Watching Supernatural

The hiatus seems to be draining me of many topics to talk about, but here’s some news that even Dean Winchester might be interested in.

Queensryche frontman Geoff Tate is set to star in upcoming horror flick House of Eternity. This is Tate’s acting debut, in which he is the villain Alder Grayson. His wife in the movie will be portrayed by Blackmore’s Night singer Candice Night. I hope Tate contributes to the soundtrack, because it would be wonderful to have his song play in the background of a poignant scene, similar to hearing Queensryche’s “Silent Lucidity” at the end of Season 2, Episode 17 “Heart.”

Additionally, Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson has co-written a film called Chemical Wedding, which will be showing on May 17th at the Cannes Film Festival. In fact, Dickinson will personally fly invited guests to the screening in the band’s own Boeing 757 (he is a trained pilot).

Dickinson has said that the movie is inspired by the story of occultist Aleister Crowley. You can see an interview with Dickinson on the set of his film at Reuters.

TAGS: iron maiden, queensryche, geoff tate, bruce dickinson, house of eternity, chemical wedding

At the time of writing yesterday’s entry, I hadn’t checked my sources in a while. Imagine my surprise and absolute delight when I found out-

Are you sitting down?

Supernatural has been renewed for a fourth season!

Instead of dragging out this decision (like they did last year) and incurring the wrath of the very devoted fans of the show (as they’ve been doing and will probably always do), the CW released a press statement on March 3rd with the news.

Even better news came the very next day, when the CW revealed that Supernatural will return with repeats on April 3rd before the new episodes start airing from April 24th. For those of you worrying how the show will keep up with its competition on other networks - you have one less thing to worry about. Lost is moving to Thursdays at 10pm, which should help out fans of both shows.

If you remember, I mentioned that Jensen had been in Australia while promoting the show. He had an interview with the Australian magazine TV Week where he discusses how the Winchester brothers would smell in real life, what he’d like in his future as an actor, and the craziest rumor he’s ever heard about himself. You can read it all here - it doesn’t mention any plot points, but it’s definitely funny.

Interestingly enough, there are also two new updates on the Jared Padalecki front. On March 2nd, Jared attended a Lakers basketball game with his longtime girlfriend Sandy McCoy (you might know her better as the Crossroads Demon that Sam killed in Season 3). You can find those images below:

click on images to view

On March 4th, Jared also attended the premiere of the new movie Never Back Down, also with Sandy.

click on images to view

He’s really been hitting the celebrity circuit, hasn’t he? Can’t say I blame him for taking a break from work. I would love to see his hair return to it’s natural length, though!

TAGS: supernatural, jensen ackles, jared padalecki, sandy mccoy, never back down

Now that March has arrived and the WGA strike is long over, life in TV Land has (relatively) returned to normal.

Immediately after the strike concluded, according to Sera Gamble, Supernatural writers had a grand total of three weeks to work on scripts before production began. As recent reports have indicated, shooting has already begun on the four new episodes that will be arriving on April 24th, so all four scripts are probably mostly finished.

While we fans impatiently await the end of the current hiatus, we can distract ourselves a bit with news on what the actors did, where the mythology of the show stands right now, and what we can expect for the end of the season.

During the strike, Jensen Ackles was in Austalia for two weeks in February, promoting the show there on various talk shows and interviews. Jared Padalecki, on the other hand, had his last public appearance at the Fangoria Convention in Austin, TX on February 19th. Since production has already begun, it’s a safe bet that they’re back in Vancouver. More recently, Jensen turned 30 on March 1st.

Meanwhile, Katie Cassidy (who plays Ruby) has been ordered to take a diversion class as punishment for being cited for underage drinking last year. The class is for first-time offenders and she will have the opportunity to take it in California, where she lives. All in all, a breath of relief for Cassidy.

Finally, the biggest news-maker of the roster of current and former stars on the show has definitely been Jeffrey Dean Morgan. On February 13th, Us Magazine leaked the news that Morgan was engaged to his girlfriend Mary-Louise Parker of Weeds fame. Congratulations to them both!

