TV Guide Covers

Fan Favorite Competition 2010

Supernatural featured on the front of TV Guide on December 16th 2010 following a fiercely fought fan voting competition. While at Comic Con 2010 TV Guide editor Debra Birnbaum realised it wasn't only top rating shows that had an avid fanbase, and that apparently fans hung out on the internet:

Nielsen rates the top 20 shows, but there's a lot Nielsen can't capture. They're looking at ratings, but not passion or dedication. We tried to pick shows that really reflected all of that. Things like social media have brought forward, Twitter and Facebook giving fans a real voice to talk about what they love about their favorite shows.

For the first time, editor Debra Birnbaum decided that the magazine would hold an online poll to choose a show to feature on the cover. Supernatural" was up against Fox's "Bones," ABC's "Castle," NBC's "Chuck," CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," and CW's "Smallville." Fans could vote as many times as they liked.

In the final days the race was between Supernatural and Chuck - which scores an average nearly 3 times as many viewers. Supernatural fans cried foul when it was discovered that Chuck fans were using a macro that automatically reloaded the page and repositioned the cursor for faster voting.

During the final hours of voting Showrunner Sera Gamble thanked fans:

Hey-- just a quick note on behalf of Bob, Eric, myself, and the whole gang here at Supernatural. We want to thank our incredible fans for your support. We hear you've been keeping us in the running against some very worthy competition. Regardless of what happens, we're deeply touched as always that you've got our backs. (But yeah, of course we'd love to see Jensen and Jared on the cover -- and we think they couldn't deserve it more -- so please do keep voting for 'em.) Thanks again, guys!

Source.

Across Livejournal, Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook, the Supernatural fandom turned the last few hours into a global voting party. Ironically a lot of support came from countries where Supernatural is not even currently screening, and obviously where TV Guide is not sold. On @SuperWiki, fans told us they were voting from Indonesia and Korea to South Africa, Argentina and Latvia.

Supernatural was announced the winner on December 6th 2010.

Ironically the first collective fan effort to promote Supernatural was prompted by an article by Matt Roush in TV Guide back in January 2007, in which Kripke expressed uncertainty on whether the show would be renewed for a third season:

"I wish we had a million to a half-million more viewers," he admitted. "I think those X-Files fans are out there. We're just struggling to get the word out that there's an X-Files-quality show on the CW. And it's hard to get the viewers who are not watching Grey's Anatomy or CSI. We're sort of the odd duck on the network, so we're trying to let people know that there's a hard, sci-fi-genre show that just happens to be on the CW."

This article galvanised Supernatural fandom into action. Through the Livejournal community Promote Spn fans coordinated to raise the profile of the show, commenting on media blogs and sending postcards to TV reviewers. Within a month Matt was crying "Enough" after being inundated with postcards from Super Fans.

The cast of Supernatural commented on the win:

"Our fans have been a huge part of the show. We have such a committed following," Jared Padalecki said in a statement released by the magazine. "They're keeping us alive, and they're keeping the story alive."

"We have an incredibly loyal, devoted-and aggressive-fan base. It's nice when the show can get recognized, not only for us, but for the fans as well," Jensen Ackles said. "They like to brag about the show."

"It starts with the two guys," said executive producer Robert Singer. "People love their relationship. Jared and Jensen were a perfect pairing from the beginning. Television is, more than anything, about characters, and that's what the audience initially responded to before we hit our stride with our stories."

from TV Squad

Commenting on the win, and his own absence form the cover Misha Collins Tweeted "They left one guy off the cover because, as they put it, "The public is not ready for that kind of raw, unbridled, sexual magnetism." Misha Collins tweeted that "If you recall, since we won, Warner Bros. will be rewarding me with a Rhino. True to my word, i will cut it up & share it with you all.[1]. This lead to Misha starting the Rhino puzzle competition for fans.

In recognition of the support of fans around the world, SuperWiki gave away copies of the TV Guide to non-US fans as thanks over Hellatus. On Facebook Supernatural Seriously Awesome ran a project which saw over 100 US fans send copies of the magazine to overseas fans. Fans were aked to take a picture of themselves with the issue and a scrap book was made and presented to the cast at Salute to Supernatural Nashville 2011. Video of the presentation.

Video thanks
Debra Birnbaum, editor in chief of TV Guide talks about the competition on CBS news
Scans of Tv Guide
How to order your TV Guide Supernatural issue.

Fan Favorites Competition 2011

Another voting competition was run by TV Guide in early 2011 to choose fan favourites in a range of categories. Supernatural won for favourite sci-fi series, Jensen for favourite male actor, and Misha for favourite non-human character! Jensen and Jared featured on the cover, and there was also a great photoshoot and article in the issue, released on April 14 2011.

Fan Favorites Competition 2012

A voting competition was run by TV Guide in early 2012 to choose fan favourites in a range of categories. Supernatural won for favourite horror series. Jensen and Jared featured on the cover, and article in the issue, released on April 16 2012.