Jared Padalecki might be on the circuit for his newest show, Walker: Independence, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not giving Supernatual fans something to talk about. In an interview with TV Insider, Padalacki talked about what a show going for 13 episode seasons might have done for Supernatural.
“Jensen [Ackles] and I asked for 13-episode seasons of Supernatural, many, many, many times.” said Padalecki. “As a matter of fact, I feel like if we had done 13-episode seasons of Supernatural, we’d probably still be doing Supernatural right now.”
Was Supernatural goofy as hell? Yes. But does Padalecki have a point here? Also yes! “I think a shortened season would just be a really strong, action-packed, story-packed season where we don’t have to do an episode like “Bugs” in Season 1 of Supernatural.”
“Bugs”, for the record, was a highly-criticized episode that relied a lot on misrepresentative stereotypes of Native American beliefs as a major plot device. It wouldn’t be the last time that Supernatural would step in it; but if you’re doing a show that’s 15 seasons at a full network order—20-23 episodes per season—there are going to be a few that don’t pass the sniff test. Supernatural was 327 episodes long! It literally holds the record for America’s longest-running, live-action, fantasy TV series.
The point here is that Supernatural had a dedicated core audience, a vocal fanbase that showed up to conventions and did their own fanwork, incredible four-quadrant appeal, and had a monster of the week formula that worked. If the show had slimmed down every year, or even after season five or seven, the show could have gone an even further distance. It had ideas! It swung for the fences! And in another “
Source: gizmodo.com