Sunday, July 31, 2011

Supernatural - Favorite 19th Episode - Poll

Results from the 17th episode are in and My Heart Will Go On is the winner with 106 votes and 32% of the vote. In second came Heart with 75 votes at 23%. Currently, Point of No Return is winning the 18th episode poll. Today we have a selection that automatically falls in a ranking for me. No questions and no hesitations. I love when that happens. My guess is that Mommy Dearest has a great shot of winning here. Thanks to everyone who has been voting and commenting. I appreciate it. However, I would like to encourage people to use capitals and punctuation. I don't mean to sound witchy but it is sometimes hard to understand what people are saying without them. I would hate to miss a chance at good conversation for the lack of a capital.

Also, this part of the poll is almost over so thank you for helping us pass the hellatus time. We're over halfway there! Yippee! I'm taking suggestions on how you would like to pass the rest of hellatus when this part of the poll is over. My plan is to take the winners of these polls and doing one week of massive voting, but then I'm open to suggestions. Let me know what you want to see in the comments. Thanks! Let's get to today's poll:

Provenance - Sarah Blake is the one-shot PiP I most want to see back on Supernatural. I loved the connection between Sam and her and how Dean supported it. "Marry that girl." Mostly though, she was brave in a bad situation and had the brains to solve the ghost mystery. Her conviction that she needed to fix it because she unwittingly helped get that couple killed was Winchester all the way. However, the reason it gets my vote is because this episode really scared me. That homicidal ghost girl was terrifying with the razor blade and doll. I thought this was well done all the way around.

Folsom Prison Blues - I loved Deacon (and the actor who played him) and if this episode weren't in this particular round it might have gotten a vote from me. The idea that the Winchesters would go to prison to pay back a debt their father owed amazed me. The fact that they solved the ghost story within prison had me cheering. Remember back when the Winchesters won...a lot. I know it's been awhile but this episode highlighted Winchester ingenuity and I miss that. Plus we had Tiny. "Doughnuts are not love."

Jump the Shark - My loathing of the Adam Winchester addition puts this episode dead last for me. The brothers arguing over Adam and what kind of life he should have was just another round in the brother fracture. Ghouls are disgusting. Yep, that about covers the episode for me. While it did not Jump the Shark like titled, it had those sharks swimming uncomfortably close. I'm glad he ended up dead and the show could continue shark-free.

Hammer of the Gods - The positives outweighed the negatives in this episode but not by as big a margin as I hoped. Obviously the return of Gabriel was the biggest win. I loved that he was in a third disguise and had a thing for Kali. The porn mustache revelation was fantastic, but Gabe's death not so much. I also thought the gods portrayal was weak. They did god meetings much better on Stargate SG-1. Having Lucifer kill off so many was also a downside and a waste of good potential characters.

Mommy Dearest - I enjoyed this episode as I think a lot of people did. It had the foursome working together, amped up the Eve story line, and brought back Samantha Smith. All good things. It also had the reveal that Cas was working with Crowley, which didn't come as a shock, and Crowley himself, which did. As far as advancing the mytharc, this one was a doozy. It's biggest drawback was killing off Eve, who never got the story she deserved, although I have to say the return of Clever Dean was welcome.

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Past Winners:

Lazarus Rising (season 4)
Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester (season 4)
Bad Day at Black Rock (season 3)
The End (season 5)
Simon Said (season 2)
Skin (season 1)
The Usual Suspects (season 2)
Changing Channels (season 5)
Croatoan (season 2)
Abandon All Hope (season 5)
Mystery Spot (season 3)
Jus in Bello (season 3)
The Song Remains the Same (season 5)
Born Under a Bad Sign (season 2)
The French Mistake (season 6)
On the Head of a Pin (season 4)
My Heart Will Go On (season 6)

Supernatural - Favorite 18th Episode - Poll

It's our 18th episode poll today and I did something I have not done since the poll began. I rewatched an episode to make sure my rankings fit. But before that, we have the results of the 16th episode poll where like predicted On the Head of a Pin won with 149 votes and 56% of the vote. Dark Side of the Moon placed second with 100 votes for 26%. My predictions weren't so good for the 17th episode so far though. Currently My Heart Will Go On (my vote) is winning with Heart (my prediction) in second. Today I have a much harder time predicting what will win but my guess is that it will be in seasons 4-6. Don't forget to leave comments because hiatus is more fun with conversation. And besides, you really don't want to be stuck on the John Winchester badge do you? :-P

Something Wicked - Michael from Something Wicked is one of my favorite PiP's of all time. He's snarky and scared and brave. He's a great big brother and the parallels between his situation and the Winchesters growing up really hit home to me, especially since I was an 80's latchkey kid with a little brother myself. This episode gave us the WeeChesters and proved that John sucked way before Faith. I also really enjoyed the shtriga. Its looks and the fact that it preyed on children made it one of the scarier monsters to me.

