Supernaturally Sexy: Debut in South Africa

Tuesday, 25 April 2006

Editor's Notes: Shabnam Parker is a member of the editorial staff of MediaBlvd Magazine, and resides in South Africa. DStv is the multi-channel digital satellite TV service in Africa. ActionX is a channel on DStv, which usually shows Sci-Fi and horror movies.  Supernatural just recently began airing in South Africa.   By Shabnam Parker  The paranormal has long been a fascination of many small screen viewers, what with iconic shows such as The X-Files, Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer moving beyond cult status. Now DStv has jumped on the mystical bandwagon with its screening of the hottest spawn of the genre: Supernatural. The pilot recently aired on ActionX, a channel usually reserved for B-grade movies. However, Supernatural appears to be a different case and the lead actors are sure to help its cause. The show stars Jared Padalecki, best known for his role as Rory’s (Alexis Bledel) boyfriend, Dean, on Gilmore Girls. He teams up with Jensen Ackles, who rose from obscurity as Eric on Days of our Lives to more substantial roles in Dawson’s Creek, Dark Angel and, more recently, Lana Lang’s (Kristin Kreuk) boyfriend, Jason, on Smallville. These two make a dynamic pair as Sam (Padalecki) and Dean (Ackles) Winchester, the central characters in the supernatural hunt. Sam is the levelheaded control freak who wishes to live a normal life, while Dean is his cocky older brother who thinks he knows best. The interaction between the Winchester duo makes for a number of humorous interplays, and takes the concept of sibling rivalry to another level. The story is set off by the fiery death of the Winchester brother’s mother, who is killed by a malevolent entity. This in turn leads their father to dedicate his life to tracking the spirit, and accordingly, bring his sons up to be warriors who are more than capable of fighting things that go bump in the night. However, as is characteristic of the genre, their father goes missing and the legacy is passed on to the sons, who then have to find him as well as the evil entity. Despite the somewhat hackneyed storylines of urban legends, myth and folklore that have been rehashed before, Supernatural is well worth a viewing. Somehow, the disappearance of their father is intertwined with the resurgence of the entity that appears to be linked directly to Sam. This drives Sam onto the paranormal warpath along with his brother, and keeps viewers tuning in to find out whether or not they will overcome the odds.

 

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