For all the blood, sweat and manpower ABC poured into finding a successor "Lost" (a show that shaped the course of television in the early 21st century)I'll bet donut dollars the network never bet it would take the form of Once Upon a Time .

Conceived by Lost alumni and TRON Legacy writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, Once Upon a Time stars House, MD veteran Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan, a seemingly unremarkable bail bondsman who, like any hero's journey the protagonist is worth, discovers that there is much more to her world (and destiny) than she ever knew. she understood. The show itself combines jigsaw-style storytelling with well-known fairy-tale characters—especially the Disneyfied versions made possible by ABC's ownership of the Mouse House—to create a dense story and elaborate mythos to rival anything is JJ Abrams or Damon. Lindelof could only ever hope to dream. What you end up with is a series that miraculously finds a way to comfortably reside at the intersection between "Disney Enthusiasts" (I'd call them "Disney Dorks" for alliterative effect if I weren't worried about it being taken the wrong way) and "TV Mystery Box Nerds” on a Venn diagram. Is it any wonder it took off?

After all, even at a time when it looked like the then-newfound curiosity known as streaming and Netflix's all-out strategy might send weekly network television going the way of the dodo, Once Upon a Time survived long enough to air 155 episodes spread over seven seasons from 2011-2018. There was even a time when ABC tried to extend the brand with Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, a spin-off centered around Alice in Wonderland characters like Sophie Lowe's Alice and Emma Rigby's Red Queen. (Also, Jafar from Aladdin, as he plays "Lost" bachelor Naveen Andrews without unusual nailsis it even there—long story.) Unfortunately, the show only lasted one 13-episode season before network executives pulled the Red Queen and ordered her head ripped off. 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 franchise. Its parent show was still a ratings beast in its recently launched third season, so there certainly seemed to be interest in expanding the property. Critical reception has certainly been subdued ("Wonderland" only has a 63% on Rotten tomatoes), but even that would only partially explain why the show's ratings started well below what Once Upon a Time did at the time before declining further. As it turned out, there was actually another crucial factor at play.

Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour in July 2014 (via Entertainment Weekly), then-Chairman of ABC's Entertainment Group, Paul Lee, admitted that the network probably doomed "Wonderland" by airing it on the same Thursday night as the absolute ratings monster that was The Big Bang Theory at CBS. The idea was that the "Once Upon a Time" spinoff would lead to ABC's main medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" on Thursday nights and help (in Lee's words) "build a night of powerful women," unlike ABC using "Wonderland" to fill a gap in its schedule while "Once Upon a Time" went on a half-season hiatus. Eventually, though, Lee and ABC learned one of the cold hard facts of life: No one messes with Sheldon Cooper and lives to tell the tale.

Fortunately, Horowitz, Kitsis and their fellow creatives, which included the duo's "Wonderland" co-creators Jane Espenson (herself a Buffy the Vampire Slayer turned Once Upon a Time staple) and the late Zach Estrin ("Prison Break," "Lost in Space"), entered into the intention of the spin-off telling A a complete story over the course of the first season, so those what they were looking at they were not cursed with a rock that should never be solved. It's not quite what you'd expect from a Disney fairy tale, but it'll have to do.