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

[KingOfHearts]

This show is just a glorified game of Mad Libs.

[Inquirer]

They even messed up some details there - Ariel was never on the Nautilus during that episode, and Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, and Ursula did not try to steal a magical orb FROM Rumpelstiltskin, they tried to steal it FOR Rumpelstiltskin, who promptly betrayed them and left them to be killed by the Chernabog.

[Camera One]

Of course, only they would put "Ruby Slippers", the Eggbaby, "The Bear King", Season 7 beignets and Belle's true true love for Rumple among their "top 25" twists.

[Rumsy4]

Of course "Dreamy" hatching from an egg would be one of their favorite twists. 

"Princess Tiana and Princess Cinderella sold magical beignets out of a food truck called Rollin’ Bayou in Seattle." Enough said.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Rumsy4

[Shanna Marie]

So, basically, the writers had diametrically opposed views of the show to our view of the show. The things they're most proud of were the things we generally hated most. That explains a lot.

[Camera One]

ET Interview with Lana about the finale from a few days ago.

[KingOfHearts]

Very mild spoilers: Once Upon a Time's Rebecca Mader says goodbye - again

I like Bex's response. She mentions "hope" once, but she says her favorite part about the show is bringing people together. I can't disagree with her, because I'm glad it brought all of us on this board together to talk about a stupid show we're all hopelessly devoted to. I also dig her spin-off idea about Regina and Zelena being cops in New York, fighting crime. She said it would be comedy, and to be honest I would watch if A&E weren't at the helm. It would be pretty funny, I think. Regina and Zelena would make a good odd couple. (It's a shame they weren't roommates in S6.)

Edited May 17, 2018 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

10 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

I also dig her spin-off idea about Regina and Zelena being cops in New York, fighting crime. She said it would be comedy, and to be honest I would watch if A&E weren't at the helm. It would be pretty funny, I think. Regina and Zelena would make a good odd couple. (It's a shame they weren't roommates in S6.)

They could also have done that in Hyperion Heights for Season 7.  Since Roni was pretty much useless anyway.  

[KingOfHearts]

2 minutes ago, Camera One said:

They could also have done that in Hyperion Heights for Season 7.  Since Roni was pretty much useless anyway.  

I wanted them to totally rip-off Angel and make Regina or Henry solve magical crimes in LA in their own firm.

Edited May 17, 2018 by KingOfHearts

[CCTC]

30 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

I wanted them to totally rip-off Angel and make Regina or Henry solve magical crimes in LA in their own firm.

I kind of thought they might do that sort of thing in Story Brooke for Season 6 with the Land of Untold Stories, but the Land of Untold Stories maybe lasted two or three episodes.  

[Souris]

36 minutes ago, CCTC said:

I kind of thought they might do that sort of thing in Story Brooke for Season 6 with the Land of Untold Stories, but the Land of Untold Stories maybe lasted two or three episodes.  

We should've known A&E wouldn't be able to come up with many Untold Stories.

[Rumsy4]

37 minutes ago, Souris said:

We should've known A&E wouldn't be able to come up with many Untold Stories.

Snort.

[Rumsy4]

Once Upon a Time Series Finale Featurette.

[Camera One]

1 hour ago, Rumsy4 said:

Once Upon a Time Series Finale Featurette.

I was wondering when they are airing that.  Are they showing that in commercial breaks?  Though it's basically just a cut down version of the cast interview video.  I do find it interesting that whoever edited it decided to include a variety of horrible scenes from Season 7 like Gothel and her "friend" leaving Seattle after the genocide, or that Blind Witch jumping on top of Zelena in that brilliant choreography.  Are they hoping someone would go, "Oh I msised all that?!  I'm totally going to stream Season 7 after watching the finale even though I quit!"

Edited May 17, 2018 by Camera One

[Free]

18 minutes ago, Camera One said:

I was wondering when they are airing that.  Are they showing that in commercial breaks?  Though it's basically just a cut down version of the cast interview video.  I do find it interesting that whoever edited it decided to include a variety of horrible scenes from Season 7 like Gothel and her "friend" leaving Seattle after the genocide, or that Blind Witch jumping on top of Zelena in that brilliant choreography.  Are they hoping someone would go, "Oh I msised all that?!  I'm totally going to stream Season 7 after watching the finale even though I quit!"

They chose some of the worst scenes to use.

