. If I were a fan of the show and an actor on it, IDK if I'd rather read the whole script because I can't wait to find out what happens next or if I'd want to only read my part and wait to watch it unfold. Oh, who am I kidding, I have no self control. I'd read the whole damn thing, be disappointed in myself, but luckily have such a short attention span that by the time I watched it I'd have forgotten what happened.

I'm more worried, with this show, in the interviews where the actors seem to have not been told important things about their character that the character should know, like if their character is good or evil, who they were in the EF if the character is meant to be woke, or the simple fact that the character is aware or not of their fairytale self. These are things that should inform their acting choices. If I'm playing Ivy who knows she's really Dru and I don't know she knows, I will probably play her differently than if I knew that Ivy knows she created this curse and is enjoying watching others suffer. But this show feels like it's being made up as they go so they probably didn't intend for Dru to be the curse enactor until Victoria totally flopped with the audience and they needed a better Bigish Badish. (really, there is no big bad here, there are just a series of mediocre villains who are replaced once A&E fall in love with the actor playing them)

[Mabinogia]

Once needed a head writer who understood the overall arc of the season, who knew who needed to be where when and what points had to be made. As it appears, the show is literally written by someone new each episode and if they are lucky they got some rough notes from the last writer. It's like a game of telephone. Writer A writes that Emma has finally called Snow Mom for the first time. They embrace, it's a beautiful moment. But when Writer B gets this info, they misunderstood and didn't realize it happened yet, so they write Emma calling her Snow. Writer C got the memo and poor Emma is back to calling her Mom. Writer D doesn't like Emma so doesn't bother using her in that episode leaving everyone wondering if she managed to climb out of that gaping hole she fell in at the end of last ep. Writer E thought writer D got Emma out of the hole and so he starts his episode with Emma at Grannies eating some pie. The audience is confused as to how she got out. It just feels like the writers don't really like each other so they don't talk about what is going on at all.

[sharky]

Well, the writers did actually know what was going on from episode to episode. They would plot out the entire season at the beginning and then assign writers to episodes so they knew what they had to write and how it fit into the overall story. And the writers room did help each other once the initial script was written.

The bigger issue was A&E. Bosses are supposed to be leaders with a sharp focus of where a project is going. A&E had that the first year because they had Damon Lindelof helping them and years to really form their ideas. But with season 2, they were on their own. It was the tv version of a band’s sophomore slump. They just never got out of that slump. So while yes, there may have been some small issues here and there, the bigger over arching problem was the bosses had no clear vision for the future.

[cappoe]

Sean literally said at a con that the fans write better stories then the writers. I stan him again. After this absolute trash of a season.

[Souris]

Unrounded half-hour ratings for last night via SpottedRatings: 0.434 ... 0.343

[KAOS Agent]

Best part of the Spotted Ratings table is that Once is listed as "Once Upon a Hit". Ouch. Also, the show dropped 700,000 viewers by the half hour mark.  They ended way under two million viewers. It's kind of sad to see the show go out like this. 

[Camera One]

Maybe Rumbelle fans didn't realize it was an episode for them.  I just watched the promo, and they showed quite a bit of what happened (in terms of what Rumple wanted with Alice).  I'm glad I didn't watch it or I would have been even more bored.  

[Free]

9 hours ago, Souris said:

Unrounded half-hour ratings for last night via SpottedRatings: 0.434 ... 0.343

Ouch, people are not sticking around, even the announcement didn't stop the bleeding.

[Rumsy4]

12 hours ago, cappoe said:

Sean literally said at a con that the fans write better stories then the writers. I stan him again. After this absolute trash of a season.

Sean seems to have taken Robin's death a bit too personally, but considering the writers brought him back over and over, he should make an effort to hide his bitterness. I'm sure most of the original actors of the show were disappointed over the years, but most of them have put up a good front to the public/media.

As for this season being absolute trash, I would say it's no worse trash than season 6, and maybe even better in parts. But these are subjective. The Show has been going downhill in quality for years. 

[Free]

15 hours ago, Camera One said:

Maybe Rumbelle fans didn't realize it was an episode for them.  I just watched the promo, and they showed quite a bit of what happened (in terms of what Rumple wanted with Alice).  I'm glad I didn't watch it or I would have been even more bored.  

They probably gave up a long time ago like most viewers, probably didn't help that they already killed off 1/2 of their ship in 7a, so there was probably even less of an incentive to care.

[RolloTomasi]

Personally I can’t get too excited about what Sean said because it has nothing to do with season 7 and everything to do with something that happened two seasons ago.  At this point, it’s old. 

[Rumsy4]

42 minutes ago, XrystalPond said:

However, he didn't seem to be fighting for a better story or plotline until he was already gone. He'd seen how the story was more about Regina than him before he was moved up to series regular. That would have been the time to talk to A&E about the situation and ideas he had for who Robin Hood could be and what he wanted to see. 

Considering even Robert Carlyle didn't have any success changing A&E's minds about certain plotlines, it's pretty certain Sean would not have succeeded at all, especially if he wanted a storyline that would be apart from Regina's. lol 

I certainly don't blame him for being upset, but I do think he was a little misguided in being so open about it. 

[Kktjones]

47 minutes ago, XrystalPond said:

That would have been the time to talk to A&E about the situation and ideas he had for who Robin Hood could be and what he wanted to see. 

