Supernatural

Holy smokes!

Forgive me, but that's really all my brain is capable of thinking right now. Why? Because I was at the set of Supernatural last week. I went up to Vancouver to meet the cast and crew of Supernatural and to watch the filming of some scenes from an upcoming episode, and it was so cool that I still can't think straight.

The episode is called "Yellow Fever," and I believe it will air on October 30. Some of you may be dying to know what happens in this episode, but I really couldn't spoil you if I tried. I was only allowed to watch one scene so I don't know anything about the plot.

The day I visited, the scenes were shot at this big sawmill just outside of Vancouver, BC. It was absolutely breathtaking. There were evergreen trees everywhere, and the mill was right on a body of water. I think the mill must still be in use because the piles of cedar sawdust looked fresh and were very fragrant. It was a quintessentially Northwest location, so I'm very curious to see where the episode is supposed to take place. Poor Jared, though! He's allergic to cedar, so he must have been having a hard time at the set. He's such a trooper, though, that you couldn't tell at all that he was suffering.

Getting to meet "the boys," as everyone on set calls them, was a shining jewel in my career as a television reporter. Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are both in practically every single scene, so they are constantly working, sometimes up to 14 hours a day. Despite their long hours, often in the middle of the night, they were so cool and fun when I got to talk to them. You can really tell that they enjoy their jobs because they are always joshing around with each other and with members of the crew.

I get the feeling from other sets that I have visited that members of the press aren't always the crews' favorite people to have around on set, perhaps because we keep interrupting their work by asking for interviews. But the Supernatural crew was just about the nicest group of people I have ever met. You know, you hear a lot of actors saying in interviews about how they appreciate their crews. I sometimes get the feeling that some actors just say that to be diplomatic, but inside, they might not have such warm fuzzies for their crew. Not so with Supernatural. Every single person on that set was genuine and loved being there. Everyone works tirelessly, but still manages to have tons of fun. The atmosphere was so congenial, too. People would just come up to me and introduce themselves and just kick it with me.

Another pleasant surprise was that S.E. Hinton, the author of The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, was hanging out with the boys as well. She is a huge Supernatural fan and asked Eric Kripke one day if she could pay a visit to the set, so he invited her out to Vancouver for a couple of days. She told me that she got into the show because she has an interest in paranormal stories, but then just fell in love with it because of the excellent stories and the mix of humor, drama and thrills and chills. Imagine having a fan girl moment with a world-famous novelist!

Some things I learned from my visit to Supernatural:

• All the talk about Jared and Jensen playing pranks is true, but the costume set supervisor, Bren Moore, might be the biggest prankster of them all.
• Jared and Jensen live together and carpool to work every day. They like to rib each other about who is lazier than whom in the morning, and it's very cute.
• The boys each have particular flavors of gum that they like to have readily available on set.
• Jared and Jensen look just as good in person as they do on television.

Be sure to keep checking back at BuddyTV in the coming weeks. We'll be posting up all the videos that we got from our set visit. Also, I don't need to remind you, but don't forget that Supernatural is premiering on the CW on Thursday, September 18 at 9pm!



-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer