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!