There are lots of choices of shows to watch, stream, etc these days. With only 24 hours in a day (and jobs, family, etc taking up a lot of those hours) it becomes more difficult to choose shows to watch. I realize that there are many reasons that people start and continue to watch shows, but one show has continued to keep me coming back to it, and that is ABC TV’s Once Upon a Time. I want to share my 5 Reasons I still watch and enjoy ABC TV’s “Once Upon a Time”.
5. It’s a modern day morality play. I love stories, but stories with depth and layers are far more interesting to me. If you peel back layers of stories like the Original Star Wars Trilogy, it’s a morality play of choosing the light side and the dark side of the force. The warnings are clear and we watch what happens when someone chooses one or the other.
Once Upon a Time is the same.
We hope that certain characters will do the right thing, but they sometimes (Okay, many times) don’t. We (the audience) know the risks and/or the reward from making choices, and watch the characters enjoy the good or struggle through their choices. Life is messy. Sure, we wish everyone would make the right choice all then time, but that doesn’t make very good dramatic television and also it doesn’t teach us anything. Sometimes we learn by watching people make wrong choices, and there are many made on Once Upon a Time.
4. It’s an extension (Not a copy) of the Disney movies we grew up with. We all remember the Disney’s retelling of classic stories, but Once Upon a Time take’s a “fan fiction twist” if you will on the Disney version, plus original story elements and adding a heavy dose of the story Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis want to tell. There are enough nods to the stories we remember, but also a new helping of new story twists making it a brand new experience. To me, Adam and Eddy are the Walt Disney (as far as TV show story writing goes) for a new generation.
3. It’s a “Reality Show” for Heroes and Villians. Adam and Eddy have challenged us to think beyond the boxes we like to put characters in: They are a Villain (always bad) – They are a Hero (always good). We struggle to do the right thing, and yet do the wrong, but we make these cardboard 1 dimensional story characters that can never wrestle or struggle like we do, because we don’t want heroes or villains to be like us. They are, and great writers like Adam and Eddy remind us of that.
Regina’s multi-seasonal redemption arc from Evil Queen/Evil Mayor to hero who uses light magic and is a card-carrying member of the heroes of Storybrooke is the most incredible of all.
Rumpel/Gold has had an “almost” redemption journey. Just when you think he’s there, – the old power hungry Rumpel kicks in, well like I said – it’s like real like (without the magical stuff).
Snow, Charming and Emma we learn had darkness in their past. Heroes have to struggle against darkness to make right decisions to be the Hero.
Strength without struggle is impossible. The struggle we see makes these characters resonate with us.
2. It has some of the strongest actors on television today. Lana, Robert, Ginnifer, Josh, Jennifer… I could go on and on about the strong cast in Once Upon a Time. They are top notch actors, that many people have never heard of. You can feel the emotion their characters are giving off through the TV screen. I feel it. That is the key to great acting, and OUAT has it all around. They make you laugh with them, cry with them, relate with them and are repelled by them, too.
1. It’s like a diamond – we see the same thing, but take away only a facet. We are not all the same. We all have different life paths, beliefs, etc, and the great thing about OUAT is that whoever we are – we watch it, see and take away something different from it. OUAT has a “magical” power that pulls people together that normally wouldn’t be to share this incredible story about incredible characters told with incredible actors by incredible writers and crew.
My wife and I host the Once Upon a Time Fan Podcast (http://onceuponatimepodcast.com), and if you love OUAT, we invite you to check out our podcast.
Sure, we wish everyone would make the right choice all then time, but that doesn’t make very good dramatic television and also it doesn’t teach us anything. Sometimes we learn by watching people make wrong choices, and there are many made on Once Upon a Time.
OMG, you nailed it. I loved this point especially. When I was younger, I used to love the good guys. In Star Wars, my fave was Obi-Wan Kenobi and then I noticed a trend happening with my favorite characters as I got older.
I drifted towards the flawed characters. Not just on Once, but in my soap opera world too. The flawed characters won’t always make the right decisions, but they will correct their mistake later and often own them. That’s why it grates on me when people crucify Hook but don’t give other characters the same treatment who are equally flawed. I feel like Oncers have to give each character an equal scale when judging their actions. I think then most people would understand the characters a lot better and where they’re coming from.
We’re finding out this season that even our characters that we consider “good” are even flawed themselves. And that makes them more relatable because that’s what it means to be human. People make mistakes, even the good ones.