TAGS: supernatural, jensen ackles, jared padalecki, katie cassidy, jeffrey dean morgan

In the middle of working on my review for episode 3×10 “Dream A Little Dream of Me” (yes, I’m going out of order), I received some news that pretty much superseded anything I had in mind to post.

Supernatural has been nominated for a Saturn Award for “Best Network Television Series.”

Now, don’t get your hopes up because the show’s been nominated for the same award before, in 2006. Of course, we lost to Lost, who is our rival again this year.

But, if we look at this nomination the right way, this could be great news for us. As Kripke always warns us, we face the possibility of cancellation every May at the Upfronts. So far, we haven’t been canceled, but this could be just the thing to tip us over the edge into a renewal.

Then again, there’s no predicting what the CW execs will look at for determining the fate of Supernatural. But the internet buzz has to account for something, right?

TAGS: supernatural, saturn awards

Apparently, for the third time in the past three years, Supernatural is being nominated for Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects and Foley for Short Form Television by the Motion Picture Sound Editors, or MPSE. The episode in consideration is 2×22 “All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2.”

Considering all the hard work that the crew puts into our show (just look at what the visual FX crew does for each episode), it must be heartening for them to know that their work is still very much appreciated.

The nominees for this year’s award are:

Supervising Sound Editor: Michael E. Lawshé
Co-Supervising Sound Editor: Norval “Charlie” Crutcher III
Sound Designer: Marc Meyer
Sound Editors: Stu Calderon, Timothy A. Cleveland, David Lynch, Paul Diller
Foley Artists: Casey Crabtree, Michael Crabtree

Congratulations to them! This year’s award ceremony will be held at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Wouldn’t it be nice if we finally won?

TAGS: supernatural, mpse golden reel awards, sound editing

Thankfully, our patient wait is long over: a new episode of Supernatural will be airing tomorrow night! Don’t forget: it airs on the CW at 9 pm ET/8 CT! You can watch the preview of the episode here

We’ve also got some very good news from Mike Ausiello over at TVGuide.com regarding the WGA strike. While it certainly doesn’t look like much, it’s definitely heartening.

Nothing’s official, but the buzz is that a tentative agreement has been reached, with an announcement coming as early as tomorrow [January 31st]. But it’s hard to tell what’s solid intel and what’s just spin. To wit: In the past 24 hours, one source close to the negotiations insisted that talk of a resolution was way premature. “There’s no deal,” maintained my spy. “That’s just misinformation put out by the AMPTP to pressure the WGA.” But moments before I put this column to bed, I heard from another very plugged-in source that the deal is done. Short story shorter: There’s cause for optimism, but not celebration. Yet. (Source)

He also had this to say about Episode 11, “Mystery Spot,” and Episode 12, “Jus in Bello”:

Based on what I’m hearing about ["Jus in Bello"] — “It’s awesome” “OMG!” “Frak me!” — I can understand why they’d want to end the season with it. Apparently, the eppy’s climax involves Sam, Dean and a slew of dead bodies. (Source)

ACcording to my handy Latin-to-English dictionary, the literal translations of “jus” and “bello” are “right upon” and “to wage war,” respectively. I suppose that climax is no surprise now, considering the title of the episode and Eric Kripke’s own statement that this season is a “wartime season,” but I’m very curious to see what brings the boys to that climax!

Thank God the hiatus is finally over!

TAGS: supernatural, jus in bello, wga strike, malleus malleficarum

Last Saturday, Globe and Mail released a harrowing article about the hardships faced by workers and crews for American television shows filmed in Vancouver (one of which is Supernatural) now that the WGA strike has halted their jobs indefinitely. Even Canadian actors like Shane Meier who is now “selling jeans in Vancouver’s Yaletown district,” are facing the crunch.

“‘I always thought working a 15-hour day on-set is difficult, but try working an eight-hour shift on Boxing Day,’ Meier said about his introduction to the retail work force. He said he doesn’t mind when customers recognize him and ask him what on earth he’s doing working in a denim store. He’s just glad to have an income.” (Source)

Interestingly enough, the Hollywood Reporter posted an article the same day, in which they stated that native Canadian television series are actually benefiting from the American strike. It seems that Canadian viewers are so bored with consistent reruns that they’ve been tuning into their homegrown material in greater numbers recently.