Hollywood Babylon - This episode was pure fun. I loved the in-jokes and Dean as PA. The story line was strange but interesting and they did a great job of pointing out things in the Supernatural world that make little sense. (Why salt? Why not another condiment?) When I'm looking for an episode just to feel good about, this one tops my list.

The Monster at the End of This Book - Anyone who follows the Supernatural comments on SpoilerTV knows that I HATE this episode. It's in the top 10 Worst for me. It made me hate meta episodes. I loathe the introduction of Chuck into the series and I thought the books plot line was utterly stupid. I'm sure there is something to love in this episode but I refuse to sit through it again to find out since I have to watch it next week in Live Chat.

Point of No Return - This is the episode I rewatched today. I wanted to give it a fair shake before I ranked these episodes because it leaves me divided every time. The high point for me is actually Bobby's verbal smack down of Dean, followed by Zachariah's death, Sam saying he believes in Dean and the brothers' Impala talk at the end. The low point is always Adam. While I cannot stand the idea of Adam, he did make canon that he doesn't consider Dean and Sam family and I agree with him. We also learned not to tick of Castiel, which may be a good lesson for season 7.

Frontierland - I'm not as into cowboy Winchesters as most fans, but I happily hummed along this episode right until I had a 19 ton anvil dropped on my head. And it totally ruined the episode for me. I enjoyed watching Sam with Samuel Colt and Dean geeking out over westerns made me giggle. I'm divided about the phoenix because while it is a cool monster, he seemed less monster than most and he was still gunned down. However, I will never vote for this episode in a favorites contest because it has the second worse ending of any SPN episode. The hackneyed, convoluted, absolutely non-sensical delivery of phoenix ashes made me question the writing talent as much as Bugs did. To add insult, it could have been a Winchester victory for once but they screwed that up too. Never have I been so irate about a script as I was with Frontierland and nothing in the previous 35 minutes ever makes up for such idiocy.

Feel free to call me nuts about TMatEoTB and Frontierland below. We will agree to disagree because comments are the family reunion you actually look forward to.

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Past Winners:

Lazarus Rising (season 4)
Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester (season 4)
Bad Day at Black Rock (season 3)
The End (season 5)
Simon Said (season 2)
Skin (season 1)
The Usual Suspects (season 2)
Changing Channels (season 5)
Croatoan (season 2)
Abandon All Hope (season 5)
Mystery Spot (season 3)
Jus in Bello (season 3)
The Song Remains the Same (season 5)
Born Under a Bad Sign (season 2)
The French Mistake (season 6)
On the Head of a Pin (season 4)

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Supernatural - Favorite 17th Episode - Poll

Sorry this is late guys. Lots of computer problems right now. Not sure when I will be able to post it. The winner of favorite 15th episode is French Mistake with 225 votes at 56% and in second is Tall Tales with 104 votes and 26%. Yesterday's poll is looking good for On the Head of a Pin with Dark Side of the Moon in second. Official results will be in tomorrow. Today we have a good mix of episodes. There's comedy, romantic angst, 2 alternate worlds, and religious indictment. Again, it's easy to pick my favorite in this poll, and again it won't be win. I predict Heart and Hell House will run the votes this round.

Hell House - Often a fan favorite, I find the prank wars funny and the idea of a tulpa very intriguing. However Ed and Harry are more annoying to me than funny and every time they are on my screen I want to fast forward.

Heart - Ah the tragic love story. Unfortunately this is not my thing and I find it really hard to believe that Sam could love Madison in such a short time. Still, my heart isn't completely stone yet so yes the final scene where the idiot girl plans to ruin Sam's life by making him kill her instead of having the guts to do it herself does get me too. A little bit.

It's a Terrible Life - I'm in the minority because I really like this episode. It was funny to see where Zachariah thought the brothers would be without hunting and Sam's office melt down is a real tension reliever for me when I'm tempted to try the same technique. I love how the brothers work together and although they use the ultra annoying Ghostfacers for research, they make a pretty good team even without family history behind them.

99 Problems - Who knew after the antiChrist we would get the Whore of Babylon too. I liked that there were lay people willing to fight demons in the NonPocalypse and Michael Shanks is always a favorite guest star for me. Father Gideon rocked as a man conflicted but Leah drove me nuts, as she was supposed to. Again, I am not a fan of the anti-Christianity vibe on Supernatural, but this one had its moments.

My Heart Will Go On - This had an out-there premise that worked well. I loved Balthazar's reasoning (take down Celine Dion) even if it wasn't true and who didn't love Booby and Ellen as a couple. Makes me wish they were together in the "real" world. Jim Beaver and Samantha Ferris knocked this one out of the park. I also loved Fate as a type A enforcer. She reminded me of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde minus the humor and dog. However, the best thing about this episode was Dean and Sam walking through the park to One Way or Another, knowing that Fate is trying to kill them. Absolutely hilarious!

