Tread Perilously starts the summer Total Request Live with the debut episode of the forgotten ABC TV series The Charmings.
Waking up after a 1000-year sleeping curse, Snow White Charming, her husband Eric, and their sons find themselves in 1980s Los Angeles. They attempt to re-establish some sort of life with a home, new neighbors, and a new school for the boys. But when Snow's stepmother, Lillian White, suggests they'll never fit in and a note from the school's psychologist puts the family on blast, will Snow and Eric accept that they must lie to make modern life work?
Erik, of course, watched The Charmings when it aired. Justin wonders, "why is this?" The pair try to determine all the things the pilot is missing. They also try to figure out who would've been the "budget John Mahoney" at the time. A digression about The Birdcage happens immediately. The endless abyss outside Castle Grayskull becomes incredibly important. The problems with the show's premise are explored -- including a solution to its biggest conceptual fault -- a few casting changes are proposed, and Erik shocks Justin by revealing the presence of First Hobie as one of the Charming sons. Also, a nostalgic feeling for the soft-spoken man selling speakers by the highway emerges.
