Pilot (Once Upon a Time)

"Pilot" is the series premiere of the American fairy tale/drama television series Once Upon a Time. It introduces each of the main characters in the fictional seaside town of Storybrooke, Maine, as well as establishes the basic premise of the series, which details the beginnings of a curse placed upon the Enchanted Forest and the start of a destiny for its only savior, a present-day woman who can break the curse.

The Once Upon a Time pilot episode was written by the show's creators, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, and later directed by Mark Mylod. Kitsis and Horowitz sought to write new perspectives of familiar characters, and featured the themes of hope, family and motherhood. The pilot episode sets the template for the rest of the series, as it jumps between their cursed selves in Storybrooke and their original lives in the Enchanted Forest. Every actor first approached for the series accepted after being sent a script; this included Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White and Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan.

ABC allowed viewers in the United States to see the pilot on the Internet Movie Database's website several days before it aired. It premiered in the United States on ABC on October 23, 2011. In Canada, CTV broadcast the series an hour ahead of ABC's debut, airing it at 7 pm in most regions. The episode received mostly positive reviews and was watched by 12.93 million viewers, scoring a 4.0 rating/11% share in the 18-49 demographic, ranking first in its timeslot. It was ABC's most watched pilot since the pilot episode of Ugly Betty.