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Past Winners:

Lazarus Rising (season 4)
Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester (season 4)
Bad Day at Black Rock (season 3)
The End (season 5)
Simon Said (season 2)
Skin (season 1)
The Usual Suspects (season 2)
Changing Channels (season 5)
Croatoan (season 2)
Abandon All Hope (season 5)
Mystery Spot (season 3)
Jus in Bello (season 3)
The Song Remains the Same (season 5)
Born Under a Bad Sign (season 2)
The French Mistake (season 6)

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Supernatural - Favorite 16th Episode - Poll

The favorite 14th episode poll was much closer than I expected. The winner was Born Under a Bad Sign with 45% of the votes (151 votes total). With 34% and 112 votes, My Bloody Valentine came in second. Currently for the 15th episode, The French Mistake is winning. It's nice to see season 6 getting some love too. Today, we start the 16th episodes where I will once again NOT be voting with the majority. Let's just say On the Head of a Pin is the odds-on Vegas favorite here with a likely Dark Side of the Moon runner up. Reminder - due to its shortened season, we will run the last 2 episodes of season 3 against the last two episodes of the other seasons. Without further ado, comments make hiatus bearable and here are your choices.

Shadow - This episode gave us Meg, who we knew was a demon, and John, who unexpectedly showed up. Finally. But more importantly, it gave us the really cool shadow monsters (daevas). I liked this season 1 episode because the pace moved well, there was humor ("upstairs brain"), and I liked Meg better when she stopped pretending and embraced her inner skank. Yes it was wildly overacted but it was campy fun.

Roadkill - Roadkill has the benefit of completely surprising me and great guest acting. I loved how it revealed Molly to be the ghost and portrayed Jonah as a good man whose ghost was twisted by anger and regret. That being said, I find this one more forgettable than most.

On the Head of a Pin - This is an excellent episode that I am not voting for. It has Dean torturing Alastair and then Alastair giving it right back. There is angel betrayal and the biggest shock of the season after learning Sam was addicted to demon blood. But with the shock of the first seal reveal, we also get one of the most angsty episodes in Supernatural history. I don't enjoy seeing the brothers broken this much and it establishes a 3 year pattern of them losing more than they win. That is my biggest issue with Supernatural right now and this episode is far too depressing for me to truly enjoy it.

Dark Side of the Moon - Again with the angst overload. I didn't like this episode, but it did have its moments. The firework scene may have more fanwork created from it than anything but the hugs. It was awesome! We got the return of Ash, whom many people who aren't me really missed, and Pamela, who was as enjoyable as ever. We learned that John sucked before the fire, watched the return of Evil Mommy Mary, and were thrown into a religious episode I'm surprised people didn't protest. Mostly though, we got disillusioned Cas and Dean and a trashed amulet. While it had tremendous meaning in that scene, I want the amulet back!

And Then There Were None - Grandpa Creepy and the Campbell Soup Army got ganked! Now that's how you throw a party. Unfortunately Rufus died too and that sucked out loud. We had some Christian bashing again but then moved to the herpes monster and things rocked from that point on. Highlights: FBI Bobby, Bobby-Rufus back story, "Welcome to next time!". Bobby-GC verbal smackdown, herpes ear check - BWAH, and Rufus' funeral. This episode had humor, drama, and most importantly kept me on the edge of my seat through every commercial. It's up there in the most surprises Hall of Fame and Dean's forgiveness speech was absolutely needed. All in all, an A+ episode for me. One of the best of season 6.

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Past Winners:

Lazarus Rising (season 4)
Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester (season 4)
Bad Day at Black Rock (season 3)
The End (season 5)
Simon Said (season 2)
Skin (season 1)
The Usual Suspects (season 2)
Changing Channels (season 5)
Croatoan (season 2)
Abandon All Hope (season 5)
Mystery Spot (season 3)
Jus in Bello (season 3)
The Song Remains the Same (season 5)
Born Under a Bad Sign (season 2)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Supernatural - Favorite 15th Episode - Poll


The favorite 14th episode race is shaping up to be more of a competition than I figured. We currently have Born Under a Bad Sign leading but My Bloody Valentine is not far behind. A final tally will be posted tomorrow. For now, the results of the favorite 13th episode are in and it's a blow out. The Song Remains the Same won with 162 votes and 44%. The next closest competitor was Ghostfacers with 63 votes and a mere 17%. Good luck to the favorite 15th episodes.

REMINDER - Due to season 3's shortened season, I made the executive decision to place the final 2 episodes of season 3 against the final 2 episodes of all other seasons. It seems more fair to have the penultimates and finales against each other. If this really annoys you, feel free to add them in your rankings in the comments section. On with the show - I personally feel the 15th episodes are far, far better as a whole than 13 or 14. What do you think?

The Benders - This is the first time we see just how evil people can be. There's nothing paranormal or supernatural in this case, just the ickiest family this side of Deliverance. I loved Officer Kathleen and the show was definitely creepy. It had the awesome poker scene and some fabulous one-liners. "Demons I get. People are crazy." "Eat me. No wait, you actually might." However cannibals just don't do it for me so this one goes in the middle of the episode list for me.

