For those of you who don’t watch the TV show Supernatural, this blog entry is not going to mean anything, so feel free to skip it.  I’ll catch you next time.   🙂

-Laura

Dear Sera Gamble:

 Congrats on taking over as showrunner for Supernatural as it enters its sixth season.  As a rabid an enthusiastic fan, I thought I’d offer you a few words of advice. 

1.  You’ve got a cast that is as talented as it is lovely.  (And that’s pretty darn talented.)  If you provide them with good scripts, they can take it from there. 
2. Please watch the shows that didn’t suck and figure out why they worked.  That’s most of seasons one and two, a few from season three and the last few episodes of season five.  Season four never happened in my world.
3. Making your characters bi-polar (“Forget destiny – let’s do this ourselves.”  “We can’t fight destiny, let’s do it their way.”  “Screw destiny – we’re in this together.”) is not actually the same thing as character growth.
4. Stop killing off the most interesting supporting characters (Ava, Andy, Gordon, Ellen, Azazael, etc…)  Actually, while we’re on the subject, I know the show is called Supernatural, but please stop killing every single character and then bringing them back to life as a regular plot point.  You lose any emotional investment from the audience.
5. I like Castiel now that he’s thinking for himself and no longer a company man.  Other than that, dump the angels.
6. Stop with the “Oh, my God, look how clever and ironic we are” episodes.  No more Supernatural books, conventions, or fangirls if you please.
7. Realize that the audience doesn’t know what you know.  If you’ve built backstory in your head that will take 2 full seasons to reveal to the audience (ex.  Ruby is evil), we will grow restless and start DVRing.  Personally, I can watch all 22 episodes of Season 4 in an hour and a half.  A few episodes to draw out suspense is one thing.  Half a dozen or more is pushing it.
8. Finally, don’t screw it up.  There are a lot of us out there who really, really, really want to like Season six. 

Sincerely yours,

A Supernatural Fan