by Gloria Atwater (aka ErinRua)
WHO: Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester, two ghost/ghoul/monster-fighting brothers on a perennial road trip to save the world from Evil.
WHAT: Supernatural
WHERE: on The CW Network (formerly The WB)
WHEN: Thursdays 9/8 central
WHY: Remember the early days of the X-Files, when The Truth Was Out There and monsters became real, but only a select knew about it? Remember the good old classic scary movies you watched too late at night, and afterwards went to bed only to lay there awake, because something was scratching on the roof? If you want television that scares, tantalizes, enthralls and engages, not to mention surprisingly touching your heart, you want Supernatural.
The CW Network (formerly the WB) is launching its third season of the cult-hit series, and its fandom is electrified. According to series creator and executive producer, Eric Kripke, this third season is where new viewers should swing aboard, because we are about to rock 'n roll!
For those just coming aboard, here's the scoop. In 1983 in suburban Lawrence, Kansas, auto mechanic John Winchester awoke in his favorite chair to hear his wife, Mary, scream. He rushed upstairs to find the baby's room ablaze - and Mary pinned, eviscerated, to the ceiling. John and his two small sons, infant Sam and four-year-old Dean, escape but Mary does not, and there is no rational explanation for the fire. Desperate to make sense of the tragedy, John finally approached a local psychic, who just happened to be the real thing. What she told John shook the foundations of his world, and he embarked on a bitter quest to find who - or more rightly, what - had decimated his family.
And there John and his sons dropped off the grid. Fast-forward twenty-three years, and baby Sammy is riding a full scholarship as a pre-law student at Stanford. He has broken away from Dad and brother Dean's obsessive hunt and left the transient, dangerous, often gruesome "family business" of monster hunting to seek a normal life. But when Dean shows up with his James Dean attitude, a collection of mullet rock, and the news that Dad has disappeared, Sam agrees to just one hunt.
He gets back to his apartment to witness a replay of horror: his fiancé pinned to the bedroom ceiling, her belly slashed, and she erupts into flame before his eyes. Now, with their black '67 Chevy Impala and a trunk full of weapons, Sam and Dean hit the road once more, hunting down a growing plague of ghosts, ghouls, and nasty paranormal creatures. However, the evil that has haunted the Winchester family for over two decades is stalking them in return. Hell is breaking loose!
Yes, Supernatural is a genre show, but it rises, shining, above the pack. The acting is brilliant, the writing witty and thoughtful, and there is a strong internal story-arc that holds the show together. A fun quirk is that the hunters (and hunter-ettes) are mostly blue-collar types who know ancient Latin exorcism rituals as well as they know how to tune up their pickup trucks. The "monsters of the week" are frequently drawn from American folklore, classics including Bloody Mary and The Hookman, and each is given their own unique twist. Even vampires appear - twice. Once as villains, and once as ... not quite. It's a show that thinks, a show with heart, and one that dares to posit hard questions and avoid easy answers.
It doesn't hurt that the leading men, Jensen Ackles' Dean Winchester and Jared Padalecki's Sam Winchester, are easy on the eyes. But they are also interesting. The chemistry between these two talented actors is electric, and they deliver the entire spectrum from sarcasm to angst to kick-ass action with complete believability. The complicated, dysfunctional, yet no less devoted relationship of these brothers is a strong underpinning to the story's fabric, and works as both their strength and their greatest weakness - a factor the forces of evil do not overlook.
As for the stories, not every episode is perfect, a fact Eric Kripke himself will admit. But it is evident that the good old days of horror movies remain foremost in the creators' minds, and each episode is a feast of the macabre, the bizarre, and the downright weird, all presented with the best special effects television can deliver. Couple that with brilliant dialogue, excellent acting, and drama and action every bit as good as anything on the big screen. Oh, and don't forget the awesome classic rock soundtrack.
The only downside to Supernatural? It airs opposite network giants like CSI and Grey's Anatomy. So if you simply can't choose, then set up your recorder to tape one show while you sit and watch the other, because Supernatural is just too good to miss. You owe it to yourself to watch some quality television. And how delicious will it be to scare yourself again, just as you did when you were a kid? Go on, you know you want to.
Catch Supernatural on The CW, Thursday nights at 9/8 central. The season premier is tonight, October 4th! The Seven Deadly Sins manifest themselves in living, demonic form ... Check your local listings.
One of the shows that critics had written off sight unseen this season was CBS' Moonlight, which stars Alex O'Loughlin as vampire private eye Mick St. John and explores his not-quite-requited relationship with Internet reporter Beth Turner (Sophia Myles). Well the surprise is that Moonlight has done well for itself, even going so far as to win its timeslot last week. What follows is an exclusive interview with Alex O'Loughlin in which he discusses the evolution of Mick St. John. For more on Moonlight, check out our Vampires & Slayers page by clicking HERE. 
