Fandom Chronicles

Fandom Chronicles. History of Supernatural Fandom

July:

September:

09.13: The SPN Pilot airs on the WB.
09.28: supernatural_tv counts 200+ members.
- By the end of the month, several communities on all possible topics already exist, among them communities and fansites for Italian and French fans.

Oktober:

10.17: First outburst of "The Female Threat": Fans go nuts over casting spoilers/rumors for a female principle lead called "Lindsay".

November:

11.03: Supernatural added to TWOP
11.13: The SPN Newsletter posts the first link to a Jsquared fic, stoneprincess's postalleysnoggingbackatmyplacefic here. Two days later super_real is created.
11.27-11.29: The first SPN Genderswap stories are posted to the net. See a list here.
- By the end of the month, supernatural_tv has over 500 members, and a new mod, monticora helps out stormbox.

December:

SPN fandom learns its first lessons on the path to being a fandom and not just individuals sharing the same interests. In the month of December, a few minor kerfuffles between fandom veterans and newbies, incest lovers and squicked Wincest-haters, lead to discussion about fandom unity and possible diaspora. [see e.g. stone-princess' post here (f-locked)]. The fandom split-up everybody expected to happen didn't happen - (events of May 2007's the BIG LJ STRIKETHROUGH 2007 show that SPN fandom knows how to stick together).

January:

mid-January: The infamous UK Promo (ITV) with the "Scary just got sexy!" slogan (music: Echo & The Bunnymen: The Killing Moon) finds its way online and fries a couple of braincells. The general consensus is that the Brits surely know how to advertise TV shows - and that the WB should take a leaf out of their book. UK Promo Season 1
01.24: The WB unexpectedly sends out a press release, stating that they will merge with America's other, struggling teen-show network The UPN to build the CW in September 2006. In their press release, Supernatural is stated as one of the shows helping to shape the new network - still, fans are worried, as the merger means that SPN now has more competition for the 2006/2007 time slot.
- approx. end of the month: Different media sources report that SPN is moving to a different timeslot starting March, 16th, from Tuesday nights (with 8 p.m. show Gilmore Girls as a lead-in) to Thursday nights 9 p.m. (with Smallville as a lead-in.) Fan reactions vary: While the sci-fi/supernatural show Smallville seems to be a more fitting lead-in than the romantic-comedy type Gilmore Girls, the 9 p.m. Thursday timeslot is the toughest on American television (with shows like CSI and favourite teen drama The OC as competition). Fans fear that SPN won't be able to hold viewers and that its ratings will drop to a point where its survival isn't guaranteed. (Ratings drop indeed, but the retention out of Smallville is high, satisfying the WB network.)

February

The beginning of February sees the fandom's first brainstorming for "Save our Show" ideas - as far as sources go, none of them have been put into action. Among other issues, fans critique a lack of promotion from the WB network - something that'll be still a sore thumb even one and a half years later.
02.16: The community spnnewsletter is created, replacing the former sn_newsletter. More info here. spnnewsletter strives to bring daily updated SPN news as well as a collection of posted fan fic or fan art.
at some point in February: A new trend in RPS fan fiction surfaces: Jensen's real life friend Christian Kane starts to appear in RPS - for a while, the Jensen/Chris pairing is VERY popular. One of the most prolific Jensen/Chris fic writers is [ethrosdemon]. see [(FIC) Being Christian by ethrosdemon]

March

03.04: Jared, Jensen, Kim Manners, John Shiban, Eric Kripke and Robert Singer all attend the Supernatural Panel at the William S. Paley Television Festival. The interview and panel session is later included on Best Buys' Supernatural DVD Season 1 edition. Predictably, the panel discussion spawns tons of Jsquared due to the adorableness of Jensen and Jared, as well as their flirting in front of the cameras. see Excerpts Paley Festival

April

04.13: stormbox starts the first promotion day on spnnewsletter (Source)
04.18: minkmix's posts the first of urdsama's [The Dean Show] comics.
04.20: potthead joins the ranks of the spnnewsletter mods. (Source
mid-to-end April: Kirsten's Save One Show campaign on E!online for 2006/2007 includes SPN - despite enthusiasm and multi-voting, the One Tree Hill fans beat Supernatural to it.

May

05.04: madam_rosmerta starts The Supernatural Scrapbook Project - with entries for Jensen, Jared and Eric Kripke. Source
05.18: The first ever CW Uprfronts are held in New York: SPN is officially renewed for a second season in its Thursday timeslot.
05.22: madam_rosmerta starts The Padalecki (Birthday) Project - Source
05.26: MediaWest*Con 26 starts on May 26 and lasts until May 29, 2006 - reportedly, there was a Supernatural Panel. Source

June

06.03: madam_rosmerta starts Jared Jives - a sub-project of The Padalecki Project, namely a mix tape collected by the fandom for Jared's birthday. Source
06.12: Some buys supernatural_tv 12 months of a paid livejournal account. When noone steps forward to admit they gifted the community with a paid account, it is assumed that the gift comes from someone of the SPN production team.
06.17: madam_rosmerta introduces Paws for a Cause - another sub-project of The Padalecki Project. Source
06.19/20: Foilers about the new characters for season 2 (taken from the IMDB boards) start heavy discussions - in the end they turn out wrong. The rumored Sam or Dean girlfriend is heavily rejected by the fans. Source
06.28: The first official spoilers (casting and sides for episode [2.01 In My Time of Dying] hit the net.

July

07.08: Spoilers for [2.02 Everybody loves a Clown] appear online. Fans are especially pissed off at the fact that John Winchester is indeed dead and at the addition of the new, recurring character of 'Alex' (later [Jo]) - clearly the feared "Dean girlfriend". Source
07.12: Voting starts on the Jared Jives soundtrack: Source
07.13: The sides for episode 2.02 appear again, completely rewritten. Source