'Once Upon A Time:' Two shows for the price of one

ABC's ambitious new drama "Once Upon A Time" follows fairy tale characters who have been cursed to live in the real world without any knowledge of their true selves.

Viewers are introduced to the fairy tale world first, with the classic scene of Prince Charming riding up to save Snow White by awakening her with a kiss. Then everything shifts to their wedding which is interrupted by the Evil Queen cursing the happy occupants of fairy tale land.

The action picks up in the real world where bail bond agent Emma Swan tracks down a bail jumper by setting up a blind date with the criminal, chasing him down and beating him up, all while wearing a tight red dress and stiletto heels.

After a lot of set up that involved Emma meeting the son she gave up for adoption and taking him back to Storybrooke, ME viewers were introduced to real world versions of the fairy tale characters.

The Evil Queen is Regina the mayor, Snow White is sweet schoolteacher and Rumplestiltskin is ruthless business man Mr. Gold.

The real problem with "Once Upon A Time" is that it's two shows in one, neither being very well developed. The pilot felt disjointed and unsure of itself. The producers don't seem to know whether they want it to be a serialized drama like "Lost" or a fairy tale adventure.

For a show featuring some of literature's most enduring personalities, they were very one note and predictable.

Of all the fairy tale characters, the only interesting person was Prince Charming, who is unfortunately in a coma in the real world.

The only thing saving the show from its overly complicated premise is the strength of the cast, which includes Jennifer Morrison as Emma, Lana Parilla as Regina, Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White and Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin.

Though it's always hard to judge a show by its pilot, "Once Upon A Time" will have to conjure up some powerful magic to keep the average TV viewer interested in the convoluted plot.

Celebrating soaps: 'All My Children's' greatest couples

This week's celebrating soaps dicusses the top ten greatest "All My Children" couples. I'm sure there will be great debate among soap fans on how the list shapes up, but keep in mind these are only the opinion of someone whose been watching daytime since the womb.

1. Tad and Dixie-The mark of a great supercouple, is that no matter who they're with, it will never live up to that one true love. Throughout the years Tad and Dixie had other loves. As a matter of fact, Tad had a couple of great pairings pre-Dixie, but none of that matters, because Tad and Dixie were meant to be.

There's is a love that transcends time, space and magic. Like all good soap couples, they have dealt with obstacles like evil ex-husbands, amnesia and even death, as both have been "dead" a few times. However, none of that could keep them apart, because they are one another's true loves. Since Dixie was last killed, Tad has seemed like a piece of him is missing and the character has never been the same.

As the show prepares to wrap up its run, the writers need to give fans a nice Tad and Dixie send off, even if it involves Dixie as a ghost visiting Tad to help him move on.

2. Angie and Jesse-A couple so fated to be together, 25 years and a real soap death couldn't keep them apart. Angie was the privileged nice girl, while Jesse was the thug from the wrong side of the tracks, it's a story as old as time, how could they not end up together?

They ran away and got married, starting one of the greatest love stories in all of soaps. The summer Jesse went on the run with Jenny, my grandmother never missed an episode. Angie's love transformed Jesse into an upstanding citizen who even became a cop. When he was shot in the line of duty and died in the hospital while Angie looked on, I cried like crazy.

However, when he came back and they reunited at that train station, I cried even more. The convoluted circumstances of his return didn't matter, all that mattered was that my favorite couple was back where they belonged, together.




3. Zach and Kendall-I know putting them this high on the list is going to draw criticism, but what makes them great, is that not only did they love each other, they didn't try to change each other.
Both of these characters are complicated people, so finding a partner who could understand and accept them was difficult. Ryan and Aidan always wanted to change Kendall and Zach needed a woman who could challenge him. In yet another classic soap storyline, their marriage of convenience turned into a real union when they fell in love.

Though they were put through the soap ringer, they never stopped loving one another until the day Zach died in a plane crash. Of course, the body was never recovered and in the soap world that means he's not dead. If there's one thing "All My Children" does before it ends, it needs to reunite Zach and Kendall.



4. Jenny and Greg-You know a couple is great when fans still talk about them long after both stars have left the show. Jenny and Greg were part of the greatest summer ever with Angie, Jesse, Tad and Liza. They were the very definition of young love. They went through everything, scheming exes, sudden paralysis and an untimely death. Jenny's death is still one of the most talked about in soap history and will probably be mentioned when we get to the most heartbreaking deaths.

Laurence Lau and Kim Delaney have stated in several interviews that not a day goes by that someone doesn't come up to them to talk about Jenny and Greg. Now that's a supercouple.