“New action-adventure drama The Border bowed Monday night [Jan. 7th] with 710,000 total viewers, impressive in a market where 1 million viewers amounts to a popular hit series.

‘We’re thrilled. The one hour drama genre is a very hard nut to crack in Canada and these numbers are a real indicator of success,’ Kirstine Layfield, CBC executive director of network programming, said.” (Source)

Who cares you might be asking yourself right now, especially if you’re an American. This has nothing to do with Supernatural! Well, you’re wrong, and here’s why:

Let’s break down those statistics from the Hollywood Reporter. Only a few of the newer Canadian shows are showing increased ratings, but who’s to say that those ratings won’t sink the moment the strike is over? For a real shift in ratings, there must be a decrease in the number of American shows shown in Canada. In other words, there has to be a significant period with no new American television material for Canadian shows to truly pick up the slack. That means, for the Canadian television industry to really benefit from the strike, the strike must continue indefinitely.

Now, do we really want a longer strike? It’s true that the strike has given us a shortened season, which is a shame, but is that really where it ends?

Countless times from the DVD extras and behind the scenes videos, we fans have seen that everything about the working environment on the set of Supernatural contributes to making it the well-loved show that we know. How many stories have we heard from guest actors who’ve not only raved about Jensen and Jared but also how nice the crew in general was? Remember the stories about how hockey is played on the set between takes?

Supernatural relies on more than its actors and its writing to make it the impressive show that it is: it also requires a dedicated crew. Most, if not all, of that crew in the Vancouver locations are Canadians, not Americans. A longer strike not only puts them out of a job, but it also means that we might lose them to other shows. Essentially, the Supernatural ‘family’ in Vancouver will soon be broken up.

Don’t forget the recent scheduling changes that the CW has made for the mid-season. While I don’t believe it was a direct snub to Supernatural, I do believe that the CW is severely impairing the show’s ability to garner new viewers by refusing to air repeats. In their attempt to raise the ratings for Reaper in this shortened season, they have deliberately shelved Supernatural.

In my opinion, the scheduling changes, the affects on the Vancouver television industry, and our own lack of new episodes offer only one solution: the strike must end.

How do we do that? As fans, all we can do is GET LOUDER. I do not mean that we should ridicule or bash the writers for being on strike; in fact, I fully support their cause. But as we’ve seen with the return of Jericho and the own impact our fanbase has had on Supernatural, our voices count in corporate ears. Even if you feel that you’ll be ignored, remember that to be ignored, you have to speak first.

Check out fans4writers and see what you can do to help.

For Supernatural alone, check out Supernatural Underground for promotional campaigns. You can also send emails to the CW at feedback@cwtv.com. But to take a page from the Jericho handbook, PLEASE BE POLITE AND CONCISE.

TAGS: supernatural, fans4writers, wga strike

SFX Magazine will be interviewing Jared Padalecki in its upcoming issue. As a gesture to the fans, they’re offering to ask your questions to Jared! You can leave your question as a comment to the original notification, or in their forum thread. All submissions must be in by 2pm Monday, January 21st.

Also, there are a whole slew of fan conventions that are scheduled this year. The ones known so far are:

• Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors: Austin, Texas, January 18-20 STARTS TODAY. Jared Padalecki is scheduled for Saturday, January 19th.
• Salute to Supernatural: Los Angeles, California, March 29-30. Both Jensen Ackles and Jared are scheduled for Sunday, March 30th in separate and joint panels.
• EyeCon: Orlando, Florida, April 6-8. Jared Padalecki, Samantha Ferris (Ellen, Season 2), Chad Lindberg (Ash, Season 2), Alona Tal (Jo, Season 2), Sandra McCoy (Crossroads Demon, Season 3), and Gabriel Tigerman (Andy, Season 2) are all confirmed to attend. Steve Carlson will also be a musical guest.
• Asylum, 2008: Birmingham, England, May 9-11. Jared Padalecki, Katie Cassidy (Ruby, Season 3), Samantha Ferris (Ellen, Season 2), and Chad Lindberg (Ash, Season 2) are all confirmed so far.
• Something Wicked: Richmond, British Columbia, October 26-28. As the site is down, it is unknown if this is simply a fan gathering or if there will be special guests.
• Salute to Supernatural: Chicago, Illinois, November 14-16. There have been no confirmed special guests yet.

