
Supernatural Day – Celebrate the Show…And the Fans!
September 13, 2016On September 13th, 2005 the beloved TV show Supernatural first aired. That’s right, this show has been on the air for 11 years. Now I know, it doesn’t come close to The Simpsons (27 years and counting) or Gunsmoke (20 years), but this show has still made a huge impact on many people. Supernatural, as many of you guys know, is about two brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) who hunt supernatural monsters along side their angel friend Castiel (Misha Collins). That is probably the easiest way to sum up the entirety of the show since there is SO MUCH more I could say about it.
There’s no way a show can last for 11 years without lots of support from its fans. The thing that makes this show so special is the fans. So, in celebration of the show and of the fans I thought I could count down the 11 best reasons why the Supernatural fandom is the best!
11. There’s a GIF for literally everything.
I know what you’re thinking, why is this even on the list? Well! When I say there’s a GIF for everything, I mean everything. The Supernatural fandom usually takes over any tumblr post with a GIF. 90% of the time the post will be completely irrelevant to anything about the show and someone will be able to find a GIF to relate to it. So why shouldn’t we celebrate this? Look, there’s even a tumblr dedicated to it!
10. The cast and crew is the best, too.
The biggest reason why Supernatural is so great is because of its cast and crew. The on-screen (and off-screen) chemistry between them all is something to strive for. In fact, the chemistry between the lead actors, Ackles and Padalecki, was what made the show succeed so much in its early days. The cast and crew (and fans) are family. They play pranks on each other and have fun while making the show. They are well aware of how huge the Supernatural fandom is and how important the fans are to the show.
9. Supernatural beat out over 60 shows to be on the cover of Entertainment Weekly.
Most recently, the magazine Entertainment Weekly had a contest where fans could vote for their favorite TV show to be featured on the cover of the latest issue. The cast of Supernatural reached out and they were able to get enough votes to beat over 60 other shows to be on the cover. The fandom voted and they came out on top. In a promotional video for the cover, Misha Collins even gave a shout out to the fans. He wasn’t surprised that Supernatural won and that they “seem to win things we have no business winning.” The issue also includes a double page article and some great photos of the main actors.
8. The show mentions the fandom in some episodes.
The first time the fandom gets brought up in the show is in season 4 in the episode “The Monster at the End of this Book.” Sam and Dean find out that there are novels written about their lives. After they discover these books they turn to the internet and of course found out about fanfiction, the fact that there are Sam-girls and Dean-girls. Oh, and don’t let me forget that they also learn about Wincest, which is Sam and Dean “together together.” Eric Kripke, the creator of Supernatural, was quoted saying, “It was a good chance to lovingly make fun of the fans.” There are so many other meta fandom moments that have been in episodes throughout the show, so if you want to see more check out our article about the top meta moments!
7. The fandom supports the cast and crew.
At a Supernatural panel at San Diego Comic Con in 2015 the fans came together to support Jared Padalecki and awareness of depression. Jared had started to get vocal about his depression and had just recently started his campaign Always Keep Fighting, which provides awareness of mental issues, including depression. Fan Anne Kim, with help from Misha Collin’s non-profit organization Random Acts, got hundreds of tea light candles that said “Always Keep Fighting” on them and handed them out along with a card that said, “when signaled, turn on your candle during the panel.” Jared and other cast members gave a standing ovation. He thanked them and said, “This is so touching and humbling and honoring.”
6. All the awesome fan-made things.
In any fandom there are many talented people that write fanfiction, make art, do parodies and much more. Supernatural is one of the most wrote about shows in fanfiction and it also inspired this amazing parody by The Hillywood Show. The parody has gotten over 11 million views and the two sisters who made it, Hilly and Hannah Hindi, have been able to sell shirts based off the parody on their website.
5. Random Acts campaign
In 2009 Misha Collins went to Twitter to ask his followers, a.k.a. his “minions,” to come up with ideas for a “minion stimulus” project. His goal was to get US government stimulus funding for non-profit measures. They soon abandoned the idea of getting government funding to become a privately organized charity. Their mission is to “conquer the world one random act of kindness at a time.” Through the power of the fandom of Supernatural Misha was able to make this campaign possible. To see more information check out their website, randomacts.org.
4. Wayward Daughters Academy campaign.
Wayward Daughters is an idea for a spin-off that has been floating around tumblr. Basically it would focus on Sheriffs Jody Mills and Donna Hanscum alongside the other female characters, such as Claire and Alex, as they hunt monsters. Could you imagine this being a show? How cool! What’s even cooler is that the fandom started a tee shirt campaign based off that idea! Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster, the actresses who play Jody and Donna, promoted the shirts with a Wayward Daughters Academy logo to raise money for Random Acts and their work helping homeless and at-risk women. Recently they started another campaign called Wayward AF which benefits Random Acts.
The fans who started this campaign had this to say on their about page, “WD is feminism, empowerment, body-positivity, self love, and encouragement. It is a tight-knit, yet non-exclusive community. It is a place to call home.”
3. You Are Not Alone campaign.
Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles teamed up to start a campaign that supports the newest platform that Random Acts started called The SPNFamily Crisis Support Network. The support network partnered with IMAlive and To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA). On the website they have support lines for emergencies and non-emergencies, such as a suicide hotlines, for many different countries. Jensen and Misha are quoted on the website saying, “Let us start by saying thank you to all the fans that have been with us over the past 10 years! The thing we love most about Supernatural fans is the sense of community. We are so appreciative to have you in our lives and we want you to know that You Are Not Alone. We are so excited to be supporting Random Acts in partnership with IMAlive & TWLOHA for this campaign.”
2. Always Keep Fighting campaign.
In 2015, Jared Padalecki started a tee shirt campaign called Always Keep Fighting which raises money for organizations, such as To Write Love on Her Arms, and provides help and promotes awareness for depression among other mental illnesses. Jared’s first campaign reportedly raised $250,000 for TWLOHA. He has had 6 different designs in the last year, the latest one called “You Are Enough” where the profits went to the charities OneOrlando and the Equality Florida Institute. Jared was quoted in Variety saying, “Even if there are a thousand small fights, even if every other minute you’re thinking about suicide, or depression, or addiction, or if you have mental illness, I want people to hit it head on and take action. And to be proud that they’re winning their fight, period.”
1. GISHWHES
Misha Collins is also the mastermind behind GISHWHES, or the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen. Whew! GISHWHES is literally just that. It is the largest International scavenger hunt where people all over the world do crazy things, make friends and make random acts of kindness. GISHWHES participants have even collectively broken five Guinness World records and committed over 93,000 acts of kindness. People sign up and get into teams, the team who finishes the list of acts wins a trip to a pre-selected county with Misha Collins himself! Some of the acts have been: give a puppet show at a children’s hospital, make a GISHWHES igloo for you dog and put a Stormtrooper to work while you enjoy a cocktail poolside. Make sure to sign up for next year!
Let us know in the comments what Supernatural means to you!