5. Stuart and Cindy-Adam's twin brother Stuart was never as smart as Adam, but he had a sweetness to him that everyone loved. When he fell in love with Cindy Parker, an AIDS patient, it was truly groundbreaking television.

There beautiful love story served to showcase David Canary's brilliant acting and educated viewers about AIDS at a time when the disease was becoming a household name. Cindy's death is an episode that is still remembered as one of the best in the show's history.

6. Cliff and Nina

7. Hayley and Mateo

8. Leo and Greenlee

9. Cecily and Nico

10. Adam and Brooke

New feature: Celebrating soaps

To celebrate and honor "One Life to Live" and "All My Children" as they prepare to end after over 40 years on televison I will discuss the greatest moments, characters and couples of each show.

Every Thursday I will countdown a new top ten topic from each show. This week I'm starting things off with the greatest couples.

When I say greatest couples, I mean supercouples, pairings whose love story was epic and is still talked about to this day.

Let me know who should be included in the list on Twitter or in the comments.

The fight to save soap operas

While long time fans are still struggling to process the cancellation of "One Life to Live" and "All My Children," stories are coming out about behind the scenes dealings at ABC Daytime and whether the shows ever really had a chance.

Deadline Hollywood has a fascinating story up about power plays at Disney when Soapnet's future was in question.

Several strategies were suggested including making the channel a hip, destination network for women with the codename Carrie, based on Sarah Jessica Parker's "Sex and the City" character.

Another suggestion was Disney Moms, a channel that moms could watch with their families.

At the same time the Disney Channel staff was working on Disney Juniors and pitched that. Ultimately, Disney Juniors was chosen and it was announced Soapnet wouls cease operations in January 2012. However, now Disney Juniors isn't quite ready to go and Soapnet will stay on the air longer, but what will it show, there are only four soaps left and it only has the rights to three of them.

Why can't "One Life to Live" and "All My Children" continue on Soapnet and online? It would mean massive changes and cuts but at least the shows would still live and Disney would have them in case the new reality, talk shows don't work out.

Of course what do I know I've only been watching daytime dramas my entire life.

Soaps most suprising twist ending

Soap operas are known for shocking twists like evil twins and sudden amnesia, however, the most surprising twist came when ABC announced today that it was cancelling "All My Children" and "One Life to Live."

While rumors have been brewing for awhile, it was just recently that "All My Children's" producers assured cast members that the show wasn't being canceled.

Unfortunately, ABC had other ideas and said that it would be ending the long running daytime dramas in favor of new lifestyle programming.

I understand that soaps have been struggling for awhile, dealing with diminishing ratings and massive budget cuts. However, soaps are a different kind of TV, their longevity breeds loyalty and creates generational viewing, where the show is passed down through the family.

This announcement truly breaks my heart, as I have been watching soaps my whole life, because my grandmother loved them and it became our daily routine to watch her stories. To this day when I watch, I think of her.

"All My Children" ends in September and "One Life to Live" airs its finale in January 2012. I will of course talk about this more as the finales approach, but now I'm going to watch a marathon of Erica Kane's weddings and cry.

Jamie Oliver is no heroic revolutionary

Let me start by being 100 percent honest, I don't like Jamie Oliver. However, I watched the premiere of "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" with an open mind, that lasted about five minutes.

Oliver has a solid message about childhood obesity that needs to be heard. Unfortunately it is drowned out by his massive ego.

In season two of the Emmy winning show, Oliver is taking on the Los Angeles Unified School District over the food served in school cafeterias. When he approaches the school board with his ridiculous condescending tone, they naturally say no. He is then forced to do things on his own.

This involves him working with a local family owned burger restaurant and attending a school nutrition conference.

In each case his valid ideas are lost in a sea of self important grandstanding and douchebaggery. He tries to get the restaurant owner to change his menu, by insulting his family business and embarasses a speaker at the conference by belittling his presentation.

His d-bag tendencies are so over the top, the show has the opposite effect and makes you want to head for the nearest drive thru out of spite.

As a show it has a good message, however, it needs a different host because Oliver's ego is drowning it out.

'V:' Is it too little, too late?

Last night's season (possible series) finale of "V" jammed an entire season worth of plot into one hour. If the show had been this engrossing and action packed from the start, the ratings may have been better.

We opened with Erica in bed with Hobbes having a nightmare about Anna. It's nice to see that these two are continuing their affair, even freedom fighters need to relax.

This leads to another Fifth Column hare brained scheme where they give the most important job to the weakest team member. The group fakes Lisa's kidnapping to lure Anna out so they can kill her. Of course the plan fails when Anna cons Lisa and she can't pull the trigger.

