At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, I got to talk to actor Mark Sheppard (currently on Supernatural as Crowley, though you may have seen him on many other shows: Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse, Leverage, 24, Warehouse 13 … just to name a few. Three years ago I’d met up with Mark at SDCC, when he was at a signing booth with his son. At that time he’d kinda-sorta hinted he hoped to be included in the then-upcoming Avengers movie, when I asked if he was going to be working with Joss Whedon anytime again soon. Being that I apparently like to beat a dead horse, I asked Sheppard about it again at the following SDCC. Mark didn’t appear in the movie, though we may never know if he was ever really vying for a part in it.

Yet that horse still looked like it needed another beating.

This year I asked Mark what new we’d be seeing him in, seeing as Leverage was over and Warehouse 13 (where, yes, his character died) is ending. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., perhaps? Watch the video for his answer.

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You may not be able to make out the first question asked at the table, but it went a little something like this. I happened to be taking some photos over at another table Mr. Padalecki was at, and I overheard him say something along the lines of, “I really wish I could tell you. Really! I just can’t!” When I told my table what I’d heard, and when we saw Jared was heading to our table next, we were all thinking: challenge accepted. Unfortunately, though we feebly tried to convince him that Bob Singer told us it was OK for him to spill is secret to us, it was no dice.

So what would challenge Padalecki’s acting chops so much for the entirety of next season? Will he have a doppelgänger and be playing two roles? Play an evil Sam?

During the press room round-table interviews for Supernatural today, Executive Producer Bob Singer mentioned something sort of in passing that surprised the hell out of everyone at our table: a Supernatural spin-off was being developed, the premise to be introduced in the upcoming ninth season.

From the sound of things, we will learn the take-off point of this new series at around the 2oth episode of the new season. Showrunner Jeremy Carver was extremely tight-lipped on providing more details, as was Mark Sheppard (“Spin-off? What spin-off?”) Doug Jean of RockinComics.com had a really good theory on the premise: Men of Letters. When Carver discussed seeing more of the Men of Letters in season nine, including a flashback to the bunker’s origin, he was genuinely excited — it makes sense that could work really well into a spin-off.

Singer did note that Sam and Dean would “appear” in the spin-off, but ultimately it would be a new set of characters.

Any ideas of what you’d want to see? A Crowley spin-off? Bobby?

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P1bKeLqEXc

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Fresh Meat, written by Alice Henderson for Titan Books, reads like three different Supernatural adventures in one. While tracking a cannibalistic monster within the wintry Sierra Nevada mountains — the area that trapped the Donner Party — the Winchester brothers meet a threat greater than they expected — nature.

Throughout the over-355-page novel, I particularly enjoyed Henderson’s portrayal of the Brothers’ supernatural dangers while reflecting the hazards nature can wreak on mankind, despite today’s technological advances.

Henderson did a good job portraying Sam and Dean’s idiosyncratic hunter difficulties, consistently faced on a weekly televised basis. I didn’t start obsessively watching the series until the sixth season; but, even I couldn’t miss the pervading isolation surrounding the brothers in their loss of Bobby, their lovers, their friends, and themselves. However, despite the iterative peril of facing demons, Lucifer, and former Olympians, I always felt confident that at the episode or season’s end, Sam and Dean would physically accomplish their goal (despite mental repercussions). However, the novel brings home the continuous futility and danger of all-too-human vessels fighting inhumanly powerful demons, week after week. Through her narrative, Henderson reveals Sam and Dean can only go for so long without food, water, or rest and that, in-between killing demons, the Winchester brothers face no relief. They have no future save killing what kills. They have no life outside the current job or the future job. While they can’t go it alone, they can’t depend on those around them, and, sometimes, that includes each other. Even when they aren’t in danger, they accept the life; but, what about their allies or their allies’ families who didn’t? It’s a sucky way to exist; because, that isn’t living, it’s surviving.

When I watch the show from the comfort of my afghan-covered couch, I typically feel for Sam and Dean, but I never felt they entirely lacked hope, regardless of Dean’s season eight outlook. However, Henderson’s novel helped me realize otherwise. Between episodes, Sam and Dean aren’t visiting the world’s largest burger or America’s funeral museums, there’s just the job and the death catalyzed by the job. Yea, it’s depressing; kudos to Henderson for capturing that perspective.

Even when not battling cannibalistic demons, Sam and Dean are fighting something — a supernatural predator their father trained them to handle or a natural landscape they can’t account for. Henderson’s textured prologue beautifully detailed how a stranded nineteenth-century group could fall to deliberate cannibalism. Even today, the Sierra Nevada area is no joke. A former professor of mine detailed the eeriness of driving past that vast mountain range expanse in graduate school. Henderson’s naturalistic text perfectly captured the environment’s detriments.