[Souris]

Jennifer Morrison doesn't regret decision to leave OUAT

(As well she shouldn't!)

[Free]

8 hours ago, Souris said:

Jennifer Morrison doesn't regret decision to leave OUAT

(As well she shouldn't!)

She's made that very clear and no one can really blame her with the way things turned out.

[Rumsy4]

9 hours ago, Free said:

She's made that very clear and no one can really blame her with the way things turned out.

She has done a lot over the past year. She promoted Sun Dogs, and has several acting and directing gigs coming out soon. She would not have been able to accomplish all that if she'd stayed on, especially if abc had wanted to tie her up for more than one year.  

[Rumsy4]

Once Upon a Time bosses pen thank-you letter to fans ahead of finale (X).

[Camera One]

6 hours ago, Rumsy4 said:

Once Upon a Time bosses pen thank-you letter to fans ahead of finale (X).

It was so touching I'm squeezing out some crocodile tears.

[Free]

7 hours ago, Rumsy4 said:

She has done a lot over the past year. She promoted Sun Dogs, and has several acting and directing gigs coming out soon. She would not have been able to accomplish all that if she'd stayed on, especially if abc had wanted to tie her up for more than one year.  

Exactly, moving on was a much better choice instead of sticking around for 1 more year.

[Camera One]

Quote

Adam Horowitz‏ @AdamHorowitzLA 23 Oct 2011

Tonight there's a television program called #OnceUponATime premiering. ABC/8pm. Hope ya give it a shot. Can't wait to hear whatchya think

Adam Horowitz‏ @AdamHorowitzLA 20m20 minutes ago

Adam -- this is you from the future -- the show will last 7 seasons. Plan accordingly and good luck, (Also, whatever you do, don't forget to get to Zorro...)

He really is a real-life Henry.

[Souris]

30 minutes ago, Free said:

Exactly, moving on was a much better choice instead of sticking around for 1 more year.

Given how little A&E gave Regina to do this season -- and they actually LIKE her character -- JMo would've stuck around for probably Granny level scenes.

[AnotherCastle]

EdR and RC tease the finale together on Twitter:

Spoiler

 

[Camera One]

How sad.  Not even a bump for the series finale with around 2.3 million viewers and a 0.5.  At least the half-hour drop wasn't as dramatic.  I guess viewers were slightly more inclined to stick it out 'til the end.

Edited May 19, 2018 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

40 minutes ago, Camera One said:

How sad.  Not even a bump for the series finale with around 2.3 million viewers and a 0.5.  At least the half-hour drop wasn't as dramatic.  I guess viewers were slightly more inclined to stick it out 'til the end.

They were waiting for that 15 seconds of Emma, I guess.

[Free]

52 minutes ago, Camera One said:

How sad.  Not even a bump for the series finale with around 2.3 million viewers and a 0.5.  At least the half-hour drop wasn't as dramatic.  I guess viewers were slightly more inclined to stick it out 'til the end.

I'm guessing that it's because it was the series finale and they wanted to see it end, but yeah, talk about uneventful, most people just didn't care even with the cameos.

[PixiePaws1]

My guess there was so much advance notice of Regina and Rumple being rewarded instead of their victims receiving any smidge of justice, that a LOT of people (like me) waited for the clips of what they wanted to see to pop up on youtube.

[superloislane]

It seems like Jen and Lana didn't actually film together for the finale http://lizacstuff.tumblr.com/post/174063291136/shade#notes

A guy who works on the show talked about how the way it was filmed was tricky and all cut together and there's a line of dialogue which gives it away. There's no one else this could be talking about since we know for a fact she filmed with Colin and Dania (video and picture) and Andrew was in the same row so the only other person she was in a scene with was Lana. 

[Rumsy4]

I wondered about that. 

[Inquirer]

58 minutes ago, superloislane said:

It seems like Jen and Lana didn't actually film together for the finale http://lizacstuff.tumblr.com/post/174063291136/shade#notes

A guy who works on the show talked about how the way it was filmed was tricky and all cut together and there's a line of dialogue which gives it away. There's no one else this could be talking about since we know for a fact she filmed with Colin and Dania (video and picture) and Andrew was in the same row so the only other person she was in a scene with was Lana. 

When Emma and Regina hug, you even can notice that you only see two shots of it, each with one character only seen from the back.  Sounds like stand-in shenanigans. 

