Supernatural and Mainstream Respect
This article, Will SUPERNATURAL Ever Get Respect? at Badass Digest, was brought to my attention yesterday and whoa, did someone get it dead right or what? Supernatural is finally on the cover of TV Guide (which hits newsstands today) but it’s there because of a fan contest, not the publication’s editorial choices. The article details that Supernatural even in its sixth season doesn’t get much mainstream respect, and even brings up cover slights from publications like Entertainment Weekly (although that magazine in it’s one Supernatural profile article hardly did the show justice). The author here certainly hits all the right points about what makes the show as great, but why doesn’t Supernatural earn that respect that far lesser shows in both quality and ratings get?
When I talk to people most have never heard of Supernatural or The CW for that matter. That doesn’t surprise me because at least in my home market the CW affiliate is hardly a local TV juggernaut. Many think it’s a public access channel. For those that have heard of Supernatural and have never checked it out, I hear things like “It’s a pretty boy X-Files or Buffy ripoff†or “I don’t need another show.†There are even those that have said they checked it out when it first came on and haven’t gone back. They are shocked to find the show is going strong in its sixth season. Yes people, shows that are given a chance to grow evolve.
This article so aptly mentions another one of my favorite all time shows, The X-Files. We know a few of the creative minds of that show found their way to Supernatural (John Shiban, Kim Manners). So why isn’t Supernatural as mainstream and popular as The X-Files? I credit that to a sign of the times. At the time, The X-Files was a way below the radar show on young yet struggling network that many were skeptical about, Fox. This network had no Top 20 breakout hits. The X-Files even premiered on Friday night, which at the time wasn’t the dead night it is now, but it still wasn’t a big night for this network. Come to think it, no night was really big for Fox at the time.
When you’re one of the more popular shows on a struggling network, the patience level for growth is high. The X-Files was not an overnight success. It slowly gained a loyal following. This is exactly how Supernatural has gained some momentum. As much as many loyalists love season one, it just doesn’t stand up production or quality wise to the other seasons, especially the first half. Luckily, the show got a chance to grow, especially when it was able in its second season to be part of a newly launched network, The CW. Patience is what is so lacking from network television and that’s why smaller shows are finding success on cable instead. If The X-Files had premiered on Fox two years ago instead of 1993, it would likely be in the same brink of cancellation boat as Fringe is in now. Genre shows now are very popular with DVDs, DVR, and online viewing, something that still isn’t sitting right with the live viewer mentality of the networks.
As much as we bemoan that Supernatural doesn’t get the recognition it deserves (a common mantra with all genre television) the truth remains being on an under-the-radar network has done this show nothing but huge justice. It wouldn’t have survived season one on any of the big networks. Think about it. Fringe draws roughly around 5 million viewers and 1.9 in the 18-49 demo and is considered to be a “struggling†show. The top series on The CW, The Vampire Diaries, draws on average 3.5 million and 1.6 in the 18-49 demo yet it is called a “hit†series. Dexter is another multi-season success story and only gets around 2 million viewers. Why? It’s the top draw on Showtime, a network that doesn’t come close with any other show.
Supernatural has also benefitted from some pure luck and chances of circumstance. The one time the show was in serious danger of cancellation was season two. It wasn’t performing for the new network as was hoped. So how did it make it? Loyal following, international interest, and the fact that this network was still struggling to fill a schedule. The CW still didn’t have anything to pair with its top show Smallville. So Supernatural got another chance, with a reduced budget. Season three’s ratings were even worse but that’s where the luck comes in. The writer’s strike rendered almost all returning series un-cancellable since the pilot season was decimated. Season four was happening and everyone involved with the show thought that was going to be the last season. When the writers went full gusto and introduced angels and the apocalypse, something happened. An explosion in ratings and buzz, the two things that make any network happy. The rest as they say is history.
Anyway, please check out this well written article on the show. Send it to those you know that have their biases against Supernatural. It might not make a lot of difference, but at least it’ll show you as one of the people that gets it. Mainstream doesn’t get it, but the fans do. That’s really all that Supernatural needs to thrive.
I came across the article right before I went to my favourite site the WFB.
Something that got me to think was the remark that it seems like you need a female lead to get attention. Is that right?
Everytime a female character appears in our show the fandom wants to get rid of it (not that I understand that. I loved the Harvells and Lisa). And if it isn’t the fandom than it seems to be the CW (e.g. Samantha Ferris she supposedly is to old for the CW). That rings up the question: Are we the fans and the CW stopping our show from getting more recognition?
There are so many things in that article that I love especially how he describs the horror that comes into the show.
Wish there would be more articles like that. And the best thing would be if they would be on some sites that get a lot of hits or even better in paper magazines.
I do have my hopes up high, that, since WFB is mentioned in the TV guide lots of people will check it out and find out through our site what a great show it is and that it is most definatly worth it.
Alice maybe you should come up with something for those to be expected new visitors to our site. To explain our crazyness for the show.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Alice, I would not have read that article just by chance. Some great piece of work, indeed.
I’d like to add, however, that though Supernatural might have got their first TV Guide cover, it’s been on the covers of SciFiNow and SFX over here in the old world and been reported on regularly in those magazines and in the leading German Science Fiction and tv-series magazines.
I’m sad, though, that this show still lives in the niche of scifi/fantasy (as the nominations for People’s Choice show) and has not yet ‘moved’ to the drama section.
thanks again, Jas
EEEEEH! KRIPKE’S DOING SANDMAN! WHY WASN’T I TOLD! 😀 😀 😀
( Sorry, brief fan-girl meltdown moment over, normal punctuation will be resumed shortly. )
Hey, Dark_Aussie! You have cousins over here in Germany? Oh, yes, get them to work.
At present there is no coverage, but there is this tv-magazine called ‘TV Highlights’ which always covers the show with several glossy pages, including an episode guide, usually when a new season starts.
Another mag is called ‘Space View’. But they don’t do much coverage. There has been an article on ‘men that should be in the movies’ in the German (quite bad) Movie Mag ‘Cinema’ with a full page on Jared (upon his Friday13th stint).
Unfortunately, there are not many decent genre magazines here, but I’m glad to hear that you get SciFi down under, too, after all it’s a U.K. thing.
Greetings to Australia, the continent I would LOVE to visit one day. Every Aussie I’ve ever met was such a sweet person, and you make great men (Hugh Jackman, anyone?).
Sorry for using my alias again, I’m at work and can’t log in at present.
Cheers, Jas