‘FOR us,” says one of the stars of ‘Supernatural” in this week’s episode, “everyday is Halloween.”
And there, in a nutshell, is the surprising appeal of the creepy CW horror series about a pair of ghoul-fighting brothers who are – quite literally – caught up in a weekly war between heaven and hell.
On the network that has this year been pushing two teen soap operas – “Gossip Girl” and “90210” – hard enough to break a wrist, “Supernatural” is the show that has attracted perhaps the most fanatical fans.
Within 72 hours of last Thursday’s episode – called “Yellow Fever” – Google listed more 1,100 blog postings talking about it.
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The average weekly audience for the show, now in its fourth year, is a modest 3.2 million viewers – peanuts compared to its competition at that hour, “CSI” (on CBS) and “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC).
But more than two-thirds are under the age of 35 – and the numbers are growing. It doesn’t hurt that the show currently airs around the world in nearly 70 countries.
It’s secret? Two stars who do not look like they stepped out of an issue of Details magazine, and straight-forward stories (Are you listening “Heroes“?) that are not afraid to be bloody and frightening.
“The subject matter is classic archetypes,” says “Supernatural” star Jared Padalecki, who plays Sam Winchester, a tormented man who, along with his brother Dean (Jensen Ackles), hunts deadly supernatural beings.
The show’s main mythology follows the brothers wandering quest to face down Hell’s creatures – which killed their mother.
Their job is to keep the devil from wreaking havoc on Earth – and to save each other from eternal damnation while they do it.
The story leans heavily on a theme close to young hearts: secret forces threaten to overwhelm the world and only our heroes – who have reluctantly taken on secret powers – can stop it.
“My guess is it’s the same reason that so many people connected with ‘Star Wars’ and the ‘Matrix,’ ” says Padalecki. “There’s ‘the Chosen One’ and good vs. evil. They’re classic themes that are parts of our psyche without even knowing it. And we get to work with that.
“Our fans have also told me that they really dig the relationship between the brothers,” he says. “It’s clear they care for each other and are going though this thing together, the idea of having a friend to rely on no matter how bad things get.”
Padalecki says that he and Ackles are pals in real life and now share a house in Vancouver (Ackles somehow got evicted from his a few months ago), where the show is filmed.
“He moved in to my house and lives downstairs,” Padalecki says. “It works.”