[KingOfHearts]

2 hours ago, Rumsy4 said:

I wondered about that. 

I heard rumors that Jen didn't want to work with Lana.

*shrugs*

[Souris]

More shade from the crew guy.

 

[KingOfHearts]

1 hour ago, Souris said:

More shade from the crew guy.

Kinda hoping to see more shade from random cast/crew now that the show is over...

[Rumsy4]

9 hours ago, KingOfHearts said:

I heard rumors that Jen didn't want to work with Lana.

JMo didn't shoot her 7.02 scenes with Lana. That's why I was curious about the finale. It must have been awkward to shoot this one with stand-ins. 

8 hours ago, Souris said:

More shade from the crew guy.

This isn't shade. He's just as confused as the rest of us. lol

[Inquirer]

2 hours ago, Rumsy4 said:

JMo didn't shoot her 7.02 scenes with Lana.

Wow, really? It definitely sounds like there is bad blood between the two of them, wish we knew more about it.

[Souris]

1 hour ago, Inquirer said:

Wow, really? It definitely sounds like there is bad blood between the two of them, wish we knew more about it.

They strike me as very different type of people, so I think it's understandable that perhaps they just didn't relate to each other well. I think most of us work with people that we'd never be friends with or hang out with, while other co-workers we enjoy hanging out with outside of work. Sometimes you can work fine with the co-workers you don't like, but sometimes it's so difficult it's untenable.

This is absolutely nothing but speculation on my part, but I think at some point JMo had enough of Lana baiting and playing to SQers and trying to force JMo to do the same. There were a few instances where I thought Lana kind of threw JMo under the bus with them, so that probably didn't sit well. IMO Lana has always tried to draw attention to and elevate herself, sometimes at the expense of co-workers or their characters. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were some issues with the way A&E shifted the focus from Emma to Regina and started treating Emma like a secondary character and Regina as the lead. 

Edited May 20, 2018 by Souris

[Rumsy4]

They've been co-workers for six years, but it's only in Season 7 that JMo has seemingly refused to work with Lana. So, I personally think it had more to do with contract negotiations. Abc probably did not want to pay JMo at the same rate as before, while Lana may have even been willing to take a paycut if she got other perks like top billing, directing an episode, Regina getting a love interest, Regina being crowned Queen of Everywhere, etc.. Usually salary scales are negotiated based on the top-billed actors. With Ginny definitely out, that only left Robert Carlyle and Jennifer Morrison. I don't know what kind of pay RC gets, but it is very likely that abc would have preferred to retain Lana over Jen in this specific instance, and may have negotiated with her using Lana as the counter-point. 

Edited May 20, 2018 by Rumsy4

[Souris]

5 minutes ago, Rumsy4 said:

They've been co-workers for six years, but it's only in Season 7 that JMo has seemingly refused to work with Lana. 

Season 7 is the first time that JMo had any room to negotiate that, though. She was on contract before that and couldn't insert any "I don't want to work with Lana" demands. There wasn't any way to refuse to work with Lana without causing a real stink and being in violation of her contract and subject to repercussions, and JMo strikes me as too professional for that. But the second her appearances were subject to new negotiation? Boom. 

[Rumsy4]

5 minutes ago, Souris said:

Season 7 is the first time that JMo had any room to negotiate that, though.

That's a good point. She stopped posting selfies with Lana a while back, but I thought that was because of how badly she was being harassed by some of the rabid SQ fans. Who knows what all dramaaz happened behind the scenes.

[Camera One]

It's sad but it seems like a logical explanation.  Lana Parilla was a regular in Season 7 so it's strange that she would not be available on set for the filming of the Emma scenes in both those episodes.  Though if it was known they would film separately, why include a hug?  I'm thankful they didn't have Emma and Hook bow to Regina, though.

Edited May 20, 2018 by Camera One

[RolloTomasi]

Or, alternately, Lana negotiated that she didnt have to film with Jen. She’s the one who was still on the show and she’s the one who has been vocal about her “creative input” into this season. 

Quote

She stopped posting selfies with Lana a while back

Did she ever post selfies with Lana? That’s a serious question. The only one I can think of was the sweater selfie, but that was taken and posted by Lana. Other than that every pic of them together has either been posed or a BTS of filming. 

Edited May 20, 2018 by RolloTomasi

[CCTC]

19 minutes ago, RolloTomasi said:

Did she ever post selfies with Lana?