TAGS: supernatural, fan conventions

Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles might have received military honors for their work on the show, but Supernatural is still considered just one of the many sub-par shows on television critics’ radars. Case in point: the incisive article C.T. posted in TVAddict.com about why he hated Supernatural.

Well my friends, I’m proud to announce that C.T. has officially reneged. In an article posted yesterday, C.T. confessed that he has “warmed to” Supernatural. He credits “Bedtime Stories,” “The Kids Are Alright,” and “A Very Supernatural Christmas” for changing his mind. Unfortunately, he still has issues with what he calls Jensen Ackles’s “acting voice.”

Whatever the reasons, it’s rather satisfying to see one of the show’s loudest detractors taken down a peg, though I pity him for relying on this season’s episodes to change his mind. He makes no mention of “Fresh Blood,” which is arguably one of the best Supernatural episodes of all time. Nor does he realize the beauty of Season 2’s two-part finale “All Hell Breaks Loose” or, heck, nearly every single episode in Seasons 1 and 2. Season 3 is a very poor starting point to understanding the draw of the show, and I implore all of you who haven’t watched the first or second seasons to please do so at your earliest convenience.

As for other accolades, a mysterious blog calling itself The Bronze has listed twenty of the Top Thirty Television Episodes of 2007. Supernatural has two appearances on the list: #13 for “All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1″ and #23 for “The Kids Are Alright.” The commentary is witty and really gratifying - I suggest you wander over and take a look for yourself.

Finally, the show’s mythology is getting some notice as well. RelishNow.com recently examined the importance of mythology and how it can lead to the success of a show, drawing from The X-Files and Buffy for support. The author argues that Supernatural, along with some newer shows such as Pushing Daisies, could benefit from more time spent on its mythological aspects, and claims that “has shaped up to be some of the best genre viewing on television because of its intricate mythology.” For that statement alone, I’d urge you to read this article, but it also makes some salient points on other shows that have failed so far, like Reaper and Journeyman.

TAGS: supernatural, supernatural awards, television mythology

Most of you probably know about Ten Inch Hero, but for those of you who don’t, it’s Jensen Ackles’s most recent film. To view the movie’s trailer, visit the Youtube station here.

Today, WinchesterBros.com’s podcast WinchesterRadio is interviewing Betsy Morris, David Mackay and Mark Witsken from the film.

For live on-air questions, call (646) 716-9119. And yes, they’re still on!

The podcast will also be available through iTunes and other feeds. Please check out the site for more information.

TAGS: supernatural, ten inch hero, winchester+radio

(Protest sign of Ben Edlund, co-exec producer of SPN,
thanks to Emmett Furey)

Even though production shut down on December 5th, our Supernatural crew hasn’t been idling by. Ben Edlund, co-executive producer of the show, has been nearly everywhere in the strike. Last Friday, December 7th, Edlund joined his fellow former-and-present-members of Mutant Enemy, the production company that produced Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, in their protest at Fox studios. According to IGN, he was joined by other writers, actors, and fans of Joss Whedon.

Also, TV Guide recently interviewed SPN creator Eric Kripke on the new episode tomorrow night, as well as the fate of the few future episodes ahead.

It turns out that Ridge Canipe, the actor who played young Dean in Season 1’s “Something Wicked” (the first episode where the young Winchesters were featured) is returning to star in the flashbacks for the upcoming “A Very Supernatural Christmas.” Unfortunately, Alex Ferris, who played young Sam in “Something Wicked” is being replaced by Colin Ford for “A Very Supernatural Christmas.” If you ask me, Ford looks more like a younger Sam than Ferris did, which is nice.

