Oncer with a broken heart
There is one episode of my favorite show left...Once Upon A Time. It's had its ups and downs, high points and low points, but overall, I have stuck by it despite it all and have never regretted a single moment of it. It's an Asper/OCD thing to get overly attached to fictional things, so I feel more loss over something like a TV show than I would towards a human. Most people don't understand this and I wish I could explain it better, but it's just how I'm built.
For those that don't watch it, at the end of season 6, they lost quite a few of the original cast members, shifted locations, basically changed the entire story line, and moved the show to Friday nights instead of Sundays. It was a hard shift to accept at first, but the writing was better than the past four seasons (honestly, only the first two seasons were really good story-wise, I was just too attached to the characters by that point), and I started to see it, not as my old show, but a new twist on my old friend. I still missed Snow and Charming, but I was dealing with the loss and was becoming attached to the new characters. They just didn't give the me or the rest of the audience enough time to adjust.
For the past seven years though, it's the one thing in my life I always knew I could count on to be there for me. It has always been that little dose of hope that has kept me going through the rough patches with characters that have meant more to me than most of the "real" people in my life. All the real world has ever given me is despair, lack of faith, mistrust, and pain. Once Upon A Time has always given me hope, faith and trust in happy endings, even for those who might not deserve them like me (or so I've always been told by those who were the ones who were supposed to have loved me). That show gave me a family, albeit an imaginary one.
Of course I have the Blu-Rays to enjoy forever and there is always Netflix, the books, my Funkos, etc. And yes, I have other shows to watch, but nothing brought my Disney life, my fictional world, and my real heart together like Once did. And it wasn't just me, heck, Snow and Charming got married in real life too, so the show obviously changed more than just my life.
I am sure that next week will be extremely emotional for me. I started bawling like a baby at the end of this week's episode. I guess I should be grateful for the fact that they knew the end was coming, so it will be a proper ending, instead of a last minute cancellation with an ending that never gets resolved. But I'm not grateful, I feel a bit betrayed by Disney and ABC for not supporting one of it's main shows.
I don't think that networks understand how people watch TV anymore. It's not about the ratings. Shows like Once and Lucifer (which also got cancelled and didn't get enough warning) have a pretty big fan base, but don't pull in the numbers because most people watch them after broadcast either on their DVRs or on Hulu (like I do)...but then again, it still pulled in a couple of million viewers a week and, on a Friday night, I would say that is a win. Even when I had a DVR, I preferred to watch shows after the fact so I could edit out the commercials. I HATE commercials, always have and nothing ruins the flow of a show like a commercial. It's one of the reasons why I've never watched Supernatural on TV and, instead, always opted to wait until it came out on DVD. What's the use of even watching shows anymore if they are going to get cancelled either right out of the gate, or right when you get attached to them?
There will NEVER be another show like this one, at least not for me and, at this stage of my life, that worries me. Without that influx of hope, even in the smallest of amounts, where does that leave me? Sure, there are other shows I watch and love, but none of them leave me with that feeling of utter peace like Once did. They are just for the purpose of escapism (which works, but not enough). I guess I'm just really broken-hearted right now and I'm sad that I won't get to go on any new adventures with other Oncers.
I never got around to buying thread for my Snow and Charming project, but I'm thinking that my next paycheck, I want to do that. Maybe this is what I need to get me stitching again. I started watching Once on Netflix from the beginning last night.
For those that have never watched the show or never finished watching it, try it (or try it again). There are seasons or parts of seasons that lag a bit, but there is always a purpose to each story line and it's well worth the lag.
Season 1 Promo:
And the change in Season 7 Promo:
For those that don't watch it, at the end of season 6, they lost quite a few of the original cast members, shifted locations, basically changed the entire story line, and moved the show to Friday nights instead of Sundays. It was a hard shift to accept at first, but the writing was better than the past four seasons (honestly, only the first two seasons were really good story-wise, I was just too attached to the characters by that point), and I started to see it, not as my old show, but a new twist on my old friend. I still missed Snow and Charming, but I was dealing with the loss and was becoming attached to the new characters. They just didn't give the me or the rest of the audience enough time to adjust.
For the past seven years though, it's the one thing in my life I always knew I could count on to be there for me. It has always been that little dose of hope that has kept me going through the rough patches with characters that have meant more to me than most of the "real" people in my life. All the real world has ever given me is despair, lack of faith, mistrust, and pain. Once Upon A Time has always given me hope, faith and trust in happy endings, even for those who might not deserve them like me (or so I've always been told by those who were the ones who were supposed to have loved me). That show gave me a family, albeit an imaginary one.
Of course I have the Blu-Rays to enjoy forever and there is always Netflix, the books, my Funkos, etc. And yes, I have other shows to watch, but nothing brought my Disney life, my fictional world, and my real heart together like Once did. And it wasn't just me, heck, Snow and Charming got married in real life too, so the show obviously changed more than just my life.
I am sure that next week will be extremely emotional for me. I started bawling like a baby at the end of this week's episode. I guess I should be grateful for the fact that they knew the end was coming, so it will be a proper ending, instead of a last minute cancellation with an ending that never gets resolved. But I'm not grateful, I feel a bit betrayed by Disney and ABC for not supporting one of it's main shows.
I don't think that networks understand how people watch TV anymore. It's not about the ratings. Shows like Once and Lucifer (which also got cancelled and didn't get enough warning) have a pretty big fan base, but don't pull in the numbers because most people watch them after broadcast either on their DVRs or on Hulu (like I do)...but then again, it still pulled in a couple of million viewers a week and, on a Friday night, I would say that is a win. Even when I had a DVR, I preferred to watch shows after the fact so I could edit out the commercials. I HATE commercials, always have and nothing ruins the flow of a show like a commercial. It's one of the reasons why I've never watched Supernatural on TV and, instead, always opted to wait until it came out on DVD. What's the use of even watching shows anymore if they are going to get cancelled either right out of the gate, or right when you get attached to them?
There will NEVER be another show like this one, at least not for me and, at this stage of my life, that worries me. Without that influx of hope, even in the smallest of amounts, where does that leave me? Sure, there are other shows I watch and love, but none of them leave me with that feeling of utter peace like Once did. They are just for the purpose of escapism (which works, but not enough). I guess I'm just really broken-hearted right now and I'm sad that I won't get to go on any new adventures with other Oncers.
I never got around to buying thread for my Snow and Charming project, but I'm thinking that my next paycheck, I want to do that. Maybe this is what I need to get me stitching again. I started watching Once on Netflix from the beginning last night.
For those that have never watched the show or never finished watching it, try it (or try it again). There are seasons or parts of seasons that lag a bit, but there is always a purpose to each story line and it's well worth the lag.
Season 1 Promo:
And the change in Season 7 Promo:
Comments
Linda
Luckily, the shows I get really invested in either tend to go on forever (Like Navy CIS...although I heard there were some changes in the cast in the latest seasons I have yet to watch, so I don't know if it will still feel the same) or I only get 'into' them when the are already finished (like Gilmore Girls). It's still sad to say goodbye to all the characters, but I think it's easier when you know how much there is from the beginning.
That being said, I got very emotional about the ending of Everwood...which I really loved a lot. I knew there where only four seasons, but I wanted more! I loved all those characters so much. The only show I ever watched twice, completely, and back to back too.
I don't know if I already mentioned it, but we just borrowed Once 1-5 from Felix' brother (as none of the streaming services have it anymore around here...) so knowing us, we'll probably caught up by the time he buys season 6 and 7 ;)