Tall Tales - Two words - The Trickster. It cannot be a bad episode with him. Who could forget alien slow dancing to Lady in Red? I actually liked the sibling bickering here because we got the he said - he said versions similar to the vampire episode on The X-Files. Now anytime someone drones on, I substitute "blah, blah, blah" in my head and it's instantly funny. Plus Bobby saves the day again. With the exception of the Impala's flat tires, there's not much I don't love about this episode.

Death Takes a Holiday - Again a large part of this episode's success is the guest stars. We got the trifecta of Pamela, Tessa, and Alastair in this one. I love the story line of a town with no deaths and the brother's conflicting opinions about this. I enjoyed Dean and Sam as spirits (astral projections) and Cole grew on me as the episode went along. "Thanks Haley Joel. I know I'm dead." A good show all around even if it included the death of a favorite character.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid - I'm a sucker for back stories and Bobby so I was already predisposed to enjoy this one. However I was alternately surprised and heartbroken when the zombies started out good until things went oh so wrong. I enjoyed Bobby's reaction to his wife and to Dean and Sam when they found out. I liked Karen's conversation with Dean about Bobby. Mostly though I enjoyed meeting Sheriff Mills. I'm glad she's coming back in season 7.

The French Mistake - This will likely be the winner and for good reason. I HATE meta episodes. TMatEotB and Real Ghostbusters make me cringe every time, so I was prepared to hate this episode too. While it will never be my favorite or even close, I laughed continuously and didn't want to shoot myself when it ended. I've even rewatched it a couple times when I didn't have to. For me, that is the highest praise a meta episode can get.

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Past Winners:

Lazarus Rising (season 4)
Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester (season 4)
Bad Day at Black Rock (season 3)
The End (season 5)
Simon Said (season 2)
Skin (season 1)
The Usual Suspects (season 2)
Changing Channels (season 5)
Croatoan (season 2)
Abandon All Hope (season 5)
Mystery Spot (season 3)
Jus in Bello (season 3)
The Song Remains the Same (season 5)

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Supernatural - Favorite 14th Episode - Poll


Congratulations to Jus in Bello for the win for favorite 12th episode with 113 votes and 42%. In second was Faith at 23% with 61 votes. Currently The Song Remains the Same is winning for favorite 13th episode. Final results will be posted tomorrow. Today we look at the 14th episodes, which for me are again on the subpar side but not near as bad as the last poll. My prediction - Born Under a Bad Sign wins by a landslide. Don't forget to comment.

Nightmare - On the plus side, it rapidly expanded the mytharc into Azazael's special kids. On the negative, Max. I don't think there was a whinier "bad guy" in Supernatural. Yes, he had plenty of reasons to be disturbed. No, I didn't want to watch it.

Born Under a Bad Sign - There is a lot of good in this episode. The beginning was very confusing and I hated all the "just kill me" emoangsting in the middle, but you have got to love the Sam possessed angle. When possessed Sam channeled his inner Meg, literally, this episode really took off. Basically, I'm split on this episode because the first half made me cringe but the second half had me riveted.

Long-Distance Call - And we're in one of my least favorite episodes of season 3. Not only did it completely waste another episode in a shortened season, but the monster is one of my least favorite. It had some humor and who could forget "And we're walking...walking..And we're not touching that.." The tour guide rocked. The rest of the episode, not so much.

Sex and Violence - I liked this episode more than i ever expected to. I think it is because I had never seen a siren story where the siren was male. I loved that twist and I think it showed how far the brother relationship had deteriorated. Plus, Bobby saves the day. that's always awesome!

My Bloody Valentine - I find this the goriest episode of Supernatural of all and I am not a fan of gore. I watch this episode very seldom and even then I don't watch the whole thing. I know this is a big hit with the gore fans but I didn't like Famine and I don't like this episode.

Mannequin 3: The Reckoning - Also known as filler #2. Both it and it's partner Unforgiven are on my worst of season 6 list. There was no point to this episode, the conversation with the blow-up doll may be the creepiest part of season 6, and the ending is only surpassed by Frontierland int he number of anvils that fell on my head. With the exception of the Dean-Lisa-Ben scenes, this episode was worthless. And poor Impala, getting possessed again. Someone get her an anti-possession tattoo.

Vote and don't forget to leave your comment and/or ranking. Comments are that favorite old song that suddenly comes on the radio at the end of a bad day.

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Supernatural - Favorite 13th Episode - Poll

We're over halfway through our Supernatural favorite episode contest. While it looks like Jus in Bello will win for favorite 12th episode, the poll is not officially over yet so I will post the results in the next poll.