According to Kripke, there are four more episodes left after tomorrow night’s (a total of twelve episodes for this season) until they start running repeats. Now, for the remaining episodes (more…)

Recently, the CW Source interviewed Aaron Ashmore, who plays Jimmy Olsen on Smallville (you can find out more by checking the tags on WatchingCW).

In the interview, Ashmore (who also plays Kinkade’s brother in the movie Home for Christmas) reveals that he’s know Jared for quite a while now. In fact, it was Jared who recommended that he get the part for brother! Ashmore also says that the movie was filmed in Vancouver, which must have been nice, considering that both SPN and Smallville are filmed there and Ashmore is a Canadian. There is still no word on when the film will be released.

TAGS: supernatural, thomas kinkade’s home for christmas, aaron ashmore, jared padalecki

On November 27th, the first official Supernatural magazine hit stores, courtesy of Titan Magazines.
According to a press release by executive producer and creator Eric Kripke,

“This publication is for you and you alone. And we’re working hard to make it worthy of your affection… There’s dozens upon dozens of artists and geniuses who care so much about Supernatural, who make it the show that it is. Starting with this issue, you’ll get to know them.” (Source)

This issue, one of six total issues already set to be published, will feature and in-depth interview with Eric Kripke himself, in which he talks about how the show was created with the help of a tabloid reporter. There are interviews with Alona Tal (”Jo Harvelle”) and Katie Cassidy (”Ruby”), as well as special effects supervisor Randy Shymkiw.

As expected, there’s a full spread with Jared and Jensen, where they discuss their characters and how they were ‘born to play’ them. Kim Manners and the Special FX team also have their say. All in all, the magazine seems to be a welcome respite to the doldrums of the upcoming winter hiatus in the show. Definitely seems worthy of your money.

You can subscribe to all six issues at the Supernatural site at Titan Magazines.

TAGS: supernatural, supernatural magazine

I apologize for the late news - due to personal reasons and the holidays, I was unable to update until today. That, of course, means that you’ll be getting a lot of news your way today!

First item of business: Jensen Ackles’s film Ten Inch Hero is still looking for a distributor. In the meantime, fans were alerted on the movie’s blog on the 26th that a Youtube clip of Priestly was up. 50,744+ views, 1027 ratings, and 691 comments later, the video has won 10 honors on the site (including #1 Top-Rated This Week and #1 Top Favorites This Week). You can view it in all of it’s glory (and I do mean glory, since I was in stitches afterwards) here. Once again, Jensen’s comedic timing, delivery, and commanding presence are awe-inspiring.

TAGS: supernatural, jensen ackles, ten inch hero

Based on the recommendation of Henry Jenkins, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities at M.I.T., New York Magazine will feature the fan vidder Luminosity, along with other media artists. You might recognize Luminosity’s work from the “Women’s Work” vid above, which I believe was featured in a Supernatural Fan Convention.

Regardless of what you think of the themes running through the above fanvid, you have to admit that it’s like a sucker punch to the gut when you first see it. Back when I first saw it this past spring/summer, I distinctly remember that some people claimed it made them cry. Others ranted about how completely one-sided the views in the vid are. To me, that’s the mark of a truly lasting and worthy piece of fanwork: one that’s so distinctive and provocative that you can only either love it or hate it. There are no grey areas within the vid itself, and it certainly doesn’t allow for much ambiguity of feeling.

As to all the hoopla surrounding this vid, Luminosity says:

“Women’s Work” is a critique of the eroticization of the violence done to women in all media, not just Supernatural. Women are sexually assaulted, murdered, and then laid out in artistic tableaux, chopped into pretty, bloody pieces. They usually further the plot, but they’re hardly ever a part of the plot. We wanted to point out that in order for us to love a TV show–and we do–we have to set this horrible part of it aside. A lot. Often. Sisabet [the co-vidder of the project] and I believe that we could have made this vid using almost any show, from Heroes to CSI, but we are fans of Supernatural. We care so much about a show that we want share it, make an argument, highlight a character or situation, lampoon something, evoke a mood. I’ve also made four other Supernatural vids that celebrate the show, the arc, the relationship between the brothers and the genre itself. (Source)

TAGS: supernatural, fanvid, Luminosity