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

[Mitch]

5 hours ago, CCTC said:

I am not sure Once is aware same-sex couples can be male.  Have they even implied a minor male character is gay?

This is.."Icky" to these two dumbos but lesbians are "hot" I am sure.

An evil twin Charming and his longtime on again off again partner Whook would be kinda interesting.  (Hook does love the mascara and the leather...and Prince Charming looks even more pretty when he wears the mascara to be evil...) I thought they should have never had gay characters like Mulan and Dorothy (blink and you missed them) in their goofy world as they should have stuck that everyone has a very tightly defined role...hero and villain and twu wuv is male female...and people don't have free will to change. So then it would have been cool to just make Henry..born and raised on reality.. gay..(he was raised by Queen Diva) and then he goes to their world and falls in love with a male character who begins to feel the same way.. I would make it that Henry falls for a bad buy...(what a kick in the ass for his stupid hero fetish..) and the bad guy reforms because of him..etc. At least it would be a little fresh..(and also explain how Henry, who is confused about his sexuality would want to get away from people who just naturally assume he is going to be straight as there was no gay in their world.so he goes realm hoping.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Mitch

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, Mitch said:

An evil twin Charming and his longtime on again off again partner Whook would be kinda interesting. 

I'd ship it! The two actors are great together and doesn't Charming have a twin brother or was it just a brother who happened to look just like him, or have the retconned it that he was both of them?

It would be interesting to see Henry deal with his sexuality if he didn't fall into the fairy tale ideal of prince and princess.

[cappoe]

Quote

 

Child Support ........................ 0.922 ... (0.900 ... 0.944)
Agents of SHIELD ................. 0.665 ... (0.705 ... 0.624)
20/20 ..................................... 0.793 ... (0.707 ... 0.879)

http://www.spottedratings.com/2018/01/spotted-ratings-friday-1518.html#disqus_thread

 

R.I.P OUAT. This confirms now that OUAT has been dragging the entire Friday night line up down. A Game Show does better then OUAT has done all season. It's done.

[Lady Calypso]

On 05/01/2018 at 0:00 AM, Camera One said:

If Josh Dallas had wanted to stay on the show, maybe they could have paired Whook with Wish James as a dastardly couple, and they finally decide to become better men after they were tragically separated.  

Didn't Josh Dallas essentially get fired from the show, though? I know Jen Morrison decided to not come back for season 7, but didn't the rest of the cast not named Lana, Colin, or Robert just not get asked to come back for season 7? 

Though, man, I wish Josh Dallas was still on the show. I always liked Charming/David and I enjoyed his portrayal of James. 

[Mabinogia]

So, what, no Golden Globes for this stellar show? BWAHHAHAHHAAAA Sorry, couldn't resist.

I, too, wish Josh had stayed. David/Charming could have been a dud of a character but I think Josh made him quite charming. I really enjoyed him and Colin together so it would have been cool to see him carry over to the new show. They could have been partners (at the force...or otherwise *wink wink*). I would have liked that better than Whook and Weaver whose partnership seems pointless right now. Are they partners? Or do they just both happen to be cops? They are still cops, right? I haven't seen Weaver do anything copish in a while so maybe he's not? Wait, why am I asking? It doesn't seem to make any difference on the show.

But a Charming/Hook buddy cop show, I would have been all over that like salt on a French fry. They hang out at Roni's where they run into a young writer, Henry, who wants to write about their lives as cops. Druzilla can stick around, she can be a young drug lord they are trying to take down. Her "drugs" could be magic. Alice can stick around. Everyone else can go.

[CCTC]

38 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Didn't Josh Dallas essentially get fired from the show, though?

I suspect he might have  been if he and Ginny had not already told them prior to season 6 they were not going beyond their contract.   I think that fit in with their plans, so they let them go without trying to dissuade them.  Of all the departures last year, I suspect this one was the closest to being mutual.

 

23 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

I really enjoyed him and Colin together so it would have been cool to see him carry over to the new show

I remember even before the reboot and the arcs were getting less and less satisfactorily resolved, that the show might be better as a more light-hearted adventure show with Hook, Charming, and Emma having fairy tale adventures and/or fighting crime. 

It was a waste of the two actors' chemistry to decide to do an arc with them prior to season 6, then when the arc was pushed back (possibly due to Aladdin)  not even bother to have the characters develop their relationship or at least have more scenes together in 6A, so when the episode really did happen, there would be more of a depth to what was happening.  I also maybe would not have resolved the father's death by having Charming find out off-screen and basically tell Hook they were ok in a 30 second scene (ideally the murder would not have happened, but that is a different story).

