Fairy tales can come true. At least on television. Last Sunday, ABC premiered “Once Upon a Time” to a large audience. Tonight, NBC counters with “Grimm” (8 p.m.), a less-enchanting series.

While “Once” hitches its narrative wagon to an open- ended fantasy, “Grimm” reduces the wonderment of fairy stories to a police procedural. It becomes the umpteenth show since “Monk” to feature a detective with special powers.

That said, the show has a lush and creepy visual style. Things begin with a coed out for a jog, listening to the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” on her iPod. Suddenly, some ominous force overwhelms her and we’re left with a glimpse of a fallen MP3 player and some bloody sneakers. Who, or what, did this?

Meanwhile, Detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) is feeling rather odd. Complete strangers stare at him, and their faces contort into monstrous images as if he can see their true nature for the first time. Was it something he ate?

No, it’s fate telling Nick that he’s a descendant of the Brothers Grimm. Long considered compilers of myth, they were actually scientists describing the reality of supernatural beings among us. Ever since their deaths, one living Grimm has possessed the ability to see and combat the monsters in our midst and assumed the duty to protect the Grimm archive of knowledge. And it looks like it’s Nick’s turn. His fiancee, Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch), is less than understanding.

Despite this elaborate setup, “Grimm” boils down to a lot of scenes of Nick and his partner, Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby), searching for killers, with Nick getting help from his hunches and tips from a “reformed” forest monster that just wants to live a normal life. (Just like that guy in “Twilight”!) Given its fantastic potential, it’s sort of sad to see “Grimm” come down to another tale of “who done it?”

• Combining two of America’s fixations, watching scary movies and listing things, “Chiller 13: Horror’s Creepiest Kids” (7 p.m., Chiller) counts down the bone-tinglers, from those twins in “The Shining” to the “I see dead people” kid in “The Sixth Sense.” While I could have done without so much goofy commentary from a celebrity panel, this fun roundup mixes the classics with the obscure and should send the informed horror fan out searching for some of the films he or she has missed.

Tonight’s other highlights

• A rare virus threatens a patient’s life on “A Gifted Man” (7 p.m., CBS).

• The freelance spy business needs a cash infusion on the season opener of “Chuck” (7 p.m., NBC).

• Mismanagement by the bay on “Kitchen Nightmares” (7 p.m., Fox).

• A fraternity Halloween prank goes too far on “CSI: NY” (8 p.m., CBS).

• Translucent shape-shifters return on “Fringe” (8 p.m., Fox).

• “Great Performances” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) presents “Miami City Ballet Dances Balanchine and Tharp.”

• An incident at a church turns ugly on “Blue Bloods” (9 p.m., CBS).

• Meredith suspects something on “Boss” (9 p.m., Starz).