With the television adaptation of Bill Willingham's critically acclaimed Vertigo comic, Fables, trapped in development hell, will ABC's Once Upon a Time satisfy your need of a TV series with a fairy tale undertone? Or do you really need one at that?

Continuing our coverage on on the upcoming new TV series set to debut next season, we take a look at the slate of forthcoming new dramas and comedies from ABC. With the cancellation of the sci-fi drama V and superhero drama No Ordinary Family among others, many new series have been picked up as a result.

However, apart from Steven Spielberg (yes, he is indeed busy with the TV scene too) and Oren Peli (the creator of "Paranormal Activity")'s sci-fi/horror/mokumentary series, The River, we do not see many likely gem from the announcement new series. While the remake of Charlie’s Angels is leading the pack for obvious reasons, we are not too positive over the prospect based on what we saw. On the other hand, we noticed the lower profile "Once Upon a Time" to be an item of interest.

Created by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (known for their work on Lost), Once Upon a Time tells a tale set in a New England town called Storybrooke, Maine. Unbeknown to all (even its residents), the town is actually a timeless world where the fairy tale characters are trapped, losing the memories of their fantastical past lives. When Emma Swan (House's Jennifer Morrison), a bail bonds collector arrives at the town with her recently reunited son who she have given up for adoption ten years earlier, intrigue and adventures kick off in the real world as they uncover the truth about the town... and themselves.

Apart from Jennifer Morrison in the leading role, Once Upon a Time also featured Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard (who is actually Snow White), and Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold (who is actually Rumplestiltskin). Reportedly, both Horowitz and Kitsis originally wanted to bring the concept to the small screen seven years prior to coming aboard Lost, but later opted to focus on the project only after the cseries was over. For fans of Bill Willingham's critically acclaimed Vertigo comic, Fables, this is probably as close as you can get to the real deal.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, followed by the full synopsis of the series.



From the inventive minds of "Lost" executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis comes a bold new imagining of the world, where fairy tales and the modern-day are about to collide.

And they all lived happily ever after - or so everyone was led to believe. Emma Swan knows how to take care of herself. She's a 28-year-old bail bonds collector who's been on her own ever since she was abandoned as a baby. But when the son she gave up years ago finds her, everything starts to change. Henry is now 10 years old and in desperate need of Emma's help. He believes that Emma actually comes from an alternate world and is Snow White and Prince Charming's missing daughter. According to his book of fairytales, they sent her away to protect her from the Evil Queen's curse, which trapped the fairytale world forever, frozen in time, and brought them into our modern world. Of course Emma doesn't believe a word, but when she brings Henry back to Storybrooke, she finds herself drawn to this unusual boy and his strange New England town. Concerned for Henry, she decides to stay for a while, but she soon suspects that Storybrooke is more than it seems. It's a place where magic has been forgotten, but is still powerfully close... where fairytale characters are alive, even though they don't remember who they once were. The epic battle for the future of all worlds is beginning, but for good to win, Emma will have to accept her destiny and fight like hell.

"Once Upon a Time" stars Ginnifer Goodwin ("Big Love") as Snow White/Sister Mary Margaret, Jennifer Morrison ("House MD") as Emma Swan, Robert Carlyle ("The Full Monty," "Trainspotting," "SGU Stargate Universe") as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold, Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina, Jamie Dornan as Sheriff Graham, Jared Gilmore ("Mad Men") as Henry, Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/John Doe and Raphael Sbarge as Jiminy Cricket/Archie. "Once Upon a Time" was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who are also executive producers, along with Steve Pearlman (ABC's "V"). The pilot is directed and executive-produced by Mark Mylod ("Entourage"). "Once Upon a Time" is from ABC Studios.

And here are some of the set pictures released by ABC.