Today we have the battle of bad episodes. Now please don't get me wrong. When I say a bad episode of Supernatural, I still recognize that it is probably better than anything else that aired that week. To be honest, I would rather watch Bugs (my least favorite episode) on constant repeat than a new episode of 3/4 of most TV shows' best episodes. Yes, Supernatural is that good. But since this poll doesn't compare Supernatural to other shows, I am confident in saying episode 13 by and large sucks in all seasons for me. It's close to 6th episodes for me but that poll was saved by Skin.

Three of the 6 episodes are on my worst list, 1 moved up from that list just last month when I updated for season 6, and two fall in the meh category. Not an episode here could take my top 4 from yesterday with most falling below my #5, Criss Angel... too. So without further ado, here's why I don't like the following episodes. Feel free to tell me why I am crazy in the comments below.

Route 666 - I can sum up why this is my 3rd least favorite Supernatural episode of all time in 3 words - racist killer truck. Really nothing else needs to be said, but when you add one of the worst guest actresses in SPN history, you get an episode that tanks all around. Perhaps the script called for Cassie to act like a plank of wood because she sure made a good fence post. The only reason why this episode isn't dead last for me is because it had some good lines.

Houses of the Holy - I rewatched this episode last month and it was better than I remembered it to be. I think the SpongeBob place mat altar did it. Still, it was awkward in many places and out-of-character in others. I tend to not like when Supernatural takes on religion and this is one of the worst.

Ghostfacers - This episode tends to split the fandom. I'm on the "It's awful" side. In all honesty, I'm not as big a fan of Hell House as most people largely because I found Ed and Harry more annoying than funny. Ghostfacers was worse. However, my real problem is that this is the only episode that I find personally insulting as a fan. We had spent months of no new Supernatural because of the writer's strike. When that was finally resolved, we were told there would only be 4 more episodes. We lost 6 episodes. When we had last left off, Dean was going to hell, Ruby was manipulating Sam, and Lilith had just killed off some fabulous PiP's in a police station. They had 4 episodes left to resolve what had been my favorite season up to that point. AND THEY WASTED IT ON THIS MESS!!! That irritates me to no end as do the next 2 episodes. A season so chock full of potential and they squandered 3 of the 4 episodes they were given. I take that personally.

After School Special - Dean wears tight shorts and Sam learns the consequences of losing your temper with a bully. It really did seem like a 70's after school special. Generally I am a big fan of flash back episodes but not so much this one. Part of it is that I thought Brock Kelly overacted and the writing was inconsistent at best. Part of it is that I felt like they hammered the moral of Words Hurt into my head, something Supernatural usually does not do. Colin Ford is by far the highlight of this meh episode.

The Song Remains the Same - This is the winner for me...by default. It would never make it in any of the other polls. Young John and Mary were great as usual and the scene in the Impala where John sounds just like a dad was priceless. However, retconning Anna into Smiter Angel didn't work for me and it continues the de-sainthood of Mary. The Mary - Anna fight scene did rock my world though. A decent show but not one I'd rave about.

Unforgiven - Like straw in a scarecrow, this episode was season 6 filler to me. A place holder until we could get to Cas and Eve. (Yes, we have had this conversation before but nothing you say will make me believe this episode or Mannequin did anything but fill time.) The best part was in the last 2 minutes when Sam's wall came tumbling down. The black and white shots emphasized that Sam was not Sam, but as we had 12 previous episodes proving this it added little to the mytharc. The case was meh and I detest spiders so a literal Spider-Man did less than nothing for me. Blech.

Feel free to sound off on how I am too hard on these episodes and how I didn't talk about the best parts. After all, comments are like that one good push on a swing that soars you past hellatus.

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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Supernatural - Favorite 12th Episode - Poll

The SpoilerTV Best Show Contest has ended and Supernatural pulled out a win again against a hard hitting competitor in Fringe. First off, congratulations to everyone who participated. The Supernatural fandom really pulled together to campaign on this one.

So now that the contest is over, we can continue with our Supernatural episode polls. Yeah! When we last left off, Abandon All Hope won the 10th episode poll with 190 votes and 41.67% of the vote. Caged Heart took a distant second with 65 votes and 14.25%. The winner of the 11th episode poll was no a shock - Mystery Spot with 270 votes and 55.67% of the vote. After that came Appointment in Samarra with 134 votes and 27.63%. Point of interest - season 5's The End has won by the greatest margin so far in the contest with a whopping 61.92% and every episode has had at least one vote, including Bugs with 1 vote and All Dogs Go to Heaven with 3 votes. I'm thinking they were a pity thing.

Just a reminder of how things work before we start with today's choices. Every poll is open for 24-36 hours, always ending at 11:59 pm CST in the USA. You get one vote - no repeat voting. Since the point of this contest is pass time in hellatus, everyone is encouraged to respectfully comment about their choice. It's even more fun if you rank them or tell what you thought of each. Obviously, everything is a person's opinion so please share yours. With that in mind, I share my opinion also and here's my opinion of these episodes:

Twelve must be a magical number for SPN because I find I like these choices better than most. 3 are in my Top Episodes list and only one is in my Worst Episodes list. Which of course makes voting a whole lot harder.

