DVDizzy Forum

I am beyond being on tenterhooks for this season to start, especially after hearing about this mid season finale. . . . . Spring can't come soon enough!!

This is a new scheme isn't it ? Stopping the show completely halfway through ? Are they still filming the series now, or have they stopped for Winter as well?

taei wrote:Hi!
But overall, it wasn't that bad. Better than a lot of the episodes in the show. I really like the way that they ended it and had hoped that it would be a series finale or a season finale cause it seems weird to start a brand new story line with a brand new villain halfway through the season.

I have to agree with you. I think it would have been great to end the show on that note, and would have been the perfect ending. I'm just paranoid of there being a cliff hanger ending, only for it to get canceled with no resolution to the cliffhanger

Ok, ALL OF YOU NEED TO SEE THIS

http://chickennuggetpower.tumblr.com/ta ... ey-summary

I really don't think it will be cancelled; the numbers are way too strong at this point. Entertainment weekly have said that they think season 4 is pretty much confirmed.

Just worried about Ginny's involvement now !

disneyboy20022 wrote:
I have to agree with you. I think it would have been great to end the show on that note, and would have been the perfect ending. I'm just paranoid of there being a cliff hanger ending, only for it to get canceled with no resolution to the cliffhanger

I also agree. It really did have the feeling of a series finale.

I think a season 4 is for sure. But I don't think it'll see the light of day after that, unfortunately, with the ratings being really awful even in the winter season (spring ratings are usually lower for most shows, so I can only expect it'll be even worse by the season's end). The ratings are below what Desperate Housewives was making when it was cancelled.

Of course, what OUAT may have in its favor is that ABC doesn't have many hits right now. Ratings are going down for everything, even their morning shows are having their problems. Another thing--unlike Desperate Housewives, the actors on this show probably aren't being paid extreme amounts, so even with the CGI and costumes, it probably costs much much less to make this show, so even with lower ratings there may still be some profit.

I've always thought Once was doing well in ratings?!

atlanticaunderthesea wrote:http://tvline.com/2013/12/18/fall-tv-ra ... cis-voice/

This might be a dumb question on my part, but is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Disney's Divinity wrote:

Disney Duster wrote:I don't think you really know how much a show normally knows in advance. Not that I do either, but I expect they should know it far enough in advance not to make mistakes like that. And this mistake occured in the first season.

Disney's Divinity wrote:Which is completely clear.

Like I said, most shows do not have their entire backstory developed at the outset, because there is always a real possibility of being dropped after 3 to 7 episodes. The pilot is a concept of the show the writers are selling to the network and the viewers.

If I don't know, how do you know?

Traditionally when any primetime writer develops a television show, they create a five-year-plan of where they want the story and the characters to go across five seasons. This is for both creative reasons and business reasons. Usually once a show hits 100 episodes, they're viable for syndication, and the 100-episode mark occurs during the fifth season. Thus, the writers need to create a story template that will last five seasons. The pilot has to sell the concept, but the series has to endure season by season, so writers will need both a concept and a story template that lasts that long.

Of course, how much or how little detail goes into the plan will obviously not be divulged to the audience. And as Disney's Divinity pointed out, a show may not even last beyond a few episodes and get canned by the midseason Episode 13, so it would be a lot of wasted work to outline every little thing when there's the potential to do it all across five years. But it's safe to assume that when any series is first being conceived, the writers will had a rough idea of what would happen across that five-year span. They won't know episode breakdowns of "Story ABC should reach Plot Point #19 by Season 4, Episode 10," that's what they develop across the season, not at the onset.

Naturally, this all has the potential to change as the series progresses. Characters or stories may prove unpopular, a breakout character emerges that would necessitate some changes, maybe an actor decides to leave (or gets fired). But ultimately, any show's creator(s) will have already planned ahead towards a specific goal by a specific time. In the process, story details and other things may have changed. What someone said in Episode 3 could be in relation to their longterm plan at the time, but by Episode 17 needs to be changed because of some new master plan that's emerged since, and portions of that plan could change again by Episode 75.

Besides, I imagine most writers would go crazy if they hold every detail given as sacrosanct canon when so much more happens in the writing of a series across each season. Consistent continuity is admirable and some shows are good at keeping to it ("How I Met Your Mother" for example). But it's not something that should dictate how every future episode should be written. Sometimes things change, and they simply have to let it slide. Going in blind can be more fun for the writer (call it a creative challenge), but not if the audience recognizes that the writers are just making it up as they go along. As contrived and interlocking as "Once Upon a Time" is, there is a sense that the writers know where they're going, even if I'm not a particular fan of the journey. Complex, intertwining stories can be brilliant, as evident by Robert Altman films, daytime soaps under the right conditions, and serialized British imports. But OUAT seems to want complexity for the sake of it, rather than for any overarching purpose. They seem unsure of both how long they want to tell this story, as well as unsure if they're able to even tell it well.

