Grimm (TV series)

Grimm
Genre	Supernatural drama Occult detective fiction Police procedural
Created by	Stephen Carpenter David Greenwalt Jim Kouf
Starring	David Giuntoli Russell Hornsby Bitsie Tulloch Silas Weir Mitchell Sasha Roiz Reggie Lee Bree Turner Claire Coffee
Composer(s)	Richard Marvin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	97 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Norberto Barba Jim Kouf David Greenwalt Sean Hayes Todd Milliner
Producer(s)	Steve Oster Stephen Welke (associate prod.)
Editor(s)	Chris G. Willingham
Location(s)	Portland, Oregon and the surrounding metropolitan area
Cinematography	Clark Mathis
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	43 minutes
Production company(s)	Universal Television GK Productions Hazy Mills Productions Open 4 Business Productions
Distributor	NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	October 28, 2011 (2011-10-28) – present
External links
Website

Grimm is an American police procedural fantasy television drama series. It debuted in the U.S. on NBC on October 28, 2011.^[1] The show has been described as "a cop drama—with a twist... a dark and fantastical project about a world in which characters inspired by Grimms' Fairy Tales exist",^[2] although the stories and characters inspiring the show are also drawn from other sources.

On February 5, 2015, NBC confirmed a fifth season for Grimm, which premiered on Friday, October 30, 2015.^[3][4]

Synopsis

Homicide investigator Nick Burkhardt of the Portland Police Department learns he is descended from a line of guardians known as Grimms, charged with keeping balance between humanity and the mythological creatures of the world called Wesen, the German word for being or creature. Throughout the series, he must battle against an assortment of dangerous creatures, with help from his reformed Wesen friend Monroe, and his partner Detective Hank Griffin.^[5]

Opening: "There once was a man who lived a life so strange, it had to be true. Only he could see what no one else can—the darkness inside...the real monster within...and he's the one who must stop them. This is his calling. This is his duty. This is the life of a Grimm."

This opening narration was used for the first four episodes of season 2. The intro also plays a video that tells all about the previous episodes.

Cast and characters

• David Giuntoli as Nicholas "Nick" Burkhardt, the eponymous Grimm. Nick is a Homicide detective, whose Aunt Marie (Kate Burton) tells him that he is descended from a line of hunters, called Grimms, who fight supernatural forces. Even before his abilities manifested, Nick had an exceptional ability to make quick and accurate deductions about the motivations and pasts of individuals, which has now expressed itself as his ability to perceive aspects of the supernatural that nobody else can see. He temporarily lost his grimm power after the event of season 3 finale through a revenge scheme by Adalind, but regained them in the season 4 episode "Highway of Tears". He later learns that Adalind is carrying his child, which was revealed to be a boy, whom Adalind named "Kelly" after Nick's mother (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio).
• Russell Hornsby as Hank Griffin, Nick's Homicide partner, who is not aware that Nick is a Grimm until Episode 3 of Season 2. He is somewhat sarcastic at times and has gone through at least four marriages by the time the series begins; nevertheless, he is Nick's best friend in the human world, becoming closer once again after Nick revealed the truth about his Grimm heritage and the Wesen out in the world.
• Bitsie Tulloch as Juliette Silverton (Seasons 1–4) and Eve (season 5), Nick's girlfriend, a veterinarian. She was originally unaware of Nick's duties as a Grimm until he tells her in the finale of Season 1. However, by Season 2, a magically induced amnesia removes Nick from her memory altogether, to the extent that she only forgets Nick while still remembering characters like Monroe when she only met him through Nick. Although Nick's Aunt Marie suggested that he leave Juliette for her safety, Nick decided to stay with her. He postponed his original plans to propose to her while he explores his new life as a Grimm. She eventually regained her memories and learned the truth of Nick's abilities, joining him in dealing with some Wesen-related problems, such as finding a cure for a disease that gave human children the appearance of Wesen. In Season 4, a series of events and dangerous spells results in Juliette becoming an exceptionally powerful Hexenbiest, and her personality becomes drastically more antagonistic and less empathetic as a result, enjoying her power while disregarding her friends' concerns, her attitude conflicting between reveling in her power and hating Nick's allies for doing this to her. After her plans for revenge culminate in the death of Nick's mother, she is shot with a crossbow by Trubel in the Season 4 finale. In season 5, Tulloch plays "Eve" a mysterious woman who has all of Juliette’s memories and powers, but none of her emotional attachments.^[6]
• Silas Weir Mitchell as Monroe, a wolf-like creature called a Blutbad^[7] who aids Nick with his cases. He is also a good friend of Nick's, even though he has some issues with Grimms since a Grimm killed his grandfather (but he acknowledges that the ancestor deserved it for butchering a village). Monroe is knowledgeable about many of the wesen that Nick goes up against, serving as Nick's direct source of insight and information into the supernatural community whenever the second-hand knowledge that Nick acquires from his ancestors' books is inadequate, as well as assisting Nick when cases require Nick to rely on someone who knows about the threats he faces. He also helps Nick make contact with creatures that would avoid Nick due to his status as a Grimm. Eventually, Monroe fell in love with and married Rosalee, despite facing some hostility from a Wesen cult focused on purity due to their mixed heritage.
• Sasha Roiz as Captain Sean Renard, a fluent francophone; Nick's adept and efficient superior. Renard happens to be a magical creature called Zauberbiest (his mother is a Hexenbiest, a witch, but his father was a Royal) and a bastard of a royal lineage, a fact of which Nick was not aware until the beginning of Season Two. He is the father of Diana, daughter of Adalind Schade.
• Reggie Lee as Sergeant Drew Wu, a police sergeant who works with Nick and Hank; he tends to do the "grunt work" for them, running down facts and information. In Episode 9 (at the beginning) of Season 4, Nick was forced to tell him everything about the Wesen world after he started losing his mind due to all the "Wesen" involved murder cases.
• Bree Turner as Rosalee Calvert (Recurring season 1; Regular season 2–present), a fox-like creature called Fuchsbau who takes over her brother's Wesen spice shop after he is murdered. Rosalee assists Nick and Monroe in their efforts by providing more information and remedies to supernatural problems, such as developing a cure for Nick's Wesen-induced blindness. She married Monroe in the Season 3 finale.
• Claire Coffee as Adalind Schade (Recurring season 1; Regular season 2–present), a witch-like wesen called a Hexenbiest who was working for Renard and who after ingesting Nick's blood, became a normal human being. Seeking revenge, she poisoned Juliette to forget all memories of Nick and started colluding with Renard's half-brother, Eric, eventually regaining her powers through agonizing rituals. She had a daughter with Sean, Diana Schade-Renard, who has unique powers. She recently gave birth from an emergency c-section to her second child, a boy she named Kelly (after Kelly Burkhardt), whose father was revealed to be Nick as she slept with him during a complex ritual to take his powers that involved her disguising herself as Juliette.