Admittedly, the novel wasn’t wholly perfect. The clumsier parts occurred in the initial two chapters where Henderson fell into passive voice, overused conjunctions connecting independent sentences and went on tangents unrelated to the direct story. Chapter two seemingly existed to firmly ground the novel in the seventh season. But it felt unnecessary.

While this text lacks the warm fuzzy feeling I prefer in my novels, Henderson is an amazing writer. I enjoyed her dense forest details, her evocative action scenes and her survival emphasis. The best part of a season seven novel surrounded a living Bobby. I’ve only just accepted his death. So, if you want a novel that packs three adventures into one, that brings home the hunter conundrum and takes place in season seven, check out Fresh Meat at Barnes & Noble or Amazon (in both book and e-book form) for around $5-8. For more on the novel, check out Titan Books’ site.

Also, for the true Supernatural lovers, check out the Supernatural Harlem Shake. I am seriously crushing on Jensen Ackles’ pretty fly dance moves. Thanks, Chuck!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m657-K0hyk

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There’s not much good on TV. Likely there are several of you who’d disagree with me on this, but I found the quality in television programming strongly lacking in 2012. Some shows I’ve been a fan of for years simply haven’t appealed to me as much as they had before. How I Met Your Mother. Leverage. Burn Notice. American Horror Story. Castle. Dexter. Supernatural. They may not have had a terrible year, but they certainly didn’t cause me to sing their praises from the rooftops. Likely my disappointment has much to do with my age and the fact I can barely keep my eyes open past 11:30 PM on weeknights these days, so I’m extremely picky with how I spend what little TV watching time I have. This isn’t to say there were some good shows in 2012: Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, for example. This item relates to the next two items on my list. …

Supernatural could end in 2013 and I’d be OK with that. The past to seasons of this show have been pretty lacking, when comparing to the earlier seasons that caused me to fall in love with the show. There’s still a chance things could pick up gain, now that the Sera Gamble experiment crashed and burned, and Jeremy Carver is now at the helm. The magic it just gone, and there’s nothing new coming to the plate. This is one of those shows that demands a clean and purposeful finale, and should the numbers falter for Supernatural, CW better damned well allow for one hell of a stellar ending to the series, with Kripke back to help to boot.

Comic-Con is still fun, but I’m reaching the end. This is much related to my first item of my not finding a place with many shows currently on television. This past year was the best SDCC for me to date, but it had much more to do with the company I had than the shows I was interested in covering. This year I had the good fortune of attending the press panels and/or rooms for Firefly and Breaking Bad — most every other TV show I just didn’t care much for. This is why I’m thinking this year’s SDCC may be my last, if I actually am able to attend at all. The cost of attending is often difficult to justify, and every year I spend months scrambling to get the various press outlets to put us on their lists to attend press rooms for interviews. If I do attend this year, I won’t fall prey to that hoop jumping again, and I’ll take time to soak in the surroundings more, especially now when CliqueClack’s focus is on anything you’d see there, including animation and comics. I might actually get to sit in a few cartoon panels with Michael this year.

Downton Abbey is a mysterious pleasure to watch. And I have a hard time putting my finger on why. So far we’re halfway through the second season, and we’re eagerly looking forward to zipping through the rest of the season and beyond. The thing is, I’m not exactly sure why it’s so damned appealing … but it is. The best I can come up with is that the characters are extremely well done, and the time period, for me, is fascinating to watch. Some have been telling me that it’s basically a soap opera set in the early 20th century, and sometimes I get what they are saying. But there’s something about how this show is filmed, acted and portrayed that makes me want to see more and more of it. It’s fun to get lost in the time period.

Kickstarter is hit or miss. This goes quite outside the usual TV theme I’d be going off about here, but it’s something very 2012-ish to bring up. I’m a big proponent of Kickstarter, and I’ve actually donated a fair amount to several CliqueClack-ish projects that I’ve felt pretty strongly about, in particular web-based series and animation projects. However, there are cases when there are projects that promise a “reward” of the finished product, only to have that finished product take a very long time to complete or, more drastically, never come to fruition at all. I truly hope more web series, comics and books become a success using Kickstarter, but in turn I hope their funding stays realistic and promisses are kept. I plan to keep giving what I can to these projects, so if you find some related to our site that fit, let us know.

Cable’s overpriced. And a resounding “DUH!” issues from the audience. I’ve got a side resolution for 2013, and that’s to get our house off overpriced cable TV and onto more realistic subscription plans. In the past — when we had to review TV programs the night they aired, for CliqueClack and TV Squad — not having cable wasn’t an option. Now that we’re no longer burning the midnight oil off of two ends of a candle to get sleepy reviews posted, we can deal with recorded programs or legally-downloadable shows days after they air live. We may miss a few shows here and there, but when our viewing has become so picky these days, would we really miss them all that much that it’d be worth paying hundreds of dollars for a subscription to programming where 99% of it we don’t care about?