Albert (who didn't see a point in anyone drudging up a comment from February simply to ask a simple, passive-aggressive question, but that's UD for you...)

I'm very grateful for that post, Escapay, since I think all I could have managed was an eyeroll. And I agree, I don't think the OUAT are great writers, especially lately, but I still enjoy the interlocking storylines/character twists and I'm one of those people who rarely abandons a show I loved in the beginning (Well, Glee might be the exception. ).

I've seen more pictures of Wicked Witch of the West on other forums and I definitely like the look. Hope the actress gives a good performance, but OUAT hasn't had a bad villain yet, imo, even when they could've been better utilized than they were (like Cora).

Do they still carry on filming the season in the winter break, or are they stopping until a few weeks before? Just wondering how Ginnifer will be dealt with; will we have a Bree from Desperate Housewives stood behind a lot of stuff then go away on a trip situation, or will it be written in …. I guess writing it in will be fine, but flashbacks could be a little hard.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I'm very grateful for that post, Escapay, since I think all I could have managed was an eyeroll.

Anytime, Divinity.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I'm one of those people who rarely abandons a show I loved in the beginning. (Well, Glee might be the exception. )

"Glee" probably would have been a show that I would have stuck through to the bitter end. But since Cory Monteith's death, I simply can't bring myself to watch it anymore. If my brother is watching, I usually have to go into another room, and the few times I stick around to watch are if it's an interesting scene or if we're on the lookout for one of our friends in the background (long story, not relevant here). But the loss of Cory and Finn was just too much.

Steering this back to OUAT, I wish I could enjoy the interlocking stories more, but most of the time, their Julie and Julia back-and-forth method feels forced these days when it's with veteran characters. Just how many times do we have to see another Regina/Snow confrontation and the fallout of it in which Snow realizes that love prevails over evil? For new characters, it's fine, as it's another story getting retold. And that's always interesting, since the revisionist outlook was what drew me to the series in the first place. Half the time, I usually would prefer having a straighforward series of the flashbacks because they are that good.

But now, most of the flashbacks (again, for the veteran characters) just feel like, "Oh, crap, we need a new flashback scene to once again explain why Regina said 'I hate you' to Snow." That's when the writers come across as making it up as they go along, and it creates very uneven portrayals. Of course, I'm more forgiving of it with Regina (Lana Parrilla can do no wrong), because she's the only compelling character that's shown any type of growth throughout both the flashbacks and the present day.

I still haven't seen the fall finale, though I hear it's quite the game changer. Hopefully it'll be enough to get me to actually care about other characters when I'm watching.

Bring back Jefferson and pair him with Regina.

Albert

Actually, though I never noticed, you have a point about the lack of variety in the flashbacks. Snow White has been stretched beyond thin, despite having some good moments there. Meanwhile, I've always been interested in all the lesser characters backstories and foashbacks.

The fall finale changes everything. Forget "game changing" they practically reset the board with all the same pieces, give or take.

atlanticaunderthesea wrote:Do they still carry on filming the season in the winter break, or are they stopping until a few weeks before? Just wondering how Ginnifer will be dealt with; will we have a Bree from Desperate Housewives stood behind a lot of stuff then go away on a trip situation, or will it be written in …. I guess writing it in will be fine, but flashbacks could be a little hard.

I actually think the winter break coincides with the break in the schedule, since some of the actors and producers may have to travel to do other projects and/or go be with family for the Holidays.

Old Fish Tale wrote:

taei wrote:And the CGI is cringe worthy.. If you can't have good CGI, stop writing scenes in such extravagant settings.

I couldn't agree more. People keep saying "But it's television!". There are television shows with brilliant special effects. But it's clear they don't want to spend much money on this one. And I wouldn't either with scripts like those.

Yeah we had this discussion, but Game of Thrones and those shows that have spectacular effects dont shoot 23 episodes per season year-round.

Yea but Escapay how do you know either?

Disney Duster wrote:Yea but Escapay how do you know either?

No answer I give will satisfy you, so I'll just do what Divinity intended:



Albert

I kinda just came to a realization. The Flashbacks in Once Upon a Time, are quite like the flashback many people with Asperger's like me have. We have a vast memory and sometimes, a certain thing triggers it and sometimes it can be a negative thing or a bad thing and you feel exactly that way you did when the event happened.

I ran this just now by my dad and he agreed. Just the way they happen for me are like my Aspie Flashbacks almost to a T at least it's that way for me.

That still doesn't tell me how Divinity knew, and in case you didn't notice, he was the passive-aggresive meanie to me first.

Anyway, there seemed to be no good reason Rumple had to die with Pan, as he could have stabbed only Pan, but I loved that Rumple kissed his father as they died. It showed that even after all his father did and said, Rumple still loved him like a true son.

Disney Duster wrote: Anyway, there seemed to be no good reason Rumple had to die with Pan, as he could have stabbed only Pan

Perhaps that wouldn't have worked because Pan was too powerful