Episodes

Many of the episodes are loosely based on stories published by The Brothers Grimm, albeit with considerable artistic license. For example, the pilot centered around a wolf-man who preyed on women who wore red. Other episodes are based on other sources, including fables and legends, not published by The Brothers Grimm.

Production

Development and filming

Production notice posted in Portland, Oregon in October 2013

In 2008, CBS cancelled development on a drama called Brother Grimm, from Stephen Carpenter and production companies CBS Paramount Television and Hazy Mills Productions, because of the writers' strike.^[8]

In January 2011, NBC announced that it had ordered a series titled Grimm.^[9] David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf co-wrote the pilot, which was directed by Marc Buckland. Filming for the pilot began in March in Portland, Oregon.^[2] In May 2011, NBC announced that it had picked up the series for a full season.^[10]

Greenwalt and Kouf serve as executive producers for the series along with Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner.^[11] The series is produced by Universal Media Studios and Hazy Mills Productions. It is filmed on location in and around Portland.^[12] Greenwalt and Kouf told Portland's NBC affiliate KGW they chose Portland because of its plentiful forests in the city's two largest parks, Washington Park and Forest Park.

On September 30, 2011, NBC delayed the debut of Grimm by one month, moving the premiere to October 28, 2011, so it could premiere closer to Halloween.^[13] On November 21, 2011, NBC picked up the series for a full 22-episode season.^[14] NBC showed a special Thursday showing on December 8 at 10pm to see if the network's overall ratings could improve.^[15]

On March 16, 2012, NBC announced that the series had been renewed for a second season;^[16] according to writers/producers David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, they will continue to film the show in Portland, saying "Rain or shine, Portland has been the ideal setting for fairy tales with its enchanting layout. It is its own character in our show with the perfect mix of urban and rural settings."^[17] Grimm ran on Fridays for the entirety of its first season.^[18] The second season premiered on Monday, August 13, 2012, and continued on Mondays for four episodes, before returning to its original Friday timeslot on September 10.^[19]

On April 19, 2013, NBC announced they would move Grimm to Tuesdays beginning on April 30, 2013 for the remainder of Season 2 until May 21.^[20] Grimm was renewed for a third season on April 26, 2013.^[21] The third season premiere on October 25, 2013 returned the show to its original Friday timeslot. On March 19, 2014, NBC announced that Grimm had been renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on Friday, October 24.^[22][23]

Casting

David Giuntoli, who plays Nick, was the first to be cast.^[24] Silas Weir Mitchell was then cast as Monroe, the now-reformed "big bad wolf".^[25] Following this, Russell Hornsby and Bitsie Tulloch were cast as Nick's partner Hank and his girlfriend Juliette, respectively.^[26] Sasha Roiz was cast in the final regular role as Captain Renard.^[27]

