Once Upon a Time, Grimm, and more

Once upon a time. Sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale. And so it should, because it is. But it's also a new  program on Sunday nighs on ABC which I decided to give a try, despite the fact that I probably haven't watched anything on ABC since NYPD Blue aired, which has been a while. But I gave this show a chance, and I'm glad I did. It's more than just a show about fairy tales, it takes what we know and reinvents it in a very interesting way. It has to do with Snow White and Prince Charming - and the Evil Queen, of course. What fairy tale is complete without one? She lays a dark curse on the kingdom for the slights done to her - imagined or otherwise - and the only hope for the inhabitants lies with the child of Snow White and the Prince, an infant girl named Emma, who's wisked to safety. It is prophesied that she will save them when she's 28. Okay, fastforward a bit. We meet a tough hard-hitting bailbondsman named Emma, who is approached by a ten year old boy who claims she is his birth mother. Not a stretch, as she did give up a child ten years before. But she never expected to see him again. The boy's name is Henry, and he has a book of fairy tales. He says the town where he comes from needs her, she is their only hope. Thrown for a loop, she doesn't know what else to do, so Emma takes Henry back to Storybrooke. Of course she doesn't believe his claim that the inhabitants are under an enchantment, and don't realize they're all fairy tale characters. Who would?  But when Emma arrives, things begin to happen. Such as the town clock, which hasn't run within everyone's memory - starts up again.

This is a well-told, well-acted show. I am already engrossed in it and enjoying it, waiting to see what will happen next. *****possible spoilers******** From the first show, you realize that Emma is the child of Snow White, who turns out to be Henry's teacher. The Evil Queen is the Mayor of Storybrook - and Henry's adopted mother. So far we've also seen Rumpelstiltskin, Gepetto and Jiminy Cricket, while Prince Charming lies in a coma in the hospital.  I highly recommend giving this show a try.

Also on Sunday was the start of a new season of Next Iron Chef. This is my first time watching it. I presume the winner will become an Iron Chef on Iron Chef America, but I honestly don't know how it works. All I do know is that some of the chefs I know and some I don't are competing in this challenge. ****spoilers**** It was interesting to see these chefs compete, as some I've only seen as judges, never chefs, such as Alex Guarnaschelli, Marcus Samuelssonand Geoffrey Zakarian. Anne Burrell I've seen cook, and Spike from Top Chef. I wondered why he was even in such company, he isn't even of their calibre. Well, I won't have to worry about him any more, he was the first casualty. In the first show, Spike lucked out and got an advantage. He was able to choose his own partner, and put the other chefs into teams. He tried to set them up so that conflicting styles or personalities would trip them up, while he chose to work with Marcus. The competition is set up in such a way that the two lowest chefs of each episode face off in a sudden death surprise ingredient challenge. Spike and Marcus ended up on bottom, and Spike's grand strategy ended up by him shooting himself in the foot. The secret ingredient was scallops, and Marcus beat him. End of story. Next week takes place in the San Diego ball park, should be interesting.

My daughter Katie talked me into trying two other shows - Grimm and American Horror Story. Grimm is about a man who suddenly starts seeing strange things, and finds out that there are aspects of his family he knew nothing about. The pilot episode involves the disappearance of a little girl. Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) is a homicide detective who is apparently descended from a line of Grimms, who fight and destroy supernatural creatures. The first episode is a take off on Little Red Riding Hood. I enjoyed it greatly, and look forward to seeing more. I believe it airs on Fridays on NBC>

You'll find American Horror Story on FX. It stars Dylan McDermott as a therapist who has an affair and is caught by his wife, so he uproots his family and moves them across country to a gothic Victorian house with a history.  In the pilot episode, you learn that twin boys died here under very mysterious circumstances. They were warned not to go in by a Mongoloid girl named Adelaide. When the Harmons move in, she and her mother are their next door neighbors (the mother is played by veteran actress Jessica Lange). Adelaide has a disconcerting habit of walking in the house whenever she chooses, obsessed with it, and also with telling people they're going to die. Ben works at home, and one of his patients is a young boy with homicidal fantasies who takes a liking to Ben and Vivien's daughter Violet. Violet is having a hard time at the new school, and at first she welcomes his attentions. But things rapidly turn creepy. Ben and Vivien have been estranged, even before the affair, since Vivien miscarried a child at seven months. They're trying to put things back together. Vivien hires Frances Conroy, who was the previous housekeeper (the mother from Six Feet Under). The weird thing is that when Ben looks at her, he doesn't see an older Moira but a young hot one - who keeps coming on to him. He's doing his damnedest to resist this temptation, but when he spies her pleasuring herself, he runs off and jerks off alone. I have to say we get some very nice footage of Mr. McDermott's derriere (no frontal, alas!). The show is creepy, the characters damaged, and the premise very interesting. I'd love to own this house! (sans spirits lol).  I'll keep watching, for sure.

This week's Hawaii 5-0, which aired on Halloween night, was sufficiently spooky, with a guest appearance by horror master Robert Englund. Tonight is Person of Interest and Sweet Genius and Vampire Diaries. More on  those later.

Back to writing and editing and cleaning house!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie