It’s a very sad thing to know that a show you grew to like, grew to love and invested a lot of time on will eventually go away, or at least when news of it doing so creeps up from time to time. Well, that’s show business and fans be damned. There are just too many reasons for such a thing to happen that even millions of fans don’t have control over. Shows that have been up in the air for decades could suddenly go away no matter how ballistic fans get over it. That could also happen with our favorite family-oriented horror show. It’s not The Munsters or The Addams Family. We’re talking about Supernatural.
Now that can’t possibly happen. There are millions of us hardcore fans who love the show, even those who can’t get past the core five seasons. Chuck won’t allow it. Amara won’t have it. Billie won’t take them. We still want to see Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) grow as old as Bobby still driving Baby through America’s heartland though technically it’s Canada. But like they say in Star Trek: The Next Generation, All Good Things…will have to go to The Grave of the Firefly. Not that early anyway.
Now there are plenty of reasons our favorite shows get cancelled. The actors simply aren’t happy anymore. They want to move on to other things. Correct me if I’m wrong, that’s what’s Sarah Michelle Gellar wanted when she quit Buffy the Vampire Slayer after seven seasons. (We did have Angel to fall back on though) That’s another Supernatural-themed show that I used to love. Does anyone remember Twilight Zone: Monsters or Friday the 13th the Series? Loved those too. Now back to reasons.
Back then, TV shows didn’t enjoy overly large budgets of 20 million or so per episode. Star Trek: The Original Series is a classic example. The show had to go after three seasons due to ratings and budget constraints. The cast and crew even had to work with half-built Western backdrops, but look at what Star Trek: Discovery has to work with now. Star Trek: TOS only got popular after syndication. So popular that it’s the long-running franchise we know it today. Speaking of syndication, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD just got qualified for syndication and the people who never got past the first half of Season 1 might just change their minds when they accidentally catch its second season on other channels. SHIELD has always been in danger of cancellation because of bad street cred from Season 1, but those who stayed with it past Captain America: Civil War swear by it. It’s in a pit it’s desperately trying to get out of and as rumor has it, Season 5 may be the last. As for the 90s Star Trek series, TNG, DS9 and Voyager, I believe their reasons were the steady ballooning of actors’ salaries, apart from saying that they wanted to go with a bang. Two and a Half Men, we all know what happened. Or sometimes, an actor dies or gets indicted, and the show can’t go on without him/her.
Anyways, what about Supernatural? The ratings are somewhat steady, enough to keep the show in the air. But network ratings aren’t exactly a good measure anymore since everything is online. The actors, Jared and Jensen say that they’re willing to work as long as they want to and that the producers want to keep the show on the air as long as the actors are still willing. Well, they have a 300th episode milestone or achievement they’re gunning for. What happens when that goal is reached? Will Jared and Jensen be satisfied enough to call it quits or push forward? They did say they’d go on as long as there’s support from fans.
About that, there are fans that say the show’s quality has not been up to par beginning with Season 6. There have been several standout episodes, but that’s the general impression. There are fans that say that the show has gone on long enough and that they want to remember the show going out with a bang and not a pathetic whimper like Lost. They want to remember it as being a great show from start to finish. We want that also, but many of us wouldn’t want the show to end.
That could be a problem since Sam and Dean are growing old with us. Jared and Jensen started out as heartthrobs probably meant to entice the ladies to watch TV about two young brothers busting ghosts, except the show turned out to be much bigger. Now Jared and Jensen are pushing 40 (Jensen just hit that mileston recently), and they certainly can’t do this forever. The best thing to do is that they can pass the torch.
Unlike the Olympics, the problem with Supernatural when it comes to torch passing is that it’s difficult. Can they replace the irreplaceable? Bloodlines tanked hard, and there’s no news yet on Wayward Sisters. Do we as fans, even want a replacement? Wayward Sisters would have been nice but still needs a little work. As for Supernatural, perhaps Season 14 or Season 15 max, as long as they don’t let up on quality. We can be happy with that achievement. We’ll have to accept that all good things have an ending. In relation to that, actually contemplating on re-watching the last few episodes of Season 11 which I thought was the end. The question is, what will you do once Sam and Dean hang up their flannel?
First thing that comes to mind is to re-watch all episodes sequentially and re-live their adventures for a few months. And then re-watch the all-time faves like Hollywood Babylon, Jus in Belo, Changing Channels, The Mystery Spot, The French Mistake, etc.
Again, how about you? Kindly share what you’ll do when Supernatural officially ends.