Bree Turner, who guest starred in four episodes in Season 1, became a series regular for Season 2, continuing her role as Rosalee Calvert.^[28] Claire Coffee, who has been recurring as Adalind Schade since the pilot, was also upgraded to series regular during Season 2.^[29]

Reception

Critical reception

The series's premiere received mixed reviews from critics, based on Metacritic's index score of 55 out of 100.^[30]

Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter felt "It has chills and humor and the ability to take a procedural story and twist it."^[31] Mike Hale of The New York Times said "Some of the jokes work, and some of the frights are actually scary, and on a repeat viewing the craftsmanship and attention to detail made more of an impression."^[32]

Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times wrote in a mixed review that she preferred other fairy-tale themed dramas, such as ABC's Once Upon a Time, stating that despite a good cast and setting, Grimm puts an "entertaining crime spin on fairy-tale monsters that's a little too pat...[And] adds up to a nice, moody, entertaining-enough hour and the troublesome question of how interesting this will be by the third episode."^[33]

Daynah Burnett, who reviewed the program for PopMatters, felt "As Grimm grasps for compelling analogues between fairy tales' villains and ours, its stories turn exceedingly literal: wolves urinate in the corners of their lawns to mark their territory, rather than lurk (and mark) in ways less obvious and more culturally meaningful. There's certainly room here for these archetypes to be explored as the series develops, but when Nick's prime suspect for the red-hoodie crimes turns out to live in an actual cottage in the woods, it doesn't bode well for how these stories might reflect the lives of viewers", before giving it a score of 4 out of 10.^[34]

The second season received a more favorable response, with a score of 73 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on four reviews.^[35] The Los Angeles Times said of the second season premiere, "it's hard not to love a show with a comely apothecary, and it's impossible not to love the new season of Grimm."^[36]

Mike Hale of The New York Times said of season three, "Grimm is not a profound show (what is?), but few are more purely entertaining--engaging, clever, tense, funny, well paced and featuring a remarkably appealing cast as the friends and colleagues who help Nick."^[37]

Ratings

A press release put out by NBC on November 11, 2011, states "Grimm and Up All Night Are the #1 New Drama and #1 New Comedy Among Top % Gainers Going from Live+Same Day to Live+7. Grimm is the #1 new drama on ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox in terms of percentage increase from L+SD to L+7 so far this season and also the #1 new series and the #2 show overall behind only Fox's Fringe (+57%), growing by +49% in adults 18–49 (to a 2.98 rating from a 2.00)"^[38] The series, which has been averaging about 6.4 million U.S. viewers during its first season,^[17] has been renewed for a second season.^[16] Friday September, 28th, 2012, "Grimm" has increased its adult 18-49 rating by 1.14 points going from "live plus same day" ratings to "live plus three day" results from Nielsen Media Research (from a 1.58 to a 2.72). The 1.14 increase is "Grimm's" biggest gain ever going from L+SD to L+3. The 2.72 is "Grimm's" highest L+3 rating since the show's second season premiere on Monday, Aug. 13.^[39]

Tie-in work

Comics

In May 2013, Dynamite Entertainment started releasing a monthly Grimm Comic Book series.^[54] The series ended with issue #12 which was released April 30, 2014.

Books

The novelist John Shirley was hired to write the first novel based on the Grimm television show. Grimm: The Icy Touch was published by Titan Books on November 5, 2013^[55] and book 2, Grimm: The Chopping Block, which was written by John Passarella, was published February 18, 2014.^[56] The third novel, Grimm: The Killing Time was written by Tim Waggoner and was published on September 30, 2014.^[57]

Awards and nominations

Broadcast

The series premiered in Australia on January 4, 2012 on FOX8,^[58] with season two returning on September 30, 2012,^[59] season three on October 30, 2013,^[60] and season four on January 7, 2015.^[61] The series was replayed on free-to-air network Seven (as opposed to FOX8 which is a subscription television network), with season one premiering November 30, 2012.^[62] with season two returning on August 1, 2013,^[63] and season three on October 15, 2014.^[64]

In New Zealand the series premiered on June 18, 2012 on FOUR.

The series premiered in Canada on October 28, 2011 on CTV,^[65] with season two returning on August 13, 2012,^[66] season three on October 25, 2013,^[67] and season four on October 24, 2014.^[68]

The series premiered in the UK on February 13, 2012 on Watch,^[69] with season two returning on October 22, 2012,^[70] and season 3 on February 5, 2014.^[71] The fourth season premiered on January 28, 2015.^[72]

References

External links

• Official website
• Grimm at the Internet Movie Database
• Grimm at TV.com