Wow, now that I look back at that list, I sound pretty damned sour about 2012. I don’t believe a so-so year — or even a bad year — can be followed by yet another one or worse, so I have high hopes for 2013. Here’s to better TV programming, more time to watch it (and more cheaply), and another SDCC that’s so good that I can’t stay away for 2014. And here’s to my 1000th post (minus those I did for CliqueClack Food). Happy New Year everyone!

There’s always been a loner aspect to Supernatural‘s Dean Winchester, through his martyrdom and warrior attitude, through his “I am meant to hunt and whether I like it or not it’s my duty.” Self-afflicted solitude, in that no one could ever understand what Dean’s life was like or what he was going through. He led the battles and bore the burden, no matter what it took … but he didn’t do it alone. Being a self-induced loner and being alone are two very different things.

When aloneness was focused on as a theme in Supernatural, it’s historically been Sam that was the one left alone. His mother left him in his crib, Jessica left him through the same tragic means, Dean went to Hell and left Sam to fend for himself, Sam was alone in the Hell cage with Lucifer while Dean lived a loving life with Lisa and Ben. Heck, Sam was even left alone from his very self, when his soul was taken away from him.

In Supernatural season 8, it’s Dean who’s getting left alone. Dean was left alone in Purgatory — Castiel ran away from him, Sam didn’t look for him and essentially ran away from the entire hunting life, to fall in love with a dog and a vet, much like Dean did with Lisa and Ben. John’s long gone, Bobby’s gone (for the moment, I’m not convinced yet), Kevin and his mom left because they don’t feel safe with Dean and even Sam is still planning on leaving the hunting life.

In “What’s Up, Tiger Mommy?” Dean is starting to get it. He was sarcastically angry with Sam in the season 8 premiere, and I’m not sure anyone really understood exactly why. It felt true to Dean’s character, yet it didn’t at the same time. After seeing how Castiel ran away to leave Dean alone in Purgatory, it’s a bit easier for us — and probably Dean himself — to understand why he was so angry with Sam.

Dean’s never really been alone before. He’s either had Bobby to fall back on, Sam to take care of, Lisa and Ben to be with or Castiel to back him up. Even in Hell, he had a trainer, mentor, torturing partner, what have you. From what we’ve seen of Purgatory, Dean was left by everyone who has always been there for him in some way.

And it’s really a wonderful thing for all parties involved. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki get to take their characters places they’ve never been before. Instead of playing the same characters week after week, these lucky actors have the opportunity to stretch themselves and dig deep to find new aspects of their characters that wouldn’t have been revealed had Dean not been abandoned and had Sam been alone yet again. I don’t have to even point out what a score this is for the viewers.

This is all going to play a greater part in Dean’s bonding with Benny the vampire, seemingly the only soul in Purgatory who had Dean’s back. This relationship could be mined in so many great ways that I can hardly wait to see what Jeremy Carver does with this little nugget. Season 8 — new aspects of our leads’ personalities to explore, a delightfully sketchy new secondary character, brand new character interplay and dynamics to naturally build upon the already-laid foundations. A recipe for success if I’ve ever seen one.

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Supernatural‘s season 8 started off on the right foot, thanks to a strong episode written by the new showrunner, Jeremy Carver. I went into the premiere with no expectations for awesomeness, just hoping that a great set-up would occur. I never dreamed I’d get a powerful episode and the promise for a great season; so far, so good, Mr. Carver.

The best thing Carver did was to focus on the characters. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed them until I saw this episode and realized that I had been missing them far longer than just one summer. Carver’s gone back to the heart of this show and it feels amazing. Since a whole year had gone by, he seized the perfect opportunity to showcase how both Dean and Sam had changed in that year, based on what had happened to them. We have a changed Sam. A year later, a normal life, no hunting and a love interest, and he’s not the same Sam we left at the end of season 7. He’s lighter, grounded and has a real sense of clarity about him.

Dean remains his damaged self, but with a new hint of something stronger. Season 7’s Dean could have broken at any time. This Dean, after a year of war in purgatory, seems better off for it, if that’s possible. He’s stayed true to himself, though, in the way he’s hard on Sam, to the point of being hypocritical. When Sam was in a Hell-box with Lucifer, Dean made a happy life with Lisa. Why is it not OK for Sam to have a love life when he thought Dean was dead? If the positions were switched, Dean implied that he would have looked for Sam,  even though that’s not what they agreed upon. Liz isn’t sure this piece of the premiere is ringing true for her. She thinks that “Sam would’ve lied and said he looked for Dean, even if he didn’t, because he’d know how it would sound to Dean.”

Wow, I love what they’ve done with Kevin. He’s still Kevin, but less naive, using his smarts to outsmart the King of Hell — now that’s some forward progress. An likes “the fresh addition of Kevin” and noted that the title of this episode, “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” is also a novel and a film “about a mother’s increasingly out of control serial killer child. Is that foreshadowing? And for which character?”

