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Supernatural Fans Call For Apology From People’s Choice Awards

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What should have been a cause only for celebration has taken a frustrating turn for fans of The CW’s cult hit show “Supernatural”. As soon as the People’s Choice Award nominations were announced fans of “Supernatural” began voting for their favorite show on twitter and facebook. In the past few years these energetic fans have shown exactly what can happen when you have a strong presence online.

Last year the fans propelled “Supernatural” to the cover of TV Guide Magazine in the first ever fan-favorite cover competition. This year was a bigger task. “Supernatural” was nominated in both “favorite sci-fi” and “favorite network drama” categories for the 2012 People’s Choice Awards to be broadcast on CBS.

It only took a quick glance at twitter on any given day post-nominations to see how seriously “Supernatural” fans had taken the voting. Some people were adding up vote counts on twitter and passing them on to the cast and crew. Some voted 100 times, some 1000 and a select few even reached as many as 10 000 votes. Cast and crew of the CW show were encouraging fans, and everyone seemed to be having a pretty good time.

The Winchester brothers – Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles – went so far as to make a video thanking fans for their support and urging them to keep voting. The fact that they appeared pant-less in the video was a source of great amusement.

But that’s the kind of thing Jared and Jensen do. You don’t have to go to fan conventions to hear the two actors make a point of thanking their fans for their support. On more than one occasion they’ve stated that the reason their show is still on the air is because of the tremendous support they receive from their viewers.

The voting went on until the very last moment and then people waited.

There was certainly some excitement for fans in the lead up to the show. With respect to online voting it’s always difficult to predict any outcomes. There certainly was hope.

Some people tuned in to the Red Carpet Live pre-show that was streaming on the People’s Choice website. Imagine their surprise when it was announced in between a conversation with Gene Simmons and Nathan Fillion that “Supernatural” had won both “favorite sci-fi” and “favorite drama”. A brief video was shown of Jared and Jensen with their awards. They thanked fans – and their moms (you can take the boy out of Texas…) and then it was over.

There were no actors or crew members on the red carpet. There was no presentation of a well-deserved award onstage in front of industry peers.

If you watch award shows – it won’t come as a big surprise to find out that a sci-fi themed award didn’t make it to the live broadcast. But favorite drama? The big awards are always actor, actress, drama and comedy. Last year the award for favorite drama was broadcast.

When asked on twitter about the absence of “Supernatural” at the awards ceremony, Jim Michaels (Producer – Supernatural) had this to say. “We were informed that neither of the awards we were nominated for would be part of the broadcast.”

Earlier in evening, Clif Kosterman – bodyguard for the actors on set – had tweeted that the cast and crew simply weren’t invited.

It’s a very unusual move to give out an award of such stature on the red carpet. It’s even more unusual when the nominees in that category are shows like “The Good Wife”, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “House”. “The Vampire Diaries”, another CW upstart, was also nominated. Would the award have been televised if one of the more high-profile TV shows had won?

The People’s Choice awards have been noticeably silent regarding their snub of “Supernatural”. There are currently well over 2 000 comments on their facebook page, hundreds more on the official website blog and fans have been organizing to send their complaints and concerns to as many places as possible.

There really should be some kind of response. An official apology might be appropriate. After all, for a genre show like “Supernatural” – the People’s Choice Awards represent the best chance of getting recognition for a cast and crew that clearly work their asses off for the better part of each year. And, they’ve been doing this for seven years now.

Fans voted “like crazy” to give Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles the chance to receive an award in front of their industry peers. That’s a pretty cool gift. Without a doubt, the cast and crew of the little-show-that-could appreciate the support of their fans. They take every opportunity to express their appreciation.

It’s time – People’s Choice Awards – to apologize to Jared and Jensen, the crew, and to the fans who voted so tirelessly.

Show some class.

Jared and Jensen thank fans for their support ©TheWB

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  • Ashley

    im just going to take in this moment right here. this moment where someone gets where us as a fanbase are coming from and gets why we were upset about this. SO THANK YOU. seriously. 12357745644324% ALL of this.

  • Stephanie turpinat

    The people’s choice awards are supposed to be about the people (us). This wasn’t the golden globes or the Emmy awards, it was the people’s choice awards. They should have been invited based on the nomination alone. Did they not think that Supernatural could really ever win? Have they not seen the power of Supernatural fans? Fans on twitter alone have raised over $17,000 to St. Jude’s hospital for a donation gift for Jared and Gen’s baby! Supernatural fans tried (and won) to give their beloved show the recognition it deserves. We wanted to give the show (and everyone who makes the show happen) the opportunity to be recognized. The snub at the people’s choice awards was not just a snub to the actor’s, but to all of us in the Supernatural family, a family that I couldn’t be prouder to call my own.

  • http://Twitter Mary Dallas

    @Tessa,

    How can you say that, Tessa? (cool name btw!) Sera has been with the show since the beginning! It’s not like they snatched a homeless person from the street & put her in charge! Not only is she trying to evolve with the times & the growth of the characters but, she’s also trying to please the extremely critical fan base. Give the woman a break, would ya? I personally feel as though she’s doing an amazing job.

  • lee

    I for one plan to vote for Supernatural twice as often next year. I don’t think PCA will have the guts to diss the show when it wins favorite drama two years in a row. Shove it down their throats!

  • DM

    @Tessa, Oh stop! Sera’s doing a fantastic job with the show, she did not destroy anything, but apparently you fail to see that. Just stop your negativity! If you don’t like the show anymore, stop watching, stop complaining