Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-25703308-20150417091913/@comment-25926288-20150417202445

Starlynne wrote: Hmcooper4 wrote: Honestly, I think what I would like is to keep the MAIN show with all of the above filling in as needed.

But for some of the more important/well liked of the "background" characters (Archie, August, Ruby, etc), a good compromise would be to have a short (8-episode?) spinoff that allows the focus to shift to some plot line they are covering (and don't bring the main show characters in so that they can enjoy the hiatus time and begin working on the next half season). Something kinda like what Marvel did with Agent Carter (filling the slot during Hiatus time occupied by Agents of Shield). That solution would feed the fan frenzy for the characters, plus fill the vacant sunday night slot during the Hiatus. (Well, the slot is not really "Vacant", but it gets a lot of "filler").

Another thought would be to have the off-shoot series as a Summer series.

Point being that they could use deliberately shorter plot arcs featuring some of the outlying characters more effectively in their own stories, rather than trying to continually integrate them into the Main story (though have them still available as Guest stars). And we as fans might get to enjoy them more.

Now some of the characters (for Example Jefferson or Tink) will be a little more difficult, as the actors are involved in other major projects (Sebastian Stan is the Winter Soldier in the Captain America movies, and Rose McIver has a starring role in the iZombie series), so would be harder to schedule around. I agree with you that a spin off summer series would be a great idea. One of my problems with the show I think  is that it tries to tell so many stories, with so many characters, that in away they all get short changed. There's rarely a sense of satisfaction that a plot point is fully developed let alone a,story or a character. I am probably in the minority but I'd rather they reduce the amount of guest stars and recurring minor characters and concentrate on more in depth stories with the characters they've got. I also have to disagree with OP on Hook! I think Colin O' Donahue is a strong actor and actually gets under utilized. I just don't get why people get so down on the character or think he gets that much airtime. Other than the episode with Ursala he's rarely been in the second half of this season. I hope the show runners keep him and keep developing the character more but that's just my opinion and to each his own. In their defense, Hook got a significant amount of screentime when other characters were shafted in the previous arc and for the most part he was just ....there. Hook's character is improving, which is delightful. Most of the character growth is unfortunately based on ships and romance and Hook is blasted in the Hero column by everyone when he's not a hero, which he said so himself (which is nice). Colin may be underutilized and it's really because of poor execution or direction. Plus, everything falls in his laps which undercuts his progress. He's showing he's trying to change and sacrifices his ship for Emma, but then he gets it back. Neal just so happen to die and he's the only one for Emma. Rumple just so happened to be evil that that stupid cursed hand thing would make him blameless. (I mean he tried to blackmail a guy, which is not a good thing, and then he is justified.) The same can be said for Regina, at times.

Most of the characters, besides the villains, are mostly now just grown through romance. Regina and Robin, Hook and Emma, etc. And the worst part is....every relationship follows the same format. Dominant partner and the other submissive cheerleader: Snow and David, Regina and Robin, Emma and Hook, Rumple and Belle (which also goes to support that Snow, Emma, Rumple, and Regina are the foundational characters).