Edited January 8, 2018 by CCTC

[Souris]

45 minutes ago, CCTC said:

I remember even before the reboot and the arcs were getting less and less satisfactorily resolved, that the show might be better as a more light-hearted adventure show with Hook, Charming, and Emma having fairy tale adventures and/or fighting crime.

That would have been the dream setup.

[Rumsy4]

Dungey "cautiously optimistic" about ONCE renewal. Abc must be desperate.

[Lady Calypso]

3 hours ago, CCTC said:

I suspect he might have  been if he and Ginny had not already told them prior to season 6 they were not going beyond their contract.   I think that fit in with their plans, so they let them go without trying to dissuade them.  Of all the departures last year, I suspect this one was the closest to being mutual.

Ah, ok. I am re-reading some older interviews and I guess I was actually thinking of Rebecca Mader and Emilie de Ravin who were essentially fired. 

3 hours ago, CCTC said:

I remember even before the reboot and the arcs were getting less and less satisfactorily resolved, that the show might be better as a more light-hearted adventure show with Hook, Charming, and Emma having fairy tale adventures and/or fighting crime. 

I would have been down for that. Well, I think before season 7, I might not have because of my dislike for Captain Swan. But with what season 7 has given us, I appreciate Captain Swan about a million times more.

[Kktjones]

6 minutes ago, Rumsy4 said:

Dungey "cautiously optimistic" about ONCE renewal. Abc must be desperate.

Yeah, I know some people here are actively rooting for the show to be cancelled, but given these comments I don't think it's dead yet. My guess is it goes down to the wire just like last season. Which, of course, means that A&E will be focused on S8 and won't treat this as the end/invite the old cast back for the series finale, etc. They may not learn the show's fate until after filming is over which means they could leave it open-ended. 

Edited January 8, 2018 by Kktjones

[superloislane]

1 hour ago, Rumsy4 said:

Dungey "cautiously optimistic" about ONCE renewal. Abc must be desperate.

The TCAs is a PR event. No network says anything negative about their shows - never have, never will because that makes their network and their decision making skills look bad. It's not like she's going to say 'Oh yeah it's been a total failure we shouldn't have kept it.' Even for shows they have already cancelled like The Mayor they only say good things like saying it was because of political fatigue that people didn't watch it (The Mayor was actually doing better than Once just to point that out!).

[cappoe]

Reaper thinks it's a load of horse manure. He said do not believe anything the execs say at these events and he's always said in the past if the only positive thing to discuss about a show is delayed viewing that is not good and a sure sign of cancellation. Because Ad-buyers do not benefit from delayed viewing. Especially when you include the fact that OUAT's +7 numbers are absolutely horrible. A 0.9 +7 for the mid season finale meanwhile AOS gets a 1.3/1.4 in delayed viewing in+7 That's what delayed viewing is supposed to do.

Dungey is straight up doing PR. 

[Mabinogia]

The only way this show doesn't get cancelled is if they had some iron clad contract to do more seasons and it would cost more to buy out the contract than just produce the show, which it might. The budget this season seems to be the change A&E found under the couch cushions in the writers room. 

[Camera One]

Quote

Dungey notes that a potential season 8 would also depend on the creative, which she has not yet heard. “Eddy [Kitsis] and Adam [Horowitz] are going to be coming in shortly to talk with us about what they would want to be doing if they had another season, so I can’t really say until we’ve had that conversation,” Dungey said.

LOL!  I'm imagining the two of them dressed like Frollo and Governor Radcliffe to pitch their great new ideas for Season 8.

Most likely, Season 8 will be Grown-Up Lucy's son knocking on her door and declaring he's her mother.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Camera One

[superloislane]

22 minutes ago, Camera One said:

Dungey notes that a potential season 8 would also depend on the creative, which she has not yet heard. “Eddy [Kitsis] and Adam [Horowitz] are going to be coming in shortly to talk with us about what they would want to be doing if they had another season, so I can’t really say until we’ve had that conversation,” Dungey said.

Since when do showrunners have to pitch a new season's storyline in order to get a renewal? And what would the pitch be?

A&E: So...there's a new curse

Dungey: GENIUS!

[KingOfHearts]

1 hour ago, superloislane said:

Since when do showrunners have to pitch a new season's storyline in order to get a renewal? And what would the pitch be?

A&E: So...there's a new curse

Dungey: GENIUS!

Why do I feel like this was exactly what happened for the S7 pitch?

[Camera One]

It definitely seems like dejà vu, though last year, A&E spoke to Dungey before the winter holidays.  

