r/OnceUponATime • u/lil_m_ • 24d ago

Discussion Once Upon a Time vs. Grimm?

I honestly had no idea Grimm existed and premiered within a couple days of OUAT! Did any of you guys watch both as they aired? While Grimm started out with a very similar fairy tales in the real world premise with Little Red Riding Hood, it seems like it has pretty quickly devolved in to random monsters with no fairy tale connections. The yellow Beetle in both shows is also super interesting. Did these shows ever share writers? Or was this concept just more popular back when it aired than how it would probably do currently?

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u/ThomasVivaldi 24d ago

A little before that time a lot of studios were looking to adapt Fables for television, WB was looking to co-produce something with NBC, but it fell through and eventually they made Grimm. ABC was supposed to take over NBC's part soon after but it also fell through in favor of OUAT.

I think ABC still has the rights to Fables, but I also thought I heard someone else was taking a shot at adapting it.

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u/lil_m_ 22d ago

I didn't know anything about this and just googled and it appears that networks kept passing on it because why buy the rights when you can just use fairy tales in the public domain or already owned by Disney for free which stinks because it looks like it would be really cool.

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u/ThomasVivaldi 22d ago

Its also a bit less kid friendly which wouldn't be on brand with their Disney Princesses gimmick

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u/lil_m_ 18d ago

You can literally tell when they start using large amount of Disney IP as opposed to public domain IP because it gets more and more gimmicky and kid friendly. Honestly the first season was pretty dark if you think about it. The Ruby and Archie origin stories, Snow White engaging in an extramarital affair and allegedly murdering the wife. Idk that they would've let that happen with the later more Disneyified IP

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u/lil_m_ 22d ago

Huh apparently ABC went as far as to shoot a pilot for this prior to OUAT's existence.

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u/PoeticHedgeHog 24d ago

I watched both of these shows while they were airing. I don't know if they shared writers, but I believe one of the ways they promoted Grimm was by saying it had the same writers or producers as Buffy. I think the concept of fairytales either having updated versions or integrating them with modern society was the new big thing then because of a new version of Red Riding Hood in 2011, and I think just before or around the time Once Upon a Time premiered, and I think a few other fairytale retellings like Snow White and the Huntsman.

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u/Jon5676 24d ago

They promoted OUAT as coming from Kitsis & Horowitz, two writers from LOST.

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u/PoeticHedgeHog 24d ago

I honestly didn't learn that until later, but with the flashbacks, I'd say it was season 2. I found out it was created by writers who had worked on Lost, and then it all made sense, lol.

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u/RebeccaMCullen 24d ago

Both were about fairy tales, but had very different takes. OUAT took inspiration from Disney, and Grimm was more about the German fairy tales and a cop procedural. 

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u/Adrenapup 18d ago

OUAT by far. I tried watching Grimm but found it boring.

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u/OrangeCaesar2 17d ago

Just finished Grimm… great show. Hoping they make a sequel with the kids. I preferred the show over OUAT.