It’s a good time to be a Supernatural fan. Winter hellatus is almost over, there are gorgeous new photos of our boys all over the internet, and we are all WINNERS!
In Fandom At The Crossroads, we wrote about the reciprocal relationship – the uniquely close ties – that Supernatural has with its fans. We’ve always said that SPN takes “reciprocal” to a new level. That was never clearer than the evening of the People’s Choice Awards.
A year ago, fans voted until our fingers were raw, and Show won not only Favorite Sci Fi show, but Favorite TV Drama. We all sat there watching, biting our nails, waiting for the big announcement – for the acknowledgement that our Little Show That Could really DID! The disappointment when the award wasn’t given on air, and Jared and Jensen weren’t even there, left a big impression on all of us. (I think the PCA organization quickly realized they’d dissed the wrong fans – this year they even tried to appease us early by tweeting photos of the boys’ placeholders in their seats. Which essentially meant ‘See? We invited them! Don’t hurt us!’)
This year, we voted with the same single-minded determination. And we didn’t vote alone. Having a reciprocal relationship means it goes both ways – and it did. This year, SPN was up for Favorite Sci Fi Show, J2 were up for best actor, and a new category was added for favorite TV fandom. This year, we were ALL up for People’s Choice Awards.
As we tweeted our encouragement to each other to keep voting, the producers and cast and crew of the Show were tweeting their encouragement too. Guest actors, the visual effects crew, the location manager, the producers – they all were right there with us. We voted for them; they voted for us. On the evening of the PCAs, fans gathered around their tv screens and laptops and iPads to watch, eager for a glimpse of the boys on the red carpet. In Vancouver, the crew gathered in one of the food tents to do the same, tweeting out a photo to the fans as if to say, ‘we’re all in this together’. Gen and Danneel tweeted out photos of the couples ready to head out, keeping everyone in the loop as the anticipation mounted. Once the PCA pre show kicked off, every time there was a glimpse of Jared or Jensen on the red carpet, both fans and cast and crew would tweet their enthusiasm. “I just saw Jensen!” “Lookin’ good Jared!”
And we did it – we won. All of us. I honestly don’t know who was more proud – us of them, or them of us. Tweets flew back and forth as the fans congratulated the cast and crew and producers, and then they congratulated us right back. Cast and crew celebrated with cupcakes. Fandom celebrated with a zillion photos of Jared and Jensen looking amazing in their (matching!) oxblood and black suits, goofing off with each other and posing with their beautiful wives (and Danneel’s adorable baby bump).
The name chosen for our fandom at the PCAs was SPNFamily. Never has it seemed so perfect.
Congrats to each and every one of us!
YES! I am happy for and proud of my fandom brothers and sisters, and delighted by and grateful for the amazing relationship we have with the cast and crew who produce such an amazing show. We ARE family!
Absolutely we are! It was a pleasure tweeting alongside you and sharing the pride and joy 🙂
Thanks for this post! We are breaking new ground as a fan family in what can be accomplished when a story inpires people to cross mediums and come together. The networks don’t herald it because the show trancends traditional viewing platforms and they are generally left holding meager day-of ratings while we watch on DVD, TIVO, Hulu, our computers, in other countries, etc. People watch in a multitude of ways and engage with each other out of the reach of the traditional American networks and ratings systems. The studio doesn’t quite get who we are either or what we want because they can’t quite figure out how the artists and the fans could have connected on our own without much help from them. They are playing catch up but they are still approaching it as a “how do we count and moneytize these viewers?” kind of question. Misha has an idea of the true potential behind the fandom and has directed it in a positive, artistic, altruistic way.
It was extrordinary to have the People’s Choice up on my computer live at 6:00 in LA and to be tweeting with SPN friends around the world about it. It was 3 hours till the show aired in my time zone and I didn’t watch in on CBS – I was TIVO-watching SPN by then (buffering to allow myself to fast forward through the commercials). Here’s to us – the smartest, best connected and most AMAZING fandom in the world! Congrats to us on our award!
Well said – that’s exactly who we are! And it’s very true that the studio and network don’t quite get us — which makes this win even more *ours*! Thanks for your insightful comment and congrats on our win!
Couldn’t have said it better!
Beautiful article. You really captured perfectly just how I personally was feeling while we were all working together to vote and then how it felt when we all were able to celebrate together. I swear some of the cast and crew’s tweets the night of the PCA just about made me cry. I’m fairly new to the SPNFamily and I have NEVER experienced the type of reciprocal love that exists between show and fandom like it does with Supernatural. It is a wonderful thing and every day that I’m spending in this fandom makes me even more proud of being a Supernatural fan. This is without a doubt one of the most amazing fandoms that I’ve ever had the pleasure of being part of.
There is definitely something unique and special about the SPN fandom — I think most of us had something in our eye at one point during the PCAs 🙂 So glad you’re part of us!
Where can I get one of those pins? I love Supernatural, and that “I” won a PCA because I do! The pin is awesome.
It is awesome, isn’t it? I love fandom’s creativity! They’re by SewGeekAustin, you can order online from them – and part of the proceeds goes to Support Supernatural too 🙂 Congrats on the win, it really is all of ours!
just got to SewGeekAustin.com and it will take you to our etsy store