Quote

“Eddy and Adam came in and talked with me right before the holiday about what some of their potential ideas might be for Season 7,” ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey told Deadline at TCA today. “There was some interesting stuff, we gave them some feedback, and they are now working and are going to come back and sit with me in a couple of weeks.  I think that, having had worked on Lost, they have a very good sense of the engagement with fans and wanting to end the story in the right way.”

It will be after that meeting that Dungey and her team will make a decision whether there will be a Season 7 of Once Upon A Time. But “regardless of what we decide to do at the end of this season, I think they think they would put a little bit of a bow here, and then there is a next piece that comes after that, so they are trying to figure out what that is and how that works.”

[KAOS Agent]

ABC has already put in a straight to series order for a light drama with Nathan Fillion for next year. That's one drama hour filled. And a second straight to series order for Castle 2.0 with Rachel Bilson & Eddie Cibrian. That's two drama hours filled. I would think these two would go back to back and would bump some other struggling show to Fridays. Or they could just go all game shows on Fridays. Pretty much everything beats Once now. A rerun of Shark Tank outdid Once a couple of weeks ago.

[Writing Wrongs]

Once was a Jeopardy question today. Of course, it was about Regina.

[KingOfHearts]

1 hour ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Once was a Jeopardy question today. Of course, it was about Regina.

"This TV show is the epicenter of stagnant characters, amateur writing, and regal Mary Sues."

"What is Once Upon a Time?"

[sharky]

I don’t know if straight to series means much. 10 Days in the Valley with Kyra Sedgwick went straight to series and promptly crashed.

Between the two straight to series and Shonda Rhimes new offerings, ABC could have a decent drama stable to replace Once. But it’s also ABC so who the hell knows. 

[Rumsy4]

2 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

Once was a Jeopardy question today. Of course, it was about Regina.

“This misunderstood villain-turned hero is bold and audacious; she feels things from her soul.”

[jhlipton]

5 hours ago, sharky said:

ABC could have a decent drama stable to replace Once.

Neither The Rookie (with Nathan Fillion)  or It Takes Two (or Castle 2.0 as @KAOS Agent calls it) sound like "decent" dramas -- more like dreck if you ask me (which no one did).

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, jhlipton said:

more like dreck if you ask me (which no one did).

So the perfect replacement for this dreck. haha

[ParadoxLost]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 6:43 PM, Writing Wrongs said:

Once was a Jeopardy question today. Of course, it was about Regina.

I knew I'd seen a jeopardy clue before.  It blows my mind that they managed to retcon Jeopardy.

In April 2015

On this show Regina, evil queen & mayor of Storybrooke, destroyed a world

This week

When this TV drama premiered in 2011, Regina was innocent, but Rumplestiltskin helped turn her into the evil queen

 

I can't believe I'm having Jeopardy deja vu now.  Or that I care enough to track the clues down.

Edited January 11, 2018 by ParadoxLost

[Camera One]

It looks like they're "breaking" Episode 18 now.  On the white board?

Quote

Brigitte Hales‏ @InkTankGirl Jan 9

Slaves to our boards. What can we say. Natural beauty will not stop us breaking episode 18.

Dana Horgan‏ @horgandee Jan 10

Joke's on us once we introduce leprechauns, tho.

Brigitte Hales‏ @InkTankGirl

Replying to @horgandee   Season eight!!

[KAOS Agent]

I was checking out the ticket sales for the Once Creation Con in Vancouver and I'm starting to wonder if Jen wasn't invited because they've realized that if they had to pay her, the con wouldn't be financially viable. I've noticed that Bex hasn't been listed as attending either and that's really surprising since she's back on the show. None of the newbies are listed either, which is odd since they are all in Vancouver for filming. Money would explain the disconnect from the marketing/PR people indicating that they were inviting Jen and then later backtracking after the money people had a chat about profitability with them.

For reference, I also looked at the Supernatural con in Seattle the next weekend just to get an idea of where other conventions' ticket sales are a couple of months out. That convention has double the number of seats, but its Silver Packages have sold out and Copper was also rather full. In contrast, Once has sold about half its Gold Packages (these include the set tour, so I would expect that to be a key selling point over the others), Silver has sold less than 20% and Copper has sold just four tickets total. I wonder where their break even point is on this. Maybe they get a lot of GA people who want autographs/photos? But those with packages get precedence and there's a limited amount of time for these kinds of things.

Edited January 13, 2018 by KAOS Agent

[Camera One]

Quote

Brigitte Hales‏ @InkTankGirl Jan 12

About to start writing my last OUAT episode of the season. Send chocolate, and weirdly, Wheat Thins.

