Why did ABC cancel Once Upon a Time in Wonderland after one season?

Despite all the blood, sweat and manpower ABC has put into finding her successor “Lost” (the show that shaped the course of television in the early 2000s)I was betting dollars on cupcakes that the network never bet would take the shape of “Once Upon a Time.”

Written by “Lost” alumni and “TRON: Legacy” writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, “Once Upon a Time” casts “House, MD” veteran Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan, a bail bonds agent who seems as ordinary as any hero. . The heroine of a journey worth her salt discovers that there is much more to her world (and her destiny) than she ever realized. The show itself combines jigsaw puzzle-style storytelling with well-known fairytale characters — especially the Disneyfied versions, which was made possible thanks to ABC’s ownership of the Mouse House — to create dense lore and an elaborate mythology that rivals anything from JJ Abrams or Damon Lindelof could hope to dream up With it. What you end up with is a series that miraculously finds a way to reside comfortably at the intersection between “Disney Dorks” (I call them “Disney Dorks” for homogeneous effect if I’m not worried about it being taken the wrong way) and “TV Mystery Box Nerds” on the chart. Venn. Is it any wonder it took off?

Ultimately, even as it seemed as if the newfound curiosity known as streaming and Netflix’s mass release strategy could see the weekly TV network go the way of the dodo, “Once Upon a Time” survived long enough to air. Aired 155 episodes spread over seven seasons from 2011 to 2018. There was a point where ABC tried to expand the brand with “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland,” a spin-off show focusing on “Alice in Wonderland” characters like Alice, played by Sophie Lowe And the Red Queen, played by Emma Rigby. (And also Jafar from “Aladdin” as played by him ‘Lost’ alumna Naveen Andrews has unusual nailsis there too — long story.) Unfortunately, the show only lasted one 13-episode season before network executives pulled the Red Queen and ordered her to be beheaded. So, what happened?

When “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” premiered on ABC in October 2013, everything seemed to be going well for the larger “Once Upon a Time” series. The original show was still a ratings monster in its recently launched third season, so it certainly seemed like interest was there to expand the property. Admittedly, critical reception was restricted (“Wonderland” only got a 63% rating). Rotten tomatoes), but even that would only partially explain why the series’ viewership started out much lower than “Once Upon a Time” had been at the time before declining further. As it turns out, there was actually another important factor.

Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour in July 2014 (via Entertainment Weekly), Paul Lee, then president of ABC’s entertainment group, admitted that the network may have doomed “Wonderland” by airing it in the same Thursday evening timeslot as The absolute ratings monster that was ‘The Big Bang Theory’ On CBS. The idea was for a spin-off of “Once Upon a Time” to lead into ABC’s supporting soap medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” on Thursday evenings and help (in Lee’s words) “build a night of empowered women,” rather than using ABC’s ” “Wonderland” to fill the gap in its schedule while “Once Upon a Time” went on a mid-season break. However, in the end, Lee and ABC learned one of life’s harsh truths: No one messes with Sheldon Cooper and lives to tell the tale.

Fortunately, Horowitz, Kitsis and their fellow creatives, including “Wonderland” co-writers Jane Espenson (herself the centerpiece of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” turned staple of “Once Upon a Time”) and the late Zach Estrin (“Prison”) Break, “Lost in Space”), the series was intended to tell a complete story during its first season, so those who watched They’re not cursed with a cliffhanger that will never be resolved. It’s not exactly the kind of happiness you’d expect from a Disney fairy tale, but it should.