I do wonder if he expected his character to be elevated by entering into a relationship with one of the leads - a la Hook. If his expectations were high, I can understand his disappointment when his character became nothing but a purse holder for Regina.

In terms of his comment at the con, I think it was meant in a joking way, but it still does come across as a bit bitter and petty... 

[andromeda331]

7 minutes ago, Rumsy4 said:

Considering even Robert Carlyle didn't have any success changing A&E's minds about certain plotlines, it's pretty certain Sean would not have succeeded at all, especially if he wanted a storyline that would be apart from Regina's. lol 

I certainly don't blame him for being upset, but I do think he was a little misguided in being so open about it. 

I don't blame him for being upset either. A&E basically wasted his time twice.  But I'm not sure how it looks to complain about your last employers to new potential ones. 

[Shanna Marie]

23 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

But I'm not sure how it looks to complain about your last employers to new potential ones. 

Then again, given the quality of the writing on this show, acting like you think it's brilliant may be a sign of bad taste or poor judgment.

28 minutes ago, Kktjones said:

I do wonder if he expected his character to be elevated by entering into a relationship with one of the leads - a la Hook. If his expectations were high, I can understand his disappointment when his character became nothing but a purse holder for Regina.

Or even if he expected to be playing an actual character and really be playing Robin Hood. The poor guy must have felt like he was riding a roller coaster -- Yay, he's cast as Robin Hood! But boo, Maid Marian is apparently already dead. But yay, he's the love interest of one of the main characters! But boo, he never gets to do anything remotely like being Robin Hood, mostly just standing around in the background. But yay, things look like they're getting interesting when Maid Marian comes back. But boo, that ends with him being written off the show to go be with Marian. But yay, he gets brought back and becomes a regular for the next season. But boo, once he's a regular, he really has nothing to do but stand around in the background. And then he gets killed. But then he's back again, as a different character, but then he's written off again. It's like they were trying to drive him crazy.

[superloislane]

1 hour ago, Kktjones said:

I do wonder if he expected his character to be elevated by entering into a relationship with one of the leads - a la Hook. If his expectations were high, I can understand his disappointment when his character became nothing but a purse holder for Regina.

I would say that's exactly what he expected to be honest and makes sense to expect it. Hook was brought on as a secondary villain in season 2, then he was put into a relationship/love story with Emma and he pretty much became the male lead of the show! That wouldn't have happened if he wasn't with the main character. So it would make sense for Sean to think that his character being in a love story with a major character would have the same kind of results but alas he didn't understand the 'All about Regina' writing which seriously affects anyone in close proximity with her.

[Kktjones]

26 minutes ago, superloislane said:

alas he didn't understand the 'All about Regina' writing which seriously affects anyone in close proximity with her.

Yeah - I'm guessing he was even more surprised that it also impacted his real life when a large, vocal faction of "Evil Regals" tried to not only get him fired, but ruin his reputation in the process. Guess being in a relationship with Regina on the show backfired for him in more ways than one. 

[andromeda331]

22 minutes ago, Kktjones said:

Yeah - I'm guessing he was even more surprised that it also impacted his real life when a large, vocal faction of "Evil Regals" tried to not only get him fired, but ruin his reputation in the process. Guess being in a relationship with Regina on the show backfired for him in more ways than one. 

That part is really horrible. Its one thing to not like a character and hope they get fired. But to try and get him fired and run his reputation? That's going way to far.

[RolloTomasi]

I don’t think there was anything Sean could have said to possibly improve his character because improving Robin Hood didn’t fall in line with that A&E wanted. Robert Carlyle couldn’t minimize Golden Queen even though it retconned Rumple and Regina’s previous relationship and was super detrimental to Rumbelle because that’s what A&E wanted (even though it added a weird Oedipus angle to the whole thing, blech). Lana was able to get them to change the Regal Believer relationship (and get a love interest) because they wanted Regina to have all the things anyway so why not. That fell in line with their vision. 

Somewhere along the line in s5 they decided Regina’s main relationship would be with Zelena, and once that was decided Robin Hood - and Sean - were dead weight to them. That’s how we ended up with six episodes of Robin in the forest doing nothing and then he’s dead. 

[Rumsy4]

1 hour ago, XrystalPond said:

That said, there has to be a balance. I wouldn't want to work with an actor who was always inserting himself or herself in my process. I tend to get passive aggressive in those situations. If an actor questions every single line, I'm likely to write something even worse. (Think Joey and the soap opera on Friends.) 

It's fascinating to hear your thoughts on all this, @XrystalPond. Thank you for sharing it with us. And yeah--I always think of poor Joey in such situations. haha 

[Camera One]

Some people are taking it as confirmation that he reads OQ fanfiction, but really, who knows.  It's a fan appreciation event, so it's natural to give a shoutout to fan creativity, but I'm not sure if actors are really that invested.  

The thing is Robin Hood was not a villain and he wasn't a quirky character.  That right there pretty much sealed the deal very early on, and it was obvious right from 3B that the character was a prop.  I don't think he has expressed how he felt about his under-use while he was still on the show.  It seemed like killing him off was what made him angry, which I agree is understandable.  I think some actors might not even have wanted to stay by that point, but he really bonded with the cast and crew and he clearly did want to remain.

[KingOfHearts]

Looks like they're splitting the two-part series finale into two separate weeks. That's going to be really weird. It hasn't been like that since S2.

Edited April 24, 2018 by KingOfHearts