Supernatural: Sort of like Ghostbusters, with Hunks

[Originally published on a now defunct web magazine in 2005.]

It's funny how some shows you don't think will catch you, actually do catch you. I thought I'd like Threshold, and I do. I didn't think I'd like Invasion (which I'm calling "Invasion of the Thirty-Something Body Snatchers") and son of a gun, I don't.

But I didn't expect to like Supernatural. And I do.

I thought at first that the testosterone level was a little too high for me. The premiere had me yawning and glancing at the clock, which is a bad sign when you have people burning on the ceiling. At the end, Dan said that it was probably better than Point Pleasant, which is damning with faint praise because almost anything is better than Point Pleasant. (Sorry about that, Marti Noxon.) But I liked the second episode better than the first, and the show has started to grow on me.

Supernatural is about the two Winchester brothers, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), who are on an extended road trip searching for their missing father. The twist is that Daddy hunts down and destroys supernatural evil for a living, and the brothers have the same calling. They're drawn to a different place every week, looking for Daddy and fighting evil along the way. And we're talking traditional, horror-story type evil, things that go bump in the night, like ghosts, demons, and shape-shifters.

Jensen Ackles, lately of Smallville, is a big reason why I'm still watching this show. If I were a writer on Supernatural, he's the character I'd be writing for... and if this series catches on in a big way, I believe it'll be because of him. He has a way with the snarky comments because we can see through to his soft, marshmallow center; there is more to Dean than what is on the surface. I recently learned that Ackles was the runner-up after Tom Welling to play Clark Kent on Smallville. I like Welling just fine, but I'm almost sorry Ackles didn't get the part.

Unfortunately, Jared Padalecki, who plays Sam, does absolutely nothing for me. Is he a teen heartthrob or something? If so, what on earth do they see in him? I have no idea how he got top billing over Ackles, and I keep wanting to hold him down and give him a haircut as well as acting lessons. Oh, well. Maybe he'll grow on me, too. [Note from 2006: Yes, I take it back. I like Sam a lot now. It just took some time.]

I'm willing to give it time because they're tapping into something fairly cool here with this semi-serious Ghostbusters thing. Supernatural isn't terrific yet or anything, but it has potential. And wow, is it fun to watch.

• Supernatural season 1
  
• Supernatural home