Faith - Faith ties for my best episode of season 1 along with Devil's Trap. There is nothing I don't like about this episode from the introduction of reapers to Sam protecting Dean to the stellar music. We get Vulnerable!Dean in the wooby hoodie and that devastating phone call Sam makes to John. (Shameless promotion - My recap of Faith should be posted on Monday or Tuesday, here and on my blog. Fair warning - Faith cemented my utter hatred of John.)

Nighshifter - Ronald Resnick is one of my favorite PiP's of all time. Who can forget Mandroid and laser eyes. I loved Ronald and was so disappointed when he died. Still, the shapeshifter hunt was awesome, it introduced another favorite character Victor Henrickson, and nothing ever fit as well in Supernatural than Renegade by Styx playing at the end. "We are so screwed." Yep, you were but it made for awesome TV.

Jus in Bello - Again we have Victor Henrickson and again we have a top episode. This is another of those perfect Supernatural episodes. I love the introduction of Lilith, Nancy is fabulous, and we got "I shot the sheriff.......But you didn't shoot the deputy." Bwah! This is one of the best mytharc episodes in Supernatural history. Plus, it contains one of Dean's most clever plans. Well, until Lilith killed my favorites (stop doing that SPN).

Criss Angel is a Douche Bag - I didn't dislike this episode near as much as most people. I thought the story line was awesome and I enjoyed the "old-timer" magicians. It had some funny parts but this one is pretty middle ground.

Swap Meat - Ugh. This may be the episode I have seen the least because there is nothing that grabs me in it. I am not a fan of body swapping episode in general and found this one to be juvenile for the most part.

Like a Virgin - OK, I admit it. One of the reasons I like this episode so much is because the CW royally screwed us over it by premiering it one week later after an already too-long hiatus. This one benefits from the fandom for me. However, it also kicks starts a new and improved Dean and Sam relationship starting with that awesome hug. That alone makes it gold in my book. Plus, I liked the Mother of All story line. Especially when I thought it was going somewhere.

So there you have it - my opinions. The brilliance of many 12th episodes make up for the suckiness of the 13th ones for me. What do you think? What's your favorite? Vote your choice and don't forget that comments are the birthday cake of life.

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Friday, July 22, 2011

Supernatural - Lying to Win is No Win at All

I'm a big supporter of Supernatural. I can F5 all night with the best of them. I will aggressively campaign and track down Supernatural fans to make them aware of a poll. I can sometimes be overzealous. And I believe that the Supernatural cast, crew, and fandom deserve no less. The people that make Supernatural work very hard and they do not get the recognition that they deserve. There is no question about that.

However, there are some things that I think hurt the show and the fandom. We have a reputation in online polls for being dedicated, obnoxious (sometimes deserved and sometimes not), and never giving up until we win. What we do NOT have a reputation for is cheating. When someone makes that accusation, even our opponents stand up to defend us. That's a powerful testament to this fandom. We may F5 until our fingers are numb, but we do not bot vote or design and post ways to let our fans vote faster. When it's one vote per IP address, we may vote from home and work, but we do not find a way to rig the system so we can vote multiple times from the same computer. We work hard, but we don't cheat to win. It makes me super proud of this fandom.

That's what makes the MTV Teen Choice Awards such a shame for me. Over these last weeks, I've seen fans pushing other fans to lie in order to win, even a big name in the fandom. The rules of the Teen Choice Awards are clear. You have to be between 13 and 19 to vote. Can you lie and say that you are a teenager even when you are in your 30's? Of course you can. But does that really benefit our fandom and is that the example you want to show teens? I think lying to win will ultimately hurt our fandom. For one, it tarnishes our reputation as a fandom that doesn't need to cheat to win. It means that every other poll we are in, people will question whether it is legitimate or not. For example, a fan for Firefly cheated to get Summer Glau to win some rounds in the Character Cup on SpoilerTV last year. This year when Firefly took a huge lead over Fringe at the beginning, I became immediately suspicious and asked Adam to look at the votes. They were legitimately winning but that one poll from last year had me wondering about every poll Firefly was in afterwards. That is not what we want people to think of Supernatural.

Ultimately, if Supernatural wins the MTV Teen Choice Award because we lied to get it people will know. Right now our passion inspires many people to try Supernatural out and it converts some of those people. That's when Supernatural really wins. To lie to win damages that ability and will hurt us in the long run. So if you are not a teen, I hope you don't vote. If you are a teen, hit F5 as often as you can. We all win this way.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Supernatural - We've Won the Poll, Now Let's Make It Count

First off, can I get a WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! We did it! We won the Spoiler TV 2011 Best Show Contest. It was a hard fight and it took Supernatural fans around the world coming together to prevail! First and foremost, we should all be proud of our fandom. To paraphrase Jared Padalecki, we are the little fandom that could and DID! It is a privilege to be part of that.

