When the WB folded into what is now known as the “CW”, the new network needed hits badly. On Thursday night the WB had some success with two shows, “Smallville” and “Supernatural”, and the CW were not about to lose either one of them to another network. The new executives at the CW gave the greenlight for both shows to be the flagship for their new struggling network. They made the right choice as it turns out, because both shows are the only ones anybody seems to watch on the CW except for “America’s Top Model”, and the ratings for that show have gone down appreciably this season.
The fans of TV shows like “The X-Files” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” have been starving for quality horror on TV for a few years, and they are now receiving it with the well written and highly suspenseful latest season of “Supernatural”.The the second season of the show just recently had its season finale, and it went out in style. If you have not been watching it lately, you’re gonna need a quick recap.
Dean and Sam Winchester (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki) have been looking all across America for the demon that killed their mother in a fiery blaze in the first season, and also killed their father and took his soul to hell at the beginning of the second season. They are only equipped with a few weapons and an old muscle car to do all their demon hunting in week after bloody week. They do have a couple of new friends to help them along the way, the most prominent new friend being Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver of Deadwood fame), who witnessed the killing and then rebirth of Sam on one of the last episodes of this season. He realizes that Dean was overly protecting his kid brother by selling his soul to a female demon to bring his dead brother back to life. Bobby really wants Dean to keep killing various vampires and other creatures of the night for many years to come, but now that Dean has sold his soul to this female demon, Dean has only one year to live before Hell comes for him.
Warner Brothers Television are the producers of the show, and they do a fine job of keeping the plots moving forward with a real sense of urgency to of all the action scenes. Viewers are kept on the edge of their seats every Thursday night not knowing what other goblin or zombie will jump out of the woodwork and try to kill our heroes. McG is one of the executive producers, and Eric Kripke is the creator of this formidable TV production. Most of the filming takes place in Vancouver, Canada, even though the pilot takes place in California. The cheaper production costs are the main reason the TV show films in the area, but the bleaker weather in Vancouver also lends a certain moodiness to the show that the producers could not duplicate in sunny LA.
Overall, season three looks to step up the level of suspense with the recent plot developments such as Dean only having one more year of life to live, unless he and Sam can come with a plan to somehow escape from the deadly deal that Dean made with the female demon. Another big twist is the fact that Sam now has more demon blood in him than before, thanks to Dean’s resurrection of his lifeless body in season two. Sam came back to life only through the help of a demon’s power, thereby mixing the demon’s blood into Sam’s newly revived body. Sam’s overall aggressive behavior against the various creatures that walk the earth have gotten way out of control, and next season should showcase the continuing evolution of Sam turning into the thing he most fears: a bloodthirsty fiend on a constant quest of killing the living.
If the producers of “Supernatural” continue to satisfy the fans of the show, I really believe that the series could eventually make horror fans forget the names “Mulder” and “Sculley”, thus making “Supernatural” the new king of television horror.
