The 200th episode of Supernatural honors the stories and characters that have preceded the milestone hour in a way only this sometimes-odd genre series can.
The setup: Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) pick up the faint scent of a case that takes them to an all-girls high school. There, they find a group of talented young ladies putting on a musical based on the books about the brothers written by prophet/maybe-God/always disheveled Chuck Shurley.
It's all very meta. Or, as executive producer Bob Singer puts it, "We really wanted to get as far out there as we could and see what happened."
Those kinds of self-referential stories are par for the course in the land of Supernatural, a show that has never shied away from writing wink-and-nod moments into scripts as inside jokes with its fans, who have over 10 seasons formed a cult-like existence.
And though no fan descriptor is as overused as "cult," that's really the only way to put it.
"I think for whatever reason, the fans who are attracted to our show tend to be very smart, very creative, a little bit weird group of people," says star Misha Collins, who joined the series in 2008. "They're kinda weirdos. They're a bunch of nerds and people I really identify with because that's how I think of myself."
Credit where credit is due: the show has really earned its following. In a time when Twitter can make a hit — see: ABC's Scandal — Supernatural is one of less than a dozen scripted primetime series that has one foot in the past and one in the present.
The show debuted in 2005 on the now-defunct WB network before moving to then-newbie network The CW for its second season. This was 2006, the year Twitter was founded and one year before Tumblr existed.
"I feel like if Supernatural premiered five years before it actually premiered, I don't think it would have made it this far," admits Padalecki. "I think luckily we premiered when the internet was exploding so exponentially that we were able to appeal to many audiences. It wouldn't have gotten where it needed to get."
The cast and producers will admit that Netflix, Hulu and the wider availability of the early seasons has been a big part of the show's longevity, too.
In 2011, Warner Bros. TV struck a four-year deal with Netflix that made shows like The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl and Supernatural available on the service for the first time. (Supernatural wasn't technically up until Jan. 2012.) This was in the middle of the show's seventh season, when the show had been given a timeslot on Fridays — then, and kind of still, considered to be the TV graveyard — and ratings had dwindled to less than 2 million per week.
The show's future turned brighter in Season 8, with the show seeing a ratings uptick. Season 10, now airing Tuesdays, saw the series’ best premiere since 2010, with 2.79 million viewers.
"I think it's very easily allowed people — especially younger folks — to catch up to where we are," says executive producer Jeremy Carver.
And one creator Eric Kripke's biggest hopes is that those making the journey see it as a seamless one. From the offset, he says, he wanted to build in a timeless quality — with a soundtrack of classic rock and an ageless "midwestern aesthetic." Those hopping aboard the show at any point and time shouldn't feel like they're hopping in a TV time machine.
"We're not rocking the Dawson's Creek '90s thing. We don't have the high mom jeans," he says. "It's a classic show, and I think people are able to connect to it. It's always been a show about family and always been a show about Jared and Jensen and the brothers. It's not really about monsters but about the family you fight with and the family you fight for. I think everyone really connects with that."
Supernatural also finds itself in a uncommon position in that many of the multi-season shows touted as most binge-able — your X-Files and your West Wings — are no longer on the air, says Ackles.
"I think it's unique that we have that big of a catalogue of work, and we're still going," he says. "So they can catch up and then tune in for the live shows. I think that's why we're seeing some very unique numbers in Season 10."
Supernatural is one of three shows currently in its tenth season, with only five non-animated primetime scripted series older than it on TV. (The Season 10 club also includes Bones and Criminal Minds.) Which, of course, raises the question: how much longer can this go on?
Kripke, who is now a consulting producer, says that's TBD, but if the past is any indication, he's optimistic.
"I just think it's amazing that it's a show that [other executive producers] could put their own imprint on and yet it still stays really durable because of Jared and Jensen," he says. "That ability of the show to reinvent itself over and over again and never get old but always be about the brothers has just been a formula that turns out to work. And maybe we'll talk about that at the 400th episode party."
Supernatural's 200th episode airs Tuesday on the CW.
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