Once Upon a Time poster

Once Upon a Time (2011)

Series · 43m episodes · Rated TV-PG

Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Familiar storybook characters are trapped by a powerful curse in a whimsical, surreal Maine town.

Campy. A family watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is heavy.

Streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Once Upon a Time parents guide

Mild language and a few tense moments, about what a TV-PG should carry.

Our estimate: fine from about 7. Rated TV-PG.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
No gore
Violence
Some violence
Some fighting or peril.
Sex and nudity
None noted
Language
Mild
Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Once Upon a Time scary?
Only a little. Once Upon a Time has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is Once Upon a Time?
No gore and some violence. Squeamish viewers are fine here.
What is Once Upon a Time rated, and is it OK for kids?
Yes. Rated TV-PG, and the tags agree: mild language and a few tense moments.

What is Once Upon a Time about?

There is a town in Maine where every story book character you've ever known is trapped between two worlds, victims of a powerful curse. Only one knows the truth and only one can break the spell.

Cast and crew

Created byEdward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz
StarringLana Parrilla, Colin O'Donoghue, Robert Carlyle, Gabrielle Anwar, Dania Ramirez, Mekia Cox

More like Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time is on our Sci-fi on Hulu, Fantasy on Hulu, Drama on Disney+, Sci-fi on Disney+ and Fantasy on Disney+ lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

Lists with the same feel: Weird and surreal and Family night.

Five more like Once Upon a Time

Say the mood. Five picks with where they stream, right here.

Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.