MovieChat Forums > Supernatural (2005) Discussion > Why is Supernatural a bad show?

Why is Supernatural a bad show?

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (20181)
29 replies | jump to latest

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Supernatural-a-bad-show/answer/Jon-Mixon-1

Some thoughts:

They ran out of “story” a few miles back - The series had enough quality material for 7–8 seasons, but it has lasted more than 14. The quality has been plummeting for years; however the ratings and the lack of a solid replacement has kept in on the air.

The ancillary characters have often been better than the leads - Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki have on occasion been the least interesting parts of the series that they co-lead. Characters like Castiel, Crowley, Bobby, Rufus, and Chuck have often been better than the series’ protagonists, which is never a sign of good television.

Its religious allegory can become cloying sometimes - Basically “Yahoo! Christianity” seems to be the underlying narrative, and that’s a rather limited (and limiting) trope.Frankly the decision to make Christianity the “go to” religion of the series’s universe was a poor idea from which the narrative never recovered.

The lack of long-term female characters (Who weren’t demons, angels,relatives, or lesbians) is disappointing - Despite having been on air for fourteen seasons, the series only long-term female characters were demons (Meg), angels (several), Charley (lesbian portrayed by a straight actor primarily for male fan titillation) and their Mom. Yes, I get that the series is about the two brothers; however that narrative was always thin and two male siblings approaching 40 living together isn’t very exciting, nor interesting. Supernatural needed women…and it rarely had them for more than bit players.

It’s predictable - Basically you can guess all but a few of the program’s endings within minutes of tuning in to the programming. The show’s narrative is extremely predictable and while that’s appealing some fans, other people want or need a little more. Unfortunately, the series rarely provided that “more”, and it grew stale as a result.

[–] Ace_Spade (9577) 5 years ago

I've never liked the show and I don't understand the love for it. I understand why people like it, but some people go really nuts for it, and that I don't really get.

I think the writing is slipshod, the "witty banter" is forced, and the characters are in-universe dumb. There were stories where the brothers would hear about a monster attack with blood draining and bat imagery, and you're going, "It's a vampire!" And they're going, "What could it beeeee?" And you're SCREAMING at this point, "VAMPIRE! YOU DUMB ****s HAVE BEEN FIGHTING MONSTERS FOR YOUR WHOLE LIVES, HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THIS!?"

So, yeah, I've long thought it was dumb and it never engaged me.

Rant over.

[–] Galactus03 (4376) 5 years ago

It is what it is. He doesn't like it fine. Lots of us do. Are there some things they could have done better??? Of course. It's been an inside joke for years now about characters coming back. They even joke about it in the show. Some characters have stayed dead. But don't forget after season 2 the shows continuing arc has dealt with angels,demons,heaven, hell and eventually God. Omnipotent creatures. So it's no surprise that characters come back often. Bobby is still dead, the Winchester's parents, and a host of hunters. The show wasn't supposed to last this long of course but I think they did pretty good considering. They managed to bring in new characters like jack. Jack is a great character.

I'm just hoping that chuck isn't really God though. But just a omnipotent creature who makes shit up...

[–] blue1981 (7832) 5 years ago

They injected pointless female characters in the show back in season 3 because someone thought they had to be there. Guess what it was terrible and thankfully they were killed off by the end of the season.

[–] Alex (1504) 5 years ago

Rowena on the other hand is great.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (7188) 5 years ago

It being a bad show doesn't mean it's not also a good show. Does that make sense?

Yeah, there have been horrible episodes and very bad ideas that have been allowed to play out. But that's because the show has had license to do some pretty kooky, creative stuff and I'm grateful that it tried even when it failed. The Scooby Doo crossover episode? Epic. The meta episode where "Sam and Dean" have to play "Jared and Jensen"? So fun, especially Misha playing himself (amirite Mishamigos?). And I would say this made it less predictable than this article is stating - except for the fact that the brothers will always love each other, which is the core of the show.

I don't disagree that it needed women more, but I've also really liked the women that made a lot of appearances: Jo and Ellen, Donna and Jody, Rowena, Charlie, Billie, Tessa, Ruby, Meg, etc. Just because they didn't feature all the time doesn't mean their impact was small or un-felt.

So yes, it had it's moments. But it gave as much good as bad, so, for a show with 15 seasons, I'd say it did all right.

[–] Snoopy828 (586) 5 years ago

Been a fan since day one. But to be honest I've been saying for years the two biggest problems with this show is too much filler, and bringing too many characters back from the dead. Imagine if this show had 13 episode seasons. If would go from being a really good show to a great show. Too many goofy episodes that add nothing to the proceedings. Sometimes they work, but in the later seasons they are mostly misfires.

When it comes to supporting characters - another major problem with the show. The writers can never seem to get it right when it comes to how short or long a character should be on the show. For example: I think Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Kevin, Mick, and John all could have stayed around longer. Although I realize John's death was certainly inevitable from a narrative standpoint. While Castiel, Lucifer, Crowley, Ketch, and Jack all overstayed their welcome, especially Castiel. Then you have tons of recurring characters they could have done A LOT more with yet chose not to. And whenever they mess it up they just start bringing people back to life, and it's infuriating. I'm sorry but once your dead, stay dead. The deaths have no meaning or emotional weight anymore because you constantly keep undoing everything.

I still love the show but this infuriates the hell out of me.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

The irony of them having too many shows is that they will still basically ignore making a needed show to move the story and instead of making a full show that they need they will just create a short recap of what that story would have been and throw it in at the beginning of an episode to bang away 90 seconds or so and then move in to that nights episode and just force you to imagine the show that they should have actually created. Before I realized exactly what they were doing years ago I would sometimes wonder if I had missed an episode or something. There were probably a season's worth of shows that never were done like that and yet they would still find time for complete shit shows and spin off attempts that moved the story absolutely nowhere.