SPN, Reaper, & Scheduling

I know some people are wondering when Supernatural will be airing new episodes. Before the writer's strike shut down production, they finished filming through episode 12. The new episodes will air from Jan. 31st through Feb. 21st.

This is a list of the next several episodes, including reruns from jensenacklesfans.


Jan. 10th - 3.05 Bedtime Stories (rerun)
Jan. 17th - 3.06 Red Sky At Morning (rerun)
Jan. 24th - 3.07 Fresh Blood (rerun)
Jan. 31st - 3.09 (NEW)
Feb. 7th - 3.10 (NEW)

There's been a lot of talk lately about the CW's decision to air repeats of Reaper after SPN's remaining 4 episodes air, starting Jan. 31st.

Here's a few links about this:
A selection from a Variety article -- posted at supernatural_tv
CW's Lack Of Supernatural -- posted by janglyjewels
A selection from a BuddyTV article -- posted at dean_sam

While I was upset about this at first, as with most news of this nature, I realized there isn't much to be upset about. Sure, it sucks that SPN won't be airing reruns. I watch the reruns all the time. But I've come up with a little list of reasons why this situation may not be as bad as it seems.

-- This is actually kind of normal for a TV network to do. It's trying to bolster the ratings for Reaper and what better way to do that than to place it in the timeslot of one of its highest rating shows? The big networks do this all the time. This shows that SPN is doing well and I think we should take it as a compliment that the CW would choose the show's timeslot. (And yes, I know Reaper sucks. I'm not supporting that show in any way.)

-- The CW is making a positive move in showing SPN's remaining 4 new episodes during February, which is a sweeps month. Some shows on other networks are already showing new episodes this week. Some shows, such as Grey's according to what I've read, only have 1 or 2 new episodes left to air. This already puts SPN ahead of the game. It also helps that GA has been moved from the Thursday lineup. Lost has been put in its place, but I don't think that show's ratings even came close to Greys.

-- After the 4 episodes air, SPN would be airing reruns, but there's only been 7 episodes in S3 so far. They're already rerunning those seven now. It's unlikely that the network would continually rerun the same 7 (or 12) episodes over and over again until the writer's strike ends.

-- Since the CW is such a small network, it needs to keep as many hit shows as it can. If the writer's strike continues to drag on, there won't be any new shows written for next fall, which means the networks will have to stick with their already established shows. SPN has already proven itself for 2 full seasons and this partial 3rd one, so it would be a show that the network would want to keep around.

-- There's no indication at all that SPN won't be coming back. The ratings have been good this season and it's probably the only show on the CW that could have competed against Grey's Anatomy for this long.

Having said all that, I have my own tiny little doubts about the situation. But then I've been burned before with the cancellation of shows like Dark Angel, Strange Luck, and Everwood. I've seen networks suddenly cancel shows and replace them with series that bombed. So yeah, I'm a bit concerned, but not overly so. My big concern is that the longer the strike goes on, the more viewers the show may lose. But that's an issue that will soon be problem for all shows as they run out of new episodes to air and the TV schedule is filled with bad reality TV shows.

deansdemongirl has written even more about this (and so much better than I could) over at dean_sam. It's a great piece that gives a different perspective on this whole scheduling situation.

Rushing to Judgment about Supernatural and the Change in The CW Schedule

Hopefully this will help avoid any panic and allay any fears you might be having. :)