This mistake leads to the plan's failure and the death and downfall of most of the team. The Fifth Column is the most inept group of rebels ever. Their plans always fail and generally lead to worse consequences.

Once word spreads about Lisa chickening out, Hobbes disappears and Ryan, who won't leave the ship without his daughter, ends up having his neck snapped by said daughter. Chad is found out by Anna and Erica is taken by a mysterious organization.

In the best moment of the show Anna kills Diana while she is addressing all the visitors, turns to Lisa and says, "that's how you kill your mother." Can you imagine Thanksgiving at that house?

Lisa is then given her grandmother's sewer prison and forced to watch as her evil twin has sex with her boyfriend Tyler and then eats him. It was like the producers knew how annoying Tyler had been and saved the most gruesome death for him.

Meanwhile, Erica discovered that her boss and partner were a part of Project Ares, a secret government program hoping to fight the visitors. Or as project leader Lars Tremont (awesome name) subtly put it, "humanity's last hope."

Tremont was played by original series star Marc Singer, who while highly publicized, was only in the last two minutes.

The show ended on the cliffhanger of Ryan's super powerful hybrid daughter helping Anna bliss all of humanity, including Jack, thus putting them under her control.

Wow, all that was in one hour. If the producers had spread some of that out they could have made a can't miss show. Now, it's on the bubble leaning towards cancellation.

ABC summer series'

Generally summer is a time for TV fans to catch up on what they missed during the regular season and watch the few cable and reality shows that air in the summer.

ABC has decided to capitalize on the lack of competition by premiering three new series. On June 20, the network aired the first episodes of "Scoundrels" and "The Gates." Today I'll be reviewing the premiere episodes and looking ahead to the future of both shows.

"Scoundrels"

This is a show about a family of criminals, who go straight after the father is sent to jail. The first episode was strictly for set up purposes. Ideally a great first episode sets up the story and draws the audience in.

"Scoundrels" was a pretty mediocre show with familiar characters and plotlines. The only saving grace came from the talent of the cast, who did their best to hide the material. Matriarch Cheryl West is played by Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen. She does most of the heavy lifting in the first episode as she chases her kids around town, trying to keep them out of trouble.

The accomplished cast also includes David James Elliott ("Jag"), Levin Rambin ("All My Children") and Patrick Flueger ("The 4400").

The problem with this show is that it's so predictable, there's no enjoyment left for the audience. Sundays at 9 p.m offers much better choices, among them "Leverage," which does a better job of portraying a fun group of criminals.

"The Gates"

This is ABC's attempt at a supernatural mystery. "The Gates" is about a private community whose citizens all have secret supernatural backgrounds. There are vampires, werewolves and witches so far. Of course more beings could show up if the show progresses.

The first episode follows the new police chief as he and his family move to The Gates. Apparently, killing using one's powers is not allowed inside the community, so when a vampire breaks the rules, the cover-up peaks the chief's interest.

While less predictable than "Scoundrels," "The Gates" suffers from the common problem of too much story. With all the special characters to keep track of, the show fells like it's trying too hard.

The episode did feature one nice twist at the end, but I'm not sure it's enough to keep viewers interested. There is also the idea that with "True Blood" on at 9 p.m. on Sundays, "The Gates" won't be able to compete for the same audience.

Network upfronts: ABC

Today ABC announced its schedule which includes a few shows from some old TV favorites. The network has new shows from Michael Chiklis, Dana Delany, Matthew Perry, Michael Imperioli and Rob Morrow.

The only notable show canceled was "FlashForward." Everything else had been announced already, so there were no surprises.

Surprisingly, ABC has the most interesting schedule so far. I found several shows that peaked my interest, of course I haven't seen any trailers yet, so I could be wrong.

The most interesting is "No Ordinary Family," a drama starring Chiklis about a family who develops superpowers. There is also "Mr. Sunshine," a comedy with Perry about a man who works at a second tier arena and begins questioning his life on his 40th birthday.

Delany stars in the drama "Body of Proof" about a medical examiner who is trying to unravel the mystery that ended her career as a neurosurgeon. Imperioli is in "Detroit 1-8-7," a police drama about Detroit's homicide squad.

And of course it wouldn't be ABC without a new Shonda Rhimes medical drama. "Off the Map" is about a small clinic in a South American village and the trials and tribulations of the doctors who work there.

ABC also has quite a few of my favorite shows returning including: "Castle," "Private Practice" and "Brothers and Sisters."

With three networks down, CBS is the last of the big four to hold its presentation. Once CBS announces its schedule, the full makeup of the fall schedule will become clear and we'll discuss all the programming hits and misses.