I wonder what they do once they're done writing their last episode?  Plan for the game-changing season finale as a team?

Quote

Once has sold about half its Gold Packages (these include the set tour, so I would expect that to be a key selling point over the others)

Have they already dismantled the old sets?  A tour of Roni's bar and Adult Henry or Jacinda's apartments wouldn't be too exciting.  

[legaleagle53]

On 1/5/2018 at 5:52 AM, CCTC said:

I am not sure Once is aware same-sex couples can be male.  Have they even implied a minor male character is gay?

No, and I wish they had.  At the risk of sounding sexist, as a gay man, I find lesbian characters and lesbian couples to be a-dime-a-dozen because they're supposedly the "safer" choice.  Just once, I'd like to see gay male characters and couples that aren't a walking stereotype!

Edited January 14, 2018 by legaleagle53

[KingOfHearts]

8 hours ago, Camera One said:

A tour of Roni's bar and Adult Henry or Jacinda's apartments wouldn't be too exciting.  

I would like a tour of the drug-infested food truck.

[daxx]

17 hours ago, Camera One said:

I wonder what they do once they're done writing their last episode?  Plan for the game-changing season finale as a team?

Have they already dismantled the old sets?  A tour of Roni's bar and Adult Henry or Jacinda's apartments wouldn't be too exciting.  

I kinda knew I was giving up my last chance at the studio tour last year when I cancelled my room for Van. But as a single mom I just couldn’t responsibly spend that money.

[Camera One]

I hope Steveston's main street never changes.  As long as that remains intact, it does allow you to "feel" like you're in Storybrooke, minus the clock tower.  I'm afraid it will eventually get more developed, though.  I'm surprised that garage mechanic lot is still the way it is (the main intersection where everyone walks down the street together side by side).  Even the small building that houses Granny's seem like a poor use of space since it's so far in from the road.  

[Free]

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 8:28 PM, KingOfHearts said:

Why do I feel like this was exactly what happened for the S7 pitch?

That's because it's the exact same thing and we all know how that turned out.

[KingOfHearts]

6 hours ago, Camera One said:

I hope Steveston's main street never changes.  As long as that remains intact, it does allow you to "feel" like you're in Storybrooke, minus the clock tower.  I'm afraid it will eventually get more developed, though.  I'm surprised that garage mechanic lot is still the way it is (the main intersection where everyone walks down the street together side by side).  Even the small building that houses Granny's seem like a poor use of space since it's so far in from the road.  

Visiting Steveston is on my bucket list. I've always loved the way Storybrooke looks. It makes me want to live there.

[AnotherCastle]

On 13.1.2018 at 10:34 PM, Camera One said:

Have they already dismantled the old sets?  A tour of Roni's bar and Adult Henry or Jacinda's apartments wouldn't be too exciting.  

In the print version of EW introducing the new characters, there was the trivia info that they had rebuild the Pawnshop set to be Roni's bar. So that set doesn't exist anymore.

[CCTC]

17 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

. I've always loved the way Storybrooke looks.

I understand the change of settings being necessary, but Seattle-brooke has never seemed like any place interesting or special - just a generic city set.  Even Roni's bar has no character and does not reflect any of her personalities.

[KingOfHearts]

2 hours ago, CCTC said:

I understand the change of settings being necessary, but Seattle-brooke has never seemed like any place interesting or special - just a generic city set.  Even Roni's bar has no character and does not reflect any of her personalities.

And it's entirely possible to make things look believable with a limited budget. It just requires creativity, which the producers can only produce intermittently. 

[Shanna Marie]

22 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

And it's entirely possible to make things look believable with a limited budget. It just requires creativity, which the producers can only produce intermittently. 

I can't help but think of how Grimm made Portland look like a magical fairytale place, without really changing anything. They used lighting and did some things to make colors pop, like in the pilot when "red riding hood's" red hoodie was so intensely red, standing out against everything else. Or the way the trees in the forest could either look bright green and magical or dark and mysterious. They used camera angles to make things look big and imposing or small and quaint. So you can take a modern city and make it look like a fairy tale setting. But this season, they aren't even trying to do so much as a "wink, nudge" approach to suggest that these are fairytale people, nothing like the "Game of Thorns" florist or the three bears' spa. Roni's bar is just "Roni's," not "The Poisoned Apple" or "The Ugly Stepsister" (a la Grimm). The development isn't called "The Enchanted Forest." The high rise isn't some reference to Rapunzel's tower. Cheers seemed like a more magical place than Roni's bar does.

[CCTC]

15 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

Cheers seemed like a more magical place than Roni's bar does.

