#2016-sep

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Variety “How ‘Supernatural’ Outlived The WB and Learned the Secret to Immortality”

(...)Stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles have also remained with the series throughout its run, long after most leading men would’ve thrown in the towel (...)

“As long as ratings stay stable, and they want to do the show, and I’m still in the chair, I’m going to be their biggest supporter to continue,” CW president Mark Pedowitz says. “I think ‘Supernatural’ is going to be around in some form long after I move off this chair, and the best thing I can do for the guys, and for the studio, and for the showrunners is basically make sure we don’t mess them up.”

Much like its protagonists — monster-hunting brothers Sam (Padalecki) and Dean (Ackles), who have quite literally been to heaven, hell and everywhere in between over the course of the show’s run — “Supernatural” has time and again proven its resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, becoming an anchor of The CW’s lineup. (...) (...) “In my wildest dreams, I was hoping we would get to a fourth season. Sure enough, it was probably right around the fourth season that I think we finally started to relax and realize that we had a certain amount of stability,” Kripke says. “And that was the introduction of Misha Collins [as the angel Castiel], and that was the time that I probably started sleeping at night. But I’ll tell you one thing, the fact that we always felt we were on the edge and one breath from extinction was really good for the show creatively in those early years. We took risks that we probably wouldn’t have taken had we felt more stable. We used to say in the writers’ room all the time, ‘Look, we’re getting canceled next year, so smoke them if you got them.’ We really encouraged everyone to take big swings because we really, sincerely believed that we were about to be canceled, and so why not spend all the story you could spend? And I think that led to a lot of exciting moments.”

(...)Through it all, the show has maintained a steady audience — now standing as the fourth highest-rated show on the network behind superhero series “The Flash,” “Arrow” and “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.” (...) Ostroff left The CW in 2011, and Pedowitz says he was already a fan of “Supernatural” when he assumed control of the network. (...) The show had been bounced around The CW’s schedule for much of its run, and had been relegated to Friday nights when Pedowitz joined the network.

“It’s generally where shows go to die, and we stayed there and not only did we not die, we actually survived and somewhat thrived,” Ackles notes. “And then I think when Mark came in and took over for Dawn, he looked at the numbers and looked at what was working and said, ‘Why is this show on Friday nights? Not only is it working there, let’s give it some prime real estate and see how much better it can be.'” (...) It was the emergence of “Arrow,” The CW’s first foray into a grittier brand of superhero series, that gave “Supernatural” a new lease on life.

“We didn’t have anything compatible for ‘Arrow,’ and we thought there was still life in the show, and we thought what better way to do it than by giving it the time period after ‘Arrow’?” Pedowitz says. “And as luck would sometimes have it, a confluence of events happened. The first Netflix deal was done, so all the past seasons went up, and all of a sudden, you saw an influx of viewers that had not seen the show before.”

In fact, all of The CW’s most successful series have enjoyed scheduling stints with the show, Pedowitz points out: “‘Supernatural’ was paired with ‘Vampire Diaries’ for its first season; ‘Supernatural’ was paired with ‘Arrow’ for its first season. ‘Supernatural’ was paired with ‘The Flash’ for its first season. ‘Supernatural’ is now back on Thursday at nine, and we believe it’ll be a great boost to ‘Legends of Tomorrow.’ So ‘Supernatural,’ in a weird way, even though it’s the lead-out, has had a direct impact on some of our bigger hits.”

The show is now one of the most popular on social media, regularly selling out conventions around the world. “I would much rather have our devoted fan base than 20 million people just casually watching,” Padalecki says. “The word of mouth has been a huge part of ‘Supernatural.’ I feel like sometimes people [think], ‘hey, that show has 20 million people, we don’t need to talk about it,’ but when there’s something that you feel like, ‘hey, this has two million people, I want my friends to know about it, I’m not going to assume that they know about it.'”

After so many seasons of feeling “on the verge of unemployment all the time,” Ackles says Pedowitz and Roth have given him a true sense of security.

“It’s an incredible support group that we have, not only the network but with the studio as well. I wish I could work with Mark and Peter for the rest of my life — I’d be happy. They’re just quality, smart people and they’re champions for our show and have been for many years now, and it is a huge vote of confidence to have your bosses in your corner,” Ackles says. “Peter’s been saying we’re halfway there since episode 100 and then we get to 200 and he’s like ‘oh, still halfway there,’ so he’s obviously stoked that the show’s still going on. The fact that Mark says that we’ll keep going as long as we’re happy… I don’t even know how to qualify that. It’s awesome, especially when it has to do with a program that I’m so proud of and a story that I still enjoy telling and a character that I still love playing.”