Keith was thrilled “to see Crowley appear so early in the season, because that’s a good indication that we’ll be seeing more of him.” And we can all agree that more Crowley is a fine, fine thing. He also liked Kevin one-upping Crowley; Crowley standing in the field with goats, realizing he was duped by the new prophet, was just a hint that we’ll be seeing Crowley seeking revenge, more so than just snapping Kevin’s girlfriend’s neck.

Liz mentioned that Carver shouldn’t cater to fandom, but in the premiere, he found the balance between being true to the characters and tossing a few nuggets to the fans. We’ve got the Impala back (and Dean’s comments about it smelling like dog), Sam’s back on his laptop, researching, just like the old days (which is such a good move — we know Sam’s more naive than Dean and always will be, but he is smart). I think adding Benny, another potentially strong secondary character, is also for the fans. Carver knows how we love the ever-waning sidekicks of the Supernatural universe; from Ash, Jo and Ellen to Bobby, Chuck and Castiel — why wouldn’t he add a vibrant new pal to the fold? An thinks that Benny will “clearly get out of control, despite Dean’s best intentions,” but I’m OK with that. Sam and Dean have aligned themselves with the likes of Ruby and Meg, so I’m all for another shady sidekick.

Carver hit every note in his first episode as Supernatural‘s new showrunner. Dare I say I’m giddy to discover what the rest of the season has in store?

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I have this weird thing about season premieres. After waiting for months for a favorite show to finally begin airing new episodes again, I am inevitably disappointed with the premiere episode. I don’t know if this is because nothing could possibly live up to my expectations, but I always seem to have a ‘now that that’s out  the way, we can get into the season’ sort of feel, rather than simply enjoying the episode for what it is.

That said, several of my favorite shows, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, tend to approach their first episodes of the season like that, so maybe it’s exactly the way I’m supposed to feel. So this season, I’m heading into Supernatural expecting just that — an episode that sets the tone for the season, but doesn’t necessarily knock my socks off.

What will the tone be for Supernatural‘s season 8? If Jeremy Carver can work some magic as the new showrunner, I’m hoping for several of my favorite things about Supernatural to be ever-present this season:

Humor balancing out the darkness
I can’t think of a show that does this better. Supernatural can go to the darkest places, like Bobby’s death and Dean’s utter hopelessness and somehow infuse them with some of the funniest scenes and quotes on television. Let’s go to some dark places surrounding the boys’ separation, and their utter aloneness without Bobby, Castiel and their other sidekicks that have gone the way of death or otherwise. That’s OK with me as long as it is balanced and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Fellow CliqueClack writer Liz agrees, saying “I would love a return to stories and interactions which are lighter, and not always so melodramatically angst-and-doom laden. There are only so many Single Emo Tears I can take in a season.”

Organic character growth
One thing I’ve always relished about Supernatural is the way the characters grow organically based on what they experience. It’s not been done as well on any show I can think of, except maybe How I Met Your Mother. (Yes, that was the meanest joke ever on the show that has denigrated itself season after season more so than any other.) I want to see Sam change as a result of his aloneness, and I want to see Dean change based on his stay in purgatory. And I want it to make perfect sense. Liz has some things to say about the characters too: “I think Carver understands the characters well enough, and as long as he keeps his eyes on the characters (and off the fandom because that never goes well), he has a chance to get things back on track. … Now that almost all the Winchesters allies are dead, I would also like to see some attention to the development of new secondary characters to fill in the gaps and make the show less claustrophobic.”

The music
My seven-year-old son’s favorite band is AC/DC. Judge me if you wish, but  there is something about those hard-driving beats and simplistic chords that get this family’s heart racing. Last season, I think my favorite part of Supernatural were the recaps at the beginning of the episodes … because that’s one of the few places we got the old cruisin’ music from the first few seasons that was such a signature of this show. Bring it back, Mr. Carver.

Grandiose story arcs? Out.
I don’t need excitement, action sequences, a convoluted story arc with monsters trying to out-do the apocalypse. I want the character banter, the thoughtful plotlines based on the authentic actions of the characters, a slow burn of satisfaction. Liz even suggests some mini-story arcs: “I would like to see more self-contained episodes or perhaps mini-arcs, since Supernatural only has indifferent success with being able to sustain a season-long arc. If they do have a season long arc, I hope it’s better plotted out than the season 7 mashup.”

Favorite characters back
Bobby, Castiel, Crowley — yes please. Or that idea of Liz’s, with the new secondary characters, that could work too.

My faith in Sera Gamble did not pay off, but I can foolishly say I’m doing it again. I’m placing trust and faith in Jeremy Carver to runt his show with the quality and dignity it deserves.

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