De-spoilered EW feature article on SPN
In the midst of my spoiler-free, SPN fangirl nervous breakdown post (which was a relief to get out of my system and I've now found my zen once more. Bring it on, Kripke, please don't &#$%! it up), arliss and siriusslash mentioned that they wanted to read the EW feature article but didn't want spoilers.
I'm sure someone has posted a de-spoilered version somewhere already, but I couldn't find a link. So for anyone around here who'd like to see the Entertainment Weekly article, but fear the spoilers, here you go. The article mentions fandom, Dean girls, Sam girls, wincest, and has Kripke and J2's comments on Season 5 being the final season. (I left in detailed references to SPN 4x18 because it already aired.)
De-spoilered version of the EW feature article (from the week of April 2, 2009)
'Supernatural': Sexy. Scary. Over?
Demons, deities, and delirious fans. The CW's rapidly growing cult fave has them all. So why do its stars and creator want to vanish after one more spooky season?
By Alynda Wheat
In the intense universe of fandom surrounding Supernatural - the CW series that follows the chisel-jawed Winchester brothers as they drive around the country snuffing out demons - there are ''Sam girls'' and ''Dean girls.'' Websites chronicle every scrap of minutiae (including the fellas' sweet ride, a '67 Chevy Impala), and bloggers dig around casting directors' sites looking for snippets of scenes to post online (they've even managed to spoil entire scripts). There's also a unique and very creepy subset of romantic fan fiction dedicated to siblings Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) called ''Wincest'' - the less said about it the better. One creative fan actually showed up on set in an orange vest, pretending to be a production assistant. ''They gave her a walkie-talkie!'' recalls Ackles. ''She worked the entire day there until somebody finally figured it out. Obviously now they've stepped up the protocol.'' Meaning, the stars have a bodyguard when they're working. Says Padalecki, ''I guess the network or the studio said, 'We [only] have two guys on this show. We'd better protect them.'''
It might be time to beef up the security detail even more, because the Supernatural cult is swelling. Sure, the show may not crack the top 10, or even the top 80 - ''You go to a dinner party and someone asks you what show you work on and you say 'Supernatural,' and they've never heard of it,'' says creator/exec producer Eric Kripke. ''Then they say, 'What network is it on?' and you say 'The CW,' and they've never heard of it'' - but lately it's been making almost otherworldly gains in viewership. Season 4, which has centered on the brothers battling angels as well as their usual demon enemies, is up an impressive 13 percent over last year, with new episodes averaging 3.3 million viewers a week - and that's against Thursday-night stalwarts Grey's Anatomy and CSI. All those new Supernatural acolytes, however, may find themselves wishing they'd showed up sooner: The cast and crew's ''godfather,'' executive producer and director Kim Manners (The X-Files), passed away in January; Padalecki, 26, and Ackles, 31, are exhausted; and Kripke has long maintained that he wants the series to last only five seasons - that's one more, then they're done. As Kripke told his writers at the beginning of this season, ''Let's be bold. Let's delve into the stories headlong. Let's not tap-dance around them because we're scared, or because we have to save something for tomorrow. Because we don't know if there will be a tomorrow.''
On a cold February day in Vancouver, Supernatural is shooting its April 2 episode in the kind of scuzzy motel-room set that is the show's signature motif. Dean (Ackles) is lying on a bed reading a novel from a pulpy book series he just discovered called - huh? - Supernatural. It might as well be a diary, since it's full of intimate details about two demon-hunting brothers named Sam and Dean Winchester. Dean joins his little brother (Padalecki) at a laptop to look at websites devoted to the fictional book series. ''Check it out, there's fans,'' Dean says. ''Not many, but still... Though for fans, they sure do complain a lot.''
It's a winking moment Ackles can relate to. ''I'm a fan of the show, and I get gripey,'' the actor says later in his trailer. '''Where is [Kripke] going with this? What is happening? Angels and demons? Come on, man!'... Then I'll read the next script and it's like, 'Oh, I kinda like that.''' This season's story lines began with Dean clawing his way out of hell, and will end with **********************. In between, it has had plenty of risky, high-concept episodes like this meta nod to the show's fan base. Oh, and it's all building toward ******************. As Kripke puts it, ''This is the smoke-'em-if-you-got-'em season.''
