TV review: Once Upon A Time

It has been quite some time since I've seen a MUST SEE television show. Once Upon A Time fits the bill. Airing on Sunday nights at 8:00PM (Eastern) on ABC, the show takes the classic fairy tale characters and throws them into the real world. While that isn't a new plot (see: The Charmings from the late 80s), this does have a bit of a different take on it.

The series revolves around the fight between Snow White and the Evil Queen. Snow White married her Prince Charming. At the wedding, the Evil Queen storms in and threatens to destroy Snow's happy ending. Fast forwarding a few months, a troubled Snow White is pregnant. She turns to Rumpelstiltskin, who can see the future. He informs the princess that the queen will banish everyone to a realm with no happy endings and that her unborn child will be their savior. The queen unleashes her curse, not only transporting everyone into our world but also wiping all of their memories.

I think what I find most interesting about the show is trying to figure out what the fantasy world counterparts are for the real world people we meet. The heroine, Emma, is, of course, Snow White's daughter. Ten years before the first episode, she gave up a son for adoption. This boy, Henry, is the glue that holds everything together. He brings Emma to Storybook, Maine to help the town regain their memories and restart time. As of the second episode, the only explanation for Henry knowing about the fantasy world is that he believes a fairy tale book that his teacher, who is Snow White, gave him is fact.

Both my husband and I highly recommend this show to everyone. As a matter of fact, he turned it on for our 9-year old daughter this morning. There is nothing really scary in it (yet anyway) so the kids are likely to enjoy it. And the plot is good enough to keep the adults interested as well. It is definitely a show that is good for all.

TV review: Modern Family

Somehow I have forgotten to talk about THE best show of the season - Modern Family. The show is a look into an extended family with a sort of reality show spin to it. There are three separate households that are related to each other. There's Jay's (Ed O'Neill) house where he lives with his second wife, Gloria (Sofia Vergara), and her son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Then there's Claire's (Julie Bowen), Jay's oldest child from his first marriage, house. She lives with her husband Phil (Ty Burrell) and her three children, Hayley (Sarah Hyland), Alex (Ariel Winter), and Luke (Nolan Gould). Finally, there's Mitchell's (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) house. He lives with his partner Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) and their adopted baby girl, Lily.

The three households interact, much like any family would, but each is punctuated with a dialogue directed at the camera/crew. This gives the show a better look into the family dynamics. Instead of just showing the tense relationship between Jay and his out-of-the-closet son, Mitchell, there will be a scene focusing on how the pair interacts, but then the camera will cut to a monologue with each character separately telling how they relate to either each other or the situation. While this sounds like it could be boring, it's often the funniest part of each episode.

This mockumentary way of telling a story isn't particularly new. Christopher Guest does it in all of his movies. However, it is new to a weekly television series. It can be rather difficult to get the storyline across to the audience without getting distracted by the various monologues. Yet it works here. Both the writing and the acting is absolutely brilliant. The show airs on Wednesday nights at 9PM on ABC. I'm not sure if it's available on Hulu, but ABC often reruns episodes. You definitely need to catch this one!

TV: Cougar Town

One of the new shows that I have been watching this season is Cougar Town. To be honest, I never heard about the show until my husband recorded it for me one night. The show had me laughing my butt off right from the beginning.

Here's the premise: Jules (Courtney Cox) is a recently divorced woman with a 17-year old son. With a bit of help from her best friends - Ellie (Christa Miller) and Laurie (Busy Phillips) - she tries to put a little excitement in her life and, maybe, find a good man along the way.

At first glance, it doesn't look like it would be anything spectacular. However, the writing and the cast are absolutely perfect. None of the characters are overbearing (or at least they aren't for very long) and you always feel like you are in on the joke. I know that some people are put-off by the title. Look past the words and let the laughter commence!