Yes, reverting to the S1 structure would be interesting, especially as S6 might be similar to S1 with a bunch of new people from The Land of Untold Stories.
Other improvements I think would be beneficial:
– Get rid of the compulsory flashbacks in each episode. Only use them for new characters. The flashbacks are providing less and less value, especially with the main characters. Snow and Charming have one every arc and not since S2 have they been interesting. Getting rid of the flashbacks could potentially double the amount of time they have to tell the present day story.
– Scale back the main cast. S1 felt like it had the perfect balance between main characters, side characters and villains. But since S3 I’ve felt like the side characters got less attention. This is a pity because they contributed to the charm of S1. These days, they get so little time that we can’t get invested in their story and hence feel like they’re a distraction.
There are also several members of the core group that don’t pull their weight in terms of the story, e.g. Snow, Charming, Hook. These guys mostly feel like they’re tagging along, saying a few lines here and there. The problem is that because they’re mains, they’re given an obligatory ‘centric’ episode, complete with flashbacks. Sometimes, they even have a storyline like the ridiculous Snow/Charming baby communication fiasco of 5B. Imagine if they’d cut ‘Labor of Love’ and the overworld phone calls and replaced it with a Hades-centric episode to clearly illustrate his motivations. The arc would have been so much stronger.
In S6, I’d like to see Snow and Charming take a back seat. Henry should be there, but in the background; I don’t want another Henry-centric as he can get very annoying very quickly when he’s in one of his zealous moods. Zelena should be a side character. I want to look forward to her snarky comments and sisterly bonding, not see it overdone by shoving her into every scene with the main group. I think Hook is also better as a side character, but that’s obviously not going to happen.