It is sweeps time… you know, the time of year when suddenly your local news turns in to Hard Copy. The benefit of sweeps is you get brand new episodes of your favorite shows, right? Well if you are a “Once Upon A Time” fan, you may be disappointed to know that February only brings us two new episodes. As the Super Bowl airs on CBS February 3rd and no one wants to compete with that while the Oscars preempts the show on February 24th. All is not lost dearies, as the episodes that are scheduled to air sound like they will be a lot of fun with some fantastic guest stars such as Jorge Garcia who you know from “Lost” and Ethan Embry who you know from “A Far Off Place”. Here are the official synopsis of the episodes from ABC.
“Tiny” – Kidnapped and brought to Storybrooke by Cora, the Giant (Jorge Garcia) unleashes his vengeance on the town when a case of mistaken identity leads him to try and settle an old score with David; Mr. Gold, accompanied by Emma and Henry, attempts to depart Storybrooke – hoping to keep his memory intact when he crosses the town line — and heads to the airport in search of his son, Bae; and Greg (Ethan Embry) questions Belle as to what she saw on the night of his car accident. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was and against his brothers’ wishes, Anton, the Giant, climbs down the beanstalk and attempts to befriend some humans – whose intentions may not be so noble, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET).
“Manhattan” – While Mr. Gold, Emma and Henry go in search of Gold’s son, Bae, in New York, Cora, Regina and Hook try to track down one of Rumplestiltskin’s most treasured possessions. Meanwhile in the fairytale land that was, Rumplestiltskin realizes his destiny while fighting in the Ogres War, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET).
The Other Fantasyland Expansion: The Disneyland Resort unveiled some more details of the new Fantasy Faire. Fantasyland has expanded to the former Carnation Plaza Gardens area in the Hub and will feature Princess meet and greets as well as “Beauty and the Beast” and “Tangled” themed shows. It will be interesting to see how this area blends with Main Street and Fantasyland when it opens on March 12th, but it is nice to see an underutilized area of the park given some new life, while freeing up the Fantasyland Theatre to be home, once again, to an actual stage show.
Sad News: Caleb Moore, a freestyle snowmobile rider died Thursday morning for injuries he sustained during the Winter X Games in Colorado. He was 25. ESPN has released the following statement: “We are deeply saddened by Caleb Moore’s passing and our thoughts and prayers go out to his parents, Wade and Michelle, his brother, Colten, and the entire Moore family. He will be remembered for his natural passion for life and his deep love for his family and friends, and he will always be an inspiration to everyone he touched in the action sports community. As a result of this accident we will conduct a thorough review of this discipline and adopt any appropriate changes to future X Games. For 18 years we have worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts. Still, when the world’s best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain. Caleb was a four-time X Games medalist attempting a move he has landed several times previously.”
Building a Hero: Marvel’s MMO, “Marvel Heroes” has released their latest developer diary. This game is developed by Gazillion Games and was being developed prior to Disney’s acquisition of Marvel. One can’t help but wonder if this game would have been created if it had not begun prior to Marvel being a part of Disney. Would it have gone the way of Junction Point?
Hanging with the Jedi: Clone Wars has announced that they will be doing a Google Hangout on Saturday, February 2nd at 1030 PST. Join “Clone Wars” supervising director Dave Filoni, Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), Ashley Eckstein (Ashoka Tona), and Sam Witwer (Darth Maul). You can ask them anything you want… such as “When will your show be moving to Disney XD?”