A few weeks ago, The CW tried to make “Bloodlines” happen. The short review of this backdoor pilot spinoff to Supernatural is: It f*cking sucked.
Fortunately The CW agreed, and axed it from its Fall lineup. But Mark Pedowitz, president of The CW, insists that a new not-terrible spinoff is due any time now:
“We believe that there’s a real brand in Supernatural [sic] I’ve already spoken to the creator and the studio. They know that we want to develop once more next season, a Supernatural spinoff. What it is and what it isn’t is still in the air.”
To recap: Supernatural was a planned five-season show. Some time during its third season, it gained an ass-buttload of viewers, and its fourth season got crazy great ratings for the little network that could. So the show kept getting renewed even though its creator left and the writers who’d been on board since the beginning left, and (in my opinion) they ran out of ideas. Despite treading water for the last couple of years, it retains a core audience, much like Smallville did before it, and The CW is reluctant to give that up.
So they’re really trying to keep those viewers through the next thing. I suggest they try to actually make something new and interesting and not WEREWOLVES VS VAMPIRES! Supernatural is now in its ninth season, and despite every character being killed off at least once, it’s rich with lore and possibilities already established with fans years ago. There’s a comic. There’s an anime. You can spin off to other mediums but you can’t figure out a second tv show?
Why not a prequel based on the comic that centers around a young John Winchester? I bet Matt Cohen would be fine with that. Why not a prequel with Bobby and Rufus? What about a Men of Letters spinoff? And if setting a show in the past is too much work, you could just make a show about Gabriel. Just bring Gabriel back and the whole thing’s about him screwing around with people’s heads. You can call it Inappropriately Touched By An Angel.
Or, here’s a radical thought: Maybe introduce some female characters that you don’t spend an hour each week calling crazy b*tches. I know that might be a stretch for the show, which is not very good at hiding its misogyny. Perhaps a way to make up for that is to have a lady hunter show that’s comparable in quality. Also: people love Felicia Day as Charlie, and as far as I know she’s not dead yet. (Is she still in Oz? Remember how they made Oz a place? SEE HOW MUCH STUFF IS ALREADY IN THE SHOW THAT YOU CAN USE?!) A strong case could also be made for a Sheriff Jody show.
What I’m saying here over and over again is that The CW seems pretty desperate, maybe so desperate they’re not thinking clearly. According to Pedowitz, this has been Supernatural‘s biggest season in four years. I blame Tumblr. Tumblr and Netflix. Together they’re going to help the network beat this dead horse until it’s beyond resurrection.