Both Ackles and Padalecki insist they’re not putting an expiration date on the series. “Jared and I talked and we’re going to just keep going,” Ackles says. “He and I, we talk about getting to episode 300 and that’s just another milestone… and then when we get there, we’ll keep going and see what the next milestone is. One of the many reasons we’ve managed to get to where we are is, I don’t think we really set parameters or limits or any obstacles. It’s just like, ‘Let’s keep our heads down and let’s just do the best work that we can and hopefully, people will continue to watch and we can keep telling these stories.”

Says Kripke, “I’m proud that it’s the last surviving WB show, but I’m also really proud that it’s just a sign of how durable ‘Supernatural’ has turned out to be. And obviously, the show itself is the thing I’m most proud of.”

[source]

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Entertainment Weekly: Fall TV Preview Special Double Issue Sept. 16/23 “Supernatural”

(...)

THE CORONER'S VAN JUST PULLED INTO THE DRIVEWAY.

It's the middle of August, and Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are filming a scene at a farmhouse in the Vancouver countryside, which at the moment is passing for Iowa. Sam and Dean Winchester have ditched their flannels and jeans for sweaters and slacks in order to pose as social workers. They're doing what the brothers do best: lying about their jobs in order to solve mysteries and kill monsters— in other words, saving people, hunting things.

Heading into its 12th season, the longest run of any CW or WB show, Supernatural tells the story of the Winchester brothers, who fell into the family business of hunting creatures after their mother was killed by a demon. What began as their father's journey for revenge has evolved into countless monster slayings, near-death experiences, and a few actual deaths.

By this point, the Winchesters have been to hell and back, killed Death himself, come face-to-face with God, and prevented the apocalypse. But perhaps more impressively, the series has survived three network presidents, four showrunners, 

writers' strike, and four different time slots. Turns out the only thing harder to kill than the Winchesters is the show itself. "It's one of those shows that has moved a lot, and yet each time it has found that core audience and built on it,” Warner Bros. Television president Peter Roth says. “It's been an unsung hero.”

If anyone knows about being an unsung hero, it's Sam (Padalecki) and Dean (Ackles), who've dedicated their lives to saving others and asked for nothing in return. Seriously, how many nights have they spent sleeping in their car? And yet, that on-the-road lifestyle has paved the way for a number of the show's riskier episodes, which play a crucial role in keeping the audience engaged. Just last year, “Baby” was told entirely from the perspective of their beloved 1967 Impala, and that's not even close to the craziest thing the show's tried.

Aside from the rules the show creates within its canon-yes, they have a historian in the writers' room to keep them honest—not even the sky is the limit when it comes to story ideas. “[Show creator] Eric [Kripke] used to say, “Smoke 'em if you've got ’em,' which meant: Anything crazy, don't be afraid to run it by us,” executive producer Robert Singer says. That motto led most famously to season 6's “The French Mistake,” in which Sam and Dean found themselves in an alternate universe where everyone mistook them for Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, the stars of a show called Supernatural. “Our show's not bound by reality,” Ackles says. “We're rooted in reality, but we're not bound by it. That gives us a fifth wall almost.”

No matter how meta or abstract the ideas get—God has a sister!—one thing remains unchanged: At the center of it all are Ackles and Padalecki, whose Sam and Dean are the beating heart of the show (whether theirs are beating or not).(...)

(...) even pulling up their favorite scenes on their phones to watch at the table. Padalecki, 34, can easily name the scripts that made him cry—“Heart," “Sacrifice," and "Baby" all make the list. The common thread is a heartfelt moment between the brothers where they get to talk about their crazy life as if, say, having visions of Lucifer is normal. “I feel like those situations where we treat the abstract and the fantastical as just part of life is where the show thrives,” Padalecki says. Ackles, 38, adds, “I think the show is truly at its best when it doesn't take itself too seriously, then it does take itself seriously, then it gets scary as s---" 

Coming off a season that checked all of those boxes, new showrunner Andrew Dabb has big shoes to fill. His plan: Get back to basics. “Every time we do a big world-spanning story, we feel we're really stretching our show," Dabb says. “What our show was designed to be and I think functions best as is smaller personal stories with a genre twist.”

