As Supernatural comes up on its season seven premiere on the CW Network this Friday at 9PM (EST), there is a lot of positive mainstream media buzz surrounding the long running action/thriller series. According to reports, Supernatural, which stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as the monster hunting/demon fighting brothers Winchester, is receiving more media attention than some series on bigger networks; even more buzz than Glee according to what we’ve been hearing. Supernatural has come a long way to reach that level of success and attention; like the perilous lives of the Winchesters, the road to Supernatural’s success is paved with missteps and with ‘cliffhangers’, as they often waited ‘on the bubble’ for news of renewal.

Six seasons ago, Supernatural premiered on the now defunct WB Network with two relatively unknown actors in the lead roles and having been created by screen writer Eric Kripke; whose major credit up to that point was the horror movie, Boogey Man. This combination however served to create a unique and fascinating series. Sam and Dean Winchester and their black ’67 Chevy Impala ‘muscle car’ loaded with weapons, immediately found a devoted fan following that tuned into the series every week; never losing track of it even through network and airing night changes. Those same fans led an internet campaign to promote the series and rally around it. In those early years, bloggers and online journalists were the biggest form a media promotion for Supernatural as it steadfastly made its way along the path to where it is now; a long running, successful series for Warner Brothers and The CW Network.

Series stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are now moderately well known outside of the circle of Supernatural fans and viewers; they, along with the series itself, is now capturing the attention of bigger media ‘fish’ in the pond known as entertainment reporting. More than that, Supernatural hit some major marks by scoring a cover on TV Guide by winning the magazine’s first ever ‘Fan Favorite Poll’ last year. Now, Sam & Dean Winchester and Castiel have joined the hallowed ranks of Captain Kirk, Indiana Jones and Doctor Who; all three Supernatural characters were honored in SFX Magazine as part of the ‘Top 100 Icons of Scif-Fi & Fantasy of the 21^st Century’ reader’s poll making it a trifecta inclusion for the series.

[After the article, be sure to leave us your thoughts on the ranking the Supernatural characters received. There’s a prize involved for one lucky, randomly chosen comment.]

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Tags: Dean Winchester, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Sam Winchester, SFX Magazine, Supernatural, The CW Network