Once Upon a Time in Storybrook

ABC has released a cast interview featurette for its upcoming fantasy television series, Once Upon a Time.

The video shows a few scenes from the pilot, some of which we haven’t seen yet in the trailers, interspersed with comments from stars Jennifer Morrison (best known as Dr. Cameron on House, M.D.) Ginnifer Goodwin, and Josh Dallas.

In this new series, written and produced by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz of Lost fame, a young woman finds herself in the middle of a strange sequence of events which point to a deeper mystery. In the town of Storybrook, the son she once gave up for adoption finds her and warns all is not as it would seem.

Many years ago, back in the time of legends and magic, a wicked witch placed a curse on Storybrook. It was to be frozen in time, and all of its ageless residents – characters from tales of legend – would forget their true identities.

The spell seems to have encompassed the witch herself, and now the residents play out the same dramas over and over again for eternity, though their style and technology manages to improve with the outside world.

The young woman must discover the secrets of the town to survive and must break the curse if she is to escape.

As we discovered with Gates, a soapy melodrama can’t rest on fun fantasy elements alone, so hopefully, the show is capable of delivering some substance. If it does, I think it can drawing a large and varied audience. If it can’t, well, then the Desperate Housewives fans will watch it for a few episodes – but even  they will eventually walk away, leaving the show will die.

The Once Upon a Time pilot will be one of the last of the season, as it doesn’t hit screens until October 23.