They say everything old is new again, eventually. That is certainly the case for the nearly 200-year-old tales penned by the Brothers Grimm (did you know they were librarians?) in 1812. This fall these ageless tales are going to be updated for a modern TV audience.
First up is ABC’s Once Upon a Time.
Once Upon a Time, starring Ginnifer Goodwin and Jennifer Morrison (you will recognize her from House and How I Met Your Mother) premiers Sunday, October 23 at 8pm. The show is about Emma Swan (Morrison), a young woman who is drawn to Storybrooke, a tiny town in Maine, by the son she gave up as a baby. Ten-year-old Henry believes that Emma is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and that Storybrooke is under a spell cast by the Evil Queen. He claims that the curse has trapped fairy tale characters in the modern world with no recollection of their true identities. Despite her skepticism, Emma is about to witness the beginning of an epic battle between good and evil.
Sounds good to me! The DVR is all set for this one.
And if that wasn’t enough, the following week you can catch NBC’s Grimm.
Grimm, starring David Guintoli and Russell Hornsby, premiers Friday, October 28 at 9pm. Grimm is about Nick Burkhardt, a homicide detective in Portland, Oregon, who learns that he is a descendent of an elite group of hunters known as “Grimms.” As the last of his kind, it is his destiny and duty to protect humankind from the sinister characters of fairy tales who infiltrate the real world.
I think I may have to give this one a try too.
I find the timing of these two shows to be perfect, as I have recently discovered the Fable series by Bill Willingham. This series originated as a comic book in 2002 and was complied into book form beginning in 2003. The author has reinvented characters from fairy tales and folklore and brought them together in modern-day New York City. They call themselves Fables and have made their home in a luxury hotel, known as Fabletown. Those fables who can not pass for human live on The Farm in upstate New York. Fabletown began centuries ago, when an enemy known only as The Adversary began conquering their homelands. After centuries of peace Fabletown has found itself in the midst of political upheaval and dramatic change. There are currently 16 volumes in the Fables series and a number of spin-offs, including series starring Jack Horner, Cinderella, and Peter Piper, his wife Bo Peep and his brother Max. Willingham recently announced plans to start a new series, Fairest, which will follow the lives of many female fables. So many fun fables, so little time…
If you are looking for a quick, clever read I highly recommend checking out Fables by Bill Willingham.
˜Megan
I was introduced to the work of author and illustrator Maira Kalman twenty some years ago from my work at a children’s bookstore – books such as 
I rediscovered her a couple years ago when she did an illustrated column/blog for the New York Times musing about a year in her life entitled The Principles of Uncertainty, later turned into a book by the same title. The book includes her observations about family hardships endured, everday humanity, and discovered novelties. She now has another online monthly illustrated column. This one, entitled 
garbage of New York is handled. Kalman has a particular gift for pointing out the joy, beauty and interest of small and simple things – people’s hats, plates of eggs and sewage plants – and for waxing philosophical on larger issues – the duty of soldiers, the barriers that American women face. She creates these colorful vignettes of image and written word that are expressive and optimistic and that celebrate life and…she makes me smile.
Read it or Weep 