Which might explain the angels. The show started as a Hardy Boys-meets-X-Files mystery series, with the itinerant ghostbuster brothers driving around the country, doing their small part to take out a few demons a week. But in this season's premiere, things took a celestial turn when the angel Castiel, played by Misha Collins, appeared before Dean in a blinding revelation meant to scare a guy who slaughters the devil's minions for a living. The move was shocking to fans; the writers previously worked under a no-halo rule (too Highway to Heaven), but Kripke broke it because he had a demon problem. ''There's only so many snarky demons that can pop in with their snarky cruel attitudes and references to eating babies,'' he explains. So he came into the writers' room and proclaimed, ''Okay, guys, this season: angels! But they're dicks.'' Now the reinvigorated series is storming toward next season's ********************************************.
*************************** ''Despite what the network and studio may or may not want, I don't have more than five seasons of story,'' says [Kripke], whose contract - along with his stars' - expires at the end of season 5. If the powers that be want the show to continue, he says, they'll have to do it without him. ''I certainly would be willing to make sure there are enough villains and heroes around to continue a new story line, and I would be around to answer a few questions - that's it. I'm outta here. There's no way I'm doing season 6.'' With the weight of their workload and Manners' death casting a pall on the set, Ackles and Padalecki are also eager to move on, even as they affirm their love for the show. ''We don't live at home. We don't sleep in our own beds. Our families aren't here. Our friends aren't here. Our girlfriends aren't here,'' says Ackles. ''To do it for another five years, or whatever, I don't know if I could handle it.'' Padalecki concurs: ''I enjoy working, but what's the point? Do I want to just keep on doing photo shoots and work so I can get more famous so I can do even more photo shoots and work and fly to more places to do more press?... I get sick of talking about myself.''
That doesn't mean The CW will just let their growing cult hit go. ''If the show's doing well, we would go on, I'm sure,'' says CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff, who declines to elaborate on whether the network would try to woo Kripke to stay. ''It's premature for us to even address that.'' Either way, Ostroff should be prepared to open her checkbook at those season 6 negotiations: According to Ackles, ''They'd have to back up a Brinks truck.''
Kripke certainly acts with the abandon of someone whose show has only a year to live. In upcoming episodes, ************************* [entire paragraph redacted; includes, among other items, a tidbit about Castiel. It also contains the phrase "wincest buff's dream."]
''I don't want to be cheesy and here's Sam and Dean at age 50 sitting in wheelchairs with grandchildren,'' says Padalecki. ''I think I'd rather leave them wanting more than get to the point where they boo you off stage.'' Of course, with this show's fiery fan base, it may be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I'm sure someone has posted a de-spoilered version somewhere already, but I couldn't find a link. So for anyone around here who'd like to see the Entertainment Weekly article, but fear the spoilers, here you go. The article mentions fandom, Dean girls, Sam girls, wincest, and has Kripke and J2's comments on Season 5 being the final season. (I left in detailed references to SPN 4x18 because it already aired.)
De-spoilered version of the EW feature article (from the week of April 2, 2009)
'Supernatural': Sexy. Scary. Over?
Demons, deities, and delirious fans. The CW's rapidly growing cult fave has them all. So why do its stars and creator want to vanish after one more spooky season?
By Alynda Wheat
In the intense universe of fandom surrounding Supernatural - the CW series that follows the chisel-jawed Winchester brothers as they drive around the country snuffing out demons - there are ''Sam girls'' and ''Dean girls.'' Websites chronicle every scrap of minutiae (including the fellas' sweet ride, a '67 Chevy Impala), and bloggers dig around casting directors' sites looking for snippets of scenes to post online (they've even managed to spoil entire scripts). There's also a unique and very creepy subset of romantic fan fiction dedicated to siblings Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) called ''Wincest'' - the less said about it the better. One creative fan actually showed up on set in an orange vest, pretending to be a production assistant. ''They gave her a walkie-talkie!'' recalls Ackles. ''She worked the entire day there until somebody finally figured it out. Obviously now they've stepped up the protocol.'' Meaning, the stars have a bodyguard when they're working. Says Padalecki, ''I guess the network or the studio said, 'We [only] have two guys on this show. We'd better protect them.'''