However, this is just the first step. While it makes us feel awesome that we support the best show on TV and we have thousands of reasons to be proud, it doesn't help Supernatural if the Powers That Be don't know about it. So step two is actually the most crucial. It's time to get the word out to the CW and Warner Brothers. Ultimately, they are the ones that decide if Supernatural gets renewed or not and we want to make it clear that we are here, we are numerous, we are watching, and we are making both companies money. In fact, we want 10 seasons and this is how we campaign for them.

1. We need to get more people watching Supernatural. The best place to start is on SpoilerTV. We need to talk up why we love Supernatural and hopefully convince people to watch it. Let's start by posting why we love Supernatural here: SPTV Winner Announcement Remember to always be respectful even if someone is slamming us or our show. It only makes the people who slam us look bad and may make others try Supernatural out because of our awesome response.

2. Make sure the CW knows what we've done.

A. Let's slam their feedback box for good this time. We already broke it in January to complain. Now we are going to break it with praise for our show. We want to - thank them for renewing Supernatural, give specific positive praise to the show and its crew, and mention how the fandom rallied to win the SPTV contest. This is NOT the time to complain or say what you want to happen in season 7. This is about building goodwill with Mark Pedowitz, the new head of the CW. He already likes the show. We want him to LOVE the Supernatural fans! Post comments here! Goal - 3,000 fans

B. Post to the CW FaceBook page. I've started the thread but we want to get 2,000 fans to comment. In fact, we want it to be the most commented thread of the summer. This will get the CW's attention and show how strong our fandom is in a positive way. Again, comments on how you love the show and what it means to you are crucial. NO negatives please. Comment thread here. Goal - 2,000 fans

C. Flood the CW lounge with lots of praise for Supernatural also. Again, keep it positive and emphasize why Supernatural deserves the title Best Show and how dedicated you are to it. Also, start new threads about why people love Supernatural, why people should watch it, etc. CW Lounge here. Thread here. Goal - 2,000 fans

3. We also need to get the word out to Warner Brothers. They produce Supernatural and sell it to the CW. In all honesty, they have the most interest in Supernatural because they get the majority of the money from it. Best news - ratings don't matter to them so EVERY FAN counts to them. Because of this, we want to emphasize that we spend money on Supernatural when talking to them. They profit from international TV rights, syndication on TNT, the anime, DVD's, Supernatural magazine, the comics, the novels, cons, and well anything that isn't made by fans and uses Supernatural words or graphics. This is NOT the place to talk illegal downloading.

We need them to know how much we financially support Supernatural because if they can make enough money through these things, sometimes they will discount the show to the network making it easier for renewal. We're going to concentrate on the WB FaceBook page but if you know of other places too, go for it and please let us know in the comments. WB thread here. Goal - 3,000 fans

So the real work has just begun. Don't let this victory on SPTV go to waste. Let's milk it for everything we can so that the CW and WB know just how positively passionate we are about Supernatural. The cast and crew are busy working hard for us. It's the least we can do for them. We've already proved what we can do with 1 vote and 48 hours. Now, let's make it count!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Supernatural - 1 Vote, 24 Hours, and a Passionate Fandom

Update July 20: We didn't quite hit the 24 hour goal but we are at 7,600 votes. That's awesome! Let's keep passing the word! We will hit 10,000 votes. I know it. Because when Supernatural fans are involved, there is nothing that can stop us. Keep the rally going. We've got work to do.

Updated to add: For reasons unknown and likely to benefit Fringe, Adam has decided the poll will last 2 days instead of 1 day. That means we are now looking at 1 vote, 48 hours, and a passionate fandom. Nothing has changed. Let's get 10,000 votes in the first 24 hours! Let the campaigning begin. Vote here: http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/07/spoilertv-best-tv-show-competition-2011.html

It's official! Supernatural is in the finals of the SpoilerTV Best Show contest against Fringe. It will be a tough round because it won't be Supernatural vs one fandom, but Supernatural vs everyone who doesn't want us to win a second time or is tired of us winning online polls. And yes, that's a lot of people.

However, I want to challenge us to go beyond a 2 show competition and raise the stakes. Let's make this Supernatural vs. the CW. There is a new sheriff in town so to speak and if the rumors are true, he's more receptive to Supernatural. I say we use this contest as a way to show Mark Pedowitz exactly what the Supernatural fandom can do. Let him see how devoted we are and how wide our network really goes. Let's make sure that the CW cannot ignore Supernatural and its fans any longer. This contest is perfect because it is only 1 vote per person so it's not about only a few making noise. If we've got 5,000 votes, in theory we've got 5,000 fans. Also, it is only 24 hours (edited...now 48 hours), which shows how fast the Supernatural fandom can mobilize.

Nothing speaks louder than ratings for a network head, but on a network with bad ratings all around, a loud, aggressive, and passionate fan base may make a difference. Therefore, I propose a 2-prong battle strategy: win the contest and then get the CW's attention.

