25 Best Fantasy TV Series, Ranked Worst to First

10. Grimm

While Once Upon a Time got the most publicity and ended up with the better ratings, don’t sleep on a series that started around the same time with the same idea of putting fairy tale characters in modern day surroundings. While Once Upon a Time went a lot further with the actual mythology of the fairy tales it retold, Grimm was a straight up detective show, but with the fairy tales and fantasy worlds brought to the forefront.

Debuting just one week after Once Upon a Time, this fantasy TV series separated itself from the pack by introducing a Grimm – a guardian tasked with keeping a balance between humans and the mythological creatures. This is as much a police procedural as it is a fantasy series, similar to Angel but with Grimm as an actual homicide detective in Portland.

Grimm features many twists on classic Brothers Grimm fairy tales – the dark ones that influenced the more Disney-influenced adaptations. The pilot episode had a werewolf preying on women wearing red, which was a clear callback to Little Red Riding Hood. This is the direction the show began, although the mythology of the overarching storyline of Nick as the last Grimm soon took center stage.

While never as successful ratings-wise as Once Upon a Time, what kept Grimm alive was a huge cult following, with fans who fought for the survival of the supernatural detective series. Grimm ended up lasting for six seasons with a total of 123 episodes.