When Jen was posting old pics for her episode 7 x 2 guest appearance there was one where Lana had been in the original picture but was cropped out in the fall 2017 posting.

[Souris]

19 minutes ago, RolloTomasi said:

Or, alternately, Lana negotiated that she didnt have to film with Jen. She’s the one who was still on the show and she’s the one who has been vocal about her “creative input” into this season. 

Did she ever post selfies with Lana? That’s a serious question. The only one I can think of was the sweater selfie, but that was taken and posted by Lana. Other than that every pic of them together has either been posed or a BTS of filming. 

There were some from early in the series, I think.

As for who negotiated not filming together, either way is possible. I doubt we'll ever know for sure, though gossip may come out (which always has to be taken with a grain of salt depending on who posts it). Given that Lana has always been the one who tried to push for pics/interaction while JMo avoided or demurred, I think she's the less likely option, but who knows.

[october]

I've always gotten the impression that it was Jen who started putting down boundaries between them. It was Jen who walked away from Lana while the latter was trying to secretly film her during the Upfronts before S6, for example.

Edited May 20, 2018 by october

[Camera One]

Rebecca Mader accidentally spoiled the finale.  Sort of.

[KingOfHearts]

2 hours ago, Camera One said:

Rebecca Mader accidentally spoiled the finale.  Sort of.

I've never been too keen on this idea. The most I wanted was for Storybrooke to come to the Enchanted Forest. When you merge all your realms like that, you take away a lot of depth from your story's universe. In simple terms, it's cooler to have multiple dimensions than just one big smooshed-together one.

[Shanna Marie]

41 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

I've never been too keen on this idea. The most I wanted was for Storybrooke to come to the Enchanted Forest. When you merge all your realms like that, you take away a lot of depth from your story's universe. In simple terms, it's cooler to have multiple dimensions than just one big smooshed-together one.

Yes! This exactly. It's good that they ended the series here because this situation wouldn't make for great stories, especially with these writers, who wouldn't delve into the culture clashes. 

[KingOfHearts]

Top 10 Wasted Opportunities of Once Upon a Time

There really needed to be more than 10, lol.

#10 - They complained about 4A not having more characters outside of Frozen, but I thought the Frozen characters were there just enough. They didn't overstay their welcome, but there was also time to flesh them out and let them breathe. (Even if Anna's grand tour of Misthaven was filler for most of it.)

#9 - I agree that Gideon was a waste, but I had no interest in seeing him be anything more than a plot device.

#8 - Totally agree that Hyde should've stayed around longer. He had a lot of charisma and potential for a character study. 

#7 - Again, not something I wanted to explore. I don't care about Henry's love interest. "While not awful by any means, their relationship just felt too safe and boring." Uh, no. Their relationship was the worst pairing this show ever produced other than Golden Queen. "Henry had arguably more chemistry with Drizella. Sure she was the evil stepsister, but that's what made her connection with Henry so interesting. Their romance could've put a fresh spin on a familiar tale, but we're stuck with yet another Cinderella Story" is right on target, though.

#6 - Nobody cares about Maleficent and Lily. It was, however, one of the show's more infamous dropped plots. Screw Zorro.

#5 - Rumple definitely should've died in S3 and came back for cameos in flashbacks.

#4 - This is easily one of my biggest pet peeves with the show. I hate how characters constantly disappeared without reason.

#3 - YES. SO MUCH THIS.

#2 - Hate the love triangle, but all three of those characters had tons of potential. Their stories were not given the proper conclusion. But yes, #GiveMulanAGirlfriend.

#1 - IMO, the Dark One Emma plot was not a good idea to begin with. If Emma acted truly evil, it would've soiled her as a hero and opened up a Pandora's Box of dragging heroes down to make Regina/Rumple look better or "The Dark One curse made me do it". Overall, it turned out to be very pointless because Emma didn't really change anyway.

The honorable mentions were super meh. Nobody wanted to see the Chernobog again. Ruby Slippers would still be dumb even if it weren't so rushed. 

Edited May 21, 2018 by KingOfHearts

[Souris]

A&E have signed big new deals, and I just want to know WTF these companies are thinking. ABC isn't going to rebound if this is who they're banking on. Seriously, WTF????

They must be desperate after losing Shonda. Or they're showing how clueless they are and why exactly the network is faltering so much.

Edited May 22, 2018 by Souris