And it's hard not to tell a personal story when season 11 ended with the resurrection of Mary Winchester (Samantha Smith), Sam and Dean's mother, who died in the pilot. “You're going to see two brothers be sons," Ackles says. “We saw that (with their dad, John], but when you're a son to your father, it's a different son than you are to your mother.” With God and Amara fading to the background, Mary will find herself in the bunker and on the road hunting. “[This season is] more Sam and Dean on the road. Mary is there. Cas is there. Crowley is there,” Dabb says. As Crowley (Mark Sheppard) is less concerned with Moose and Squirrel than with regaining control of hell, Castiel (Misha Collins) is the one encouraging the brothers to bond with Mom. “He has a shared experience of feeling like an outsider with the brothers yet feeling connected to them,” says Collins, whose angel is as close as one can get to being a third Winchester brother. “He is pushing them to confront the emotional bomb that is their mother showing up.”

(...)

Two hundred forty-one episodes, to be exact, and they're not done yet. The CW president Mark Pedowitz has made it clear that as long at the guys are happy and the ratings are relatively stable, Supernatural has a long life ahead. 

For Ackles and Padalecki, their focus is on the next milestone: hitting 300 episodes (something that would take them 13 episodes into season 14). However, if Sam and Dean have taught them anything, it's that Death can be lurking around every corner (and he's usually eating pizza). “If we don't make it to 300, I think Ackles and I will both be truly bummed,” Padalecki says. “When we get to 300, I think Ackles and I will think it might be time to say bye. There's a chance that changes, but we certainly do not take it for granted that we're going to make it to 300.” Ackles adds: “They're paying us to bring that little bit of magic to what they wrote, and I still feel that magic today. The day that I don't feel that magic will be a very sad day, and I hope that day never comes. I'd like to get to 300 before that day comes.” (The only thing that's certain about Supernatural's end is Baby's fate. “He gets Baby," Padalecki says of Ackles. “I get Baby Two.” Ackles makes one correction: "No, you'll get Three. Two is stunt. It's beat to s---.") 

As the sun sets on the Vancouver countryside, Sam and Dean ditch their slacks for jeans and send the coroner's van on its way. It won't be needed— this show has a lot of life left in it. Not that death has ever stopped it before.

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EW “Supernatural bosses on how they come up with new stories”

Over the course of 11 seasons, Supernatural has delivered 241 episodes filled with different monsters, mysteries, and of course, motels. But the biggest mystery of the show remains: How do the writers keep coming up with new ideas?!

“We really take great pains to not retread things,” executive producer Robert Singer tells EW. “Obviously we give nods to our past mythology, but we really want to be cognizant that we’re not telling the same story over and over again. Because that wouldn’t be fun for the audience and it’s not fun for us.”

So when it comes to finding new inspiration, showrunner Andrew Dabb says, “It begins in two places: There’s the character place and the plot place. How can we evolve these characters? We’re living in a world where Sam and Dean have changed a lot over the course of 11 seasons, and where do you take them that feels natural but also feels like new ground? Specifically, this season, Mary becomes a springboard toward interesting character growth for both of them. That’s the character place, that’s leaning heavily on what’s come before, who these people are. (...) Once inspiration strikes, it’s about making sure the story fits within the world the show’s established. “We certainly have rules that have been established about whatever monsters that we come up with — we have angel rules, we have demon rules, which I think you have to play within those sidelines,” Singer says. “I think some of the reason some of these shows don’t have the longevity that we have is that they burn through story really fast, where we have a slower rollout, but I also think they start playing a little fast and loose with the rules to try to get a story done and I think somehow either consciously or subliminally, the audience knows that. We have somebody who really keeps tabs on that so the rules, we try to adhere to our rules. (...) “When we stub our toe sometimes is when we’re trying to create new monsters with new sets of rules,” Singer continues. “I find that those episodes are not the best. I think another thing we do successfully is our vampires or our werewolves or any of the tried-and-trues, they’re not the same character every time. We try to imbue our monsters with a story of their own and personalities of their own and an agenda of their own. In that regard, they’re not a whole lot different than any villain that you might find on a police show. Every villain is the hero of their own story and that’s something that we try to do with ours.”

And yet, no matter where inspiration strikes or how it works within the world of Supernatural, there’s one very simple rule for working on the show. As Singer puts it, “At its core, which it’s always been, it’s a story of the brothers and trying to tell interesting stories that involve them emotionally.” In other words, you can never blow off the scene where they sit on the Impala and talk about their feelings.

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