It might be time to beef up the security detail even more, because the Supernatural cult is swelling. Sure, the show may not crack the top 10, or even the top 80 - ''You go to a dinner party and someone asks you what show you work on and you say 'Supernatural,' and they've never heard of it,'' says creator/exec producer Eric Kripke. ''Then they say, 'What network is it on?' and you say 'The CW,' and they've never heard of it'' - but lately it's been making almost otherworldly gains in viewership. Season 4, which has centered on the brothers battling angels as well as their usual demon enemies, is up an impressive 13 percent over last year, with new episodes averaging 3.3 million viewers a week - and that's against Thursday-night stalwarts Grey's Anatomy and CSI. All those new Supernatural acolytes, however, may find themselves wishing they'd showed up sooner: The cast and crew's ''godfather,'' executive producer and director Kim Manners (The X-Files), passed away in January; Padalecki, 26, and Ackles, 31, are exhausted; and Kripke has long maintained that he wants the series to last only five seasons - that's one more, then they're done. As Kripke told his writers at the beginning of this season, ''Let's be bold. Let's delve into the stories headlong. Let's not tap-dance around them because we're scared, or because we have to save something for tomorrow. Because we don't know if there will be a tomorrow.''
On a cold February day in Vancouver, Supernatural is shooting its April 2 episode in the kind of scuzzy motel-room set that is the show's signature motif. Dean (Ackles) is lying on a bed reading a novel from a pulpy book series he just discovered called - huh? - Supernatural. It might as well be a diary, since it's full of intimate details about two demon-hunting brothers named Sam and Dean Winchester. Dean joins his little brother (Padalecki) at a laptop to look at websites devoted to the fictional book series. ''Check it out, there's fans,'' Dean says. ''Not many, but still... Though for fans, they sure do complain a lot.''
It's a winking moment Ackles can relate to. ''I'm a fan of the show, and I get gripey,'' the actor says later in his trailer. '''Where is [Kripke] going with this? What is happening? Angels and demons? Come on, man!'... Then I'll read the next script and it's like, 'Oh, I kinda like that.''' This season's story lines began with Dean clawing his way out of hell, and will end with **********************. In between, it has had plenty of risky, high-concept episodes like this meta nod to the show's fan base. Oh, and it's all building toward ******************. As Kripke puts it, ''This is the smoke-'em-if-you-got-'em season.''
Which might explain the angels. The show started as a Hardy Boys-meets-X-Files mystery series, with the itinerant ghostbuster brothers driving around the country, doing their small part to take out a few demons a week. But in this season's premiere, things took a celestial turn when the angel Castiel, played by Misha Collins, appeared before Dean in a blinding revelation meant to scare a guy who slaughters the devil's minions for a living. The move was shocking to fans; the writers previously worked under a no-halo rule (too Highway to Heaven), but Kripke broke it because he had a demon problem. ''There's only so many snarky demons that can pop in with their snarky cruel attitudes and references to eating babies,'' he explains. So he came into the writers' room and proclaimed, ''Okay, guys, this season: angels! But they're dicks.'' Now the reinvigorated series is storming toward next season's ********************************************.
*************************** ''Despite what the network and studio may or may not want, I don't have more than five seasons of story,'' says [Kripke], whose contract - along with his stars' - expires at the end of season 5. If the powers that be want the show to continue, he says, they'll have to do it without him. ''I certainly would be willing to make sure there are enough villains and heroes around to continue a new story line, and I would be around to answer a few questions - that's it. I'm outta here. There's no way I'm doing season 6.'' With the weight of their workload and Manners' death casting a pall on the set, Ackles and Padalecki are also eager to move on, even as they affirm their love for the show. ''We don't live at home. We don't sleep in our own beds. Our families aren't here. Our friends aren't here. Our girlfriends aren't here,'' says Ackles. ''To do it for another five years, or whatever, I don't know if I could handle it.'' Padalecki concurs: ''I enjoy working, but what's the point? Do I want to just keep on doing photo shoots and work so I can get more famous so I can do even more photo shoots and work and fly to more places to do more press?... I get sick of talking about myself.''
That doesn't mean The CW will just let their growing cult hit go. ''If the show's doing well, we would go on, I'm sure,'' says CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff, who declines to elaborate on whether the network would try to woo Kripke to stay. ''It's premature for us to even address that.'' Either way, Ostroff should be prepared to open her checkbook at those season 6 negotiations: According to Ackles, ''They'd have to back up a Brinks truck.''
Kripke certainly acts with the abandon of someone whose show has only a year to live. In upcoming episodes, ************************* [entire paragraph redacted; includes, among other items, a tidbit about Castiel. It also contains the phrase "wincest buff's dream."]
''I don't want to be cheesy and here's Sam and Dean at age 50 sitting in wheelchairs with grandchildren,'' says Padalecki. ''I think I'd rather leave them wanting more than get to the point where they boo you off stage.'' Of course, with this show's fiery fan base, it may be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't.