Win the Contest:

Goal #1 - Get at least 10,000 votes (Yes it will be hard but that's impressive.)

#2 - Contact Supernatural fans from all around the globe and get them to contact key Supernatural websites/fans in their countries. Have Supernatural fans from at least 100 countries rally and participate. (Quite honestly, we can't get 10,000 votes without the whole world voting.)

#3 - Flood SpoilerTV with positive comments about Supernatural. We want people from the CW to look at these comments. We want them impressed by how passionately we love this show and how much we want future seasons. We want them to notice Supernatural.


After the Contest:

Goal #1 - Have at least 3,000 people comment about the contest in the CW Feedback. Remind them to say something about winning the contest and how awesome Supernatural is.

2. Have fans comment about contest and Supernatural on CW FB page and in CW lounge.

3. Have at least 3,000 people comment on the Warner Brothers FB page. Remind them to say something about how they support Supernatural monetarily (DVD's, iTunes downloads, merchandise, cons, etc.) Warner Brothers owns Supernatural so emphasizing that we spend money on the show and also emphasizing the international fan base is a must.

Essentially, I say we take one of the many online contests Supernatural fans promote and turn it to our advantage. We need to impress Mark Pedowitz and short of finding a way for all of us to count in Nielsen ratings, there's not much more we can do. I want to watch season 10 of Supernatural, but that's not going to happen if we don't convince them we are mighty in number and willing to support our show. So let's show everyone what can happen with 1 vote, 24 hours, and a passionate fandom!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Supernatural vs Chuck for Best Show

Spoiler TV: The Best TV Show Competition 2011 - Day 29 - Quarter Final 1 - Chuck vs. Supernatural | Spoiler TV

It's Supernatural vs Chuck for the Best TV Show competition on SpoilerTV. This is a great chance to convert people to watching Supernatural. It is 1 vote per IP address and voting only lasts another 23 hours. Please pass the word and vote here: http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/07/spoiler-tv-best-tv-show-competition_12.html

Friday, July 8, 2011

Supernatural - NJ Con Info - Friday

Today kicks of the Supernatural convention in New Jersey. I will be compiling tweets and updating this blog post as new tweets come in. Fair Warning - This will contain SPOILERS for season 7. Proceed at own risk. Also, since I am writing this for various venues it will contain information beyond just the TV show. (Credit goes to Adinarj and Jessie Reed for photos and the many people who are tweeting from this event. See #njcon on Twitter to follow them.)

Corin Nemec (aka Christian Campbell) Panel:

Nemec was jetlagged since he just arrived back in the US.
Talked about working on The Stand, his co-workers there, and Stephen King.
His dad worked on The Goonies, which inspired him.
He's 6 ft tall but felt short on Supernatural and Stargate SG-1 sets.
Defended Christian as standing up for himself.
Had no idea he was a demon until got the script.
Wasn't pranked on set but hopes to come back and prank them.
Has a movie called Sand Shark coming out.
Likes to paint, especially graffiti style painting.
Claims he and Christian are both demons - black eyes and all
Wants a movie where he defeats alien zombies from Mars (Can't be worse than OctoCobra)
Talked about his most interesting scars and how the hospital knew his name as a kid

Kim Rhodes (aka Sheriff Mills) Panel:


Sheriff Mills will return in season 7. Heads to set July 29.
If her character dies, Rhodes wants it to be bloody and not just her blood.
She thinks Bobby needs a woman who can handle a gun.
Supernatural is the only TV show she was on that she asked to come back.
She compliments Jensen Ackles as a director.
Jim Beaver's daughter loved Suite Life.
She loves working with Jensen and Jared. They were very supportive during an emotional scene.
She'd rather work with zombies than kids. ha!
Wanted to do Sheriff Mills with a Minnesota accent but TPTB said no.
Her sister is a huge Supernatural fan and showed her the video of Jensen doing Eye of the Tiger.
Took training in how to handle a shotgun.
Hasn't been pranked on set yet because her character always carries a gun. May be targeted this year.
Can be seen as a mom in Beethoven Christmas movie later this year.


Gabriel Tigerman (aka Andy Gallagher) Panel:


Started con by Vogue-ing on stage.
Was on Punk'd. Doesn't like pranking people because it makes him feel guilty. Made Jesse McCartney cry.
Wants Andy to return so he can get payback on the demons.
Recently joined Twitter. His followers are now named Gabie's Babies.
He has a man crush on Michael C. Hall.
Thinks Andy would hang out with Bob Marley and Einstein in heaven.
Combined his honeymoon with a Supernatural convention in Birnmigham.
Never had a successful pickup line but thankfully hasn't needed one in a while. Married.
He would try his pickup line on Richard Speight, Jr. (Trickster) if had to choose.
His guilty pleasure is Teen Mom - (say it isn't so)
Disappointed the audience didn't look like the cast of Jersey Shore (BWAH!)


Photos by @adinarj and Jessie Reed

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