Ever wonder what would have happened if Snow White and Prince Charming, whose name is Eric, by the way, lived in modern times?  Well, that’s what the brains behind the 1987 sitcom, The Charmings asked when they came up with the idea to have them fall asleep in the Enchanted Forest, no thanks to the Evil Queen, and had them wake up in some southern California suburb 1,000 years later.  Voila!  Once upon a time was now, and not only that – they had kids, two very modern kids who didn’t understand the ways of their parents. 

And the story wouldn’t be complete without the Evil Queen.  In an apparent case of spell-casting gone wrong, the Queen Lillian’s spell was so powerful, she could hardly contain it, knocking both she and a nearby dwarf out for the millennium as well.  Hilarity and comic hijinx ensue.

The fun of it all was in seeing how this fairy tale-traditional family dealt with 20th century problems.  When Snow became a working woman, how does Eric maintain his masculinity?  And how would the kids deal with a mom that forced her kids to wear tight to school every day?  It was a new twist on the old story of the ‘generational gap’ blending in the whimsical with the modern each and every week.  Plus, we got to watch Lillian’s wise-cracking magic mirror help the Queen seek revenge against the Charmings.  How were they ever going to make it.

Unfortunately for fans of the show, The Charmings didn’t make it, but not because of Queen Lillian… mostly because of low ratings.  The fish-out-of-water premise was certainly one for the books… at least the fairy tale books.