Um - Cheers was a magical place (well maybe not the last few years, but at one time).

[KingOfHearts]

1 hour ago, Shanna Marie said:

Cheers seemed like a more magical place than Roni's bar does.

A Cheers-like bar for fairy tale characters would be amazing. If you've seen the YouTube series, "How It Should Have Ended", there's a parody of Cheers called the Villains Pub where all the famous movie villains hang out and complain about the heroes. That would be pretty hilarious in Storybrooke. Watch Emma and Hook find it and do a drug-bust type break-in.

[Free]

4 hours ago, CCTC said:

I understand the change of settings being necessary, but Seattle-brooke has never seemed like any place interesting or special - just a generic city set.  Even Roni's bar has no character and does not reflect any of her personalities.

Storybrooke was essentially a character of its own, it was a special small town back when it had that communal feel to it.

Roni's bar is just a generic hangout for characters come in and out and dump in exposition, so it does reflect her bland new personality in a way which is another problem altogether.

Edited January 15, 2018 by Free

[Mabinogia]

5 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

there's a parody of Cheers called the Villains Pub where all the famous movie villains hang out and complain about the heroes. That would be pretty hilarious in Storybrooke.

That would have been the perfect idea for Roni's. The evil queen running a bar for villains would have been epic. 

[KingOfHearts]

1 hour ago, Free said:

Storybrooke was essentially a character of its own, it was a special small town back when it had that communal feel to it.

Roni's bar is just a generic hangout for characters come in and out and dump in exposition, so it does reflect her bland new personality in a way which is another problem altogether.

Roni's is the new Charming loft. Everyone is always there to discuss whatever is happening within the plot, even when they don't need to be there.

[cappoe]

Three weeks in and it's now proven without a shadow of a doubt that if you put anything in OUAT's slot it will perform better then OUAT and elevate the entire line up. Meanwhile OUAT kills their line up.

[Rumsy4]

I guess poor Emily and Sean not only lost their jobs, but weren’t even invited to the cons to make some money on the side. Of course, Sean hasn’t really been a regular on the Show in a while, but he was a draw at cons, as were Emily and Bex Mader in their fan bases. Not inviting Bex Mader seems the oddest omission, as she’s actually in several episodes this season. I wonder if the fillers like the actors playing dwarfs were invited. The Grumpy actor tends to facilitate panels. 

Edited January 29, 2018 by Rumsy4

[Camera One]

Maybe the Convention's budget is limited, and some of the fillers don't have to be paid as much? Actors who don't live in the city like Emily and Sean would also have to be flown in.  Maybe those are the reasons for the quizzical choices?  Most of the new cast isn't there either.

Edited January 29, 2018 by Camera One

[KAOS Agent]

I suspect the budget is a big reason. Tickets aren't selling for the big names (Lana & Colin) and I don't think adding Bex or Emilie is going to generate enough ticket sales to cover their fees. I question whether the current sales are enough to cover the guests they already have. Sales are not great. By my calculations, they've sold only about $125,000 in Vancouver, which may seem like a lot but that needs to cover the cost of the facility, staff, travel and compensation for talent and the set tours in addition to other costs. Obviously, there are general admission tickets being sold, but those are lower cost and they'd need to sell a lot of them to really generate the revenue needed to make a convention profitable. I can't see them breaking even with less than 40% of available tickets sold. The prices are way too high and this show's once highly engaged fanbase has largely abandoned the show this season. Some may still be watching, but the passion that would drive some people to pay a hundreds of dollars to attend a convention is gone. 

Edited January 29, 2018 by KAOS Agent

[PixiePaws1]

The drama that Lana's utterly classless agent stirred up last week with all the subtle(not!) JMo bashing certainly hasn't helped matters.

[Rumsy4]

7 hours ago, KAOS Agent said:

Tickets aren't selling for the big names (Lana & Colin) and I don't think adding Bex or Emilie is going to generate enough ticket sales to cover their fees.

I do think sales would’ve been better if they’d invited JMo. A bunch of Emma/CS are not going just because she isn’t going to be there. 

I wonder if con sales would’ve been better if the Show hadn’t been renewed, or if more fans would have drifted away.

[daxx]

14 minutes ago, Rumsy4 said:

I do think sales would’ve been better if they’d invited JMo. A bunch of Emma/CS are not going just because she isn’t going to be there. 

I wonder if con sales would’ve been better if the Show hadn’t been renewed, or if more fans would have drifted away.

Cons go on successfully after a show ends. I do think season 7 soured people that would have shown up if JMo and Colin were both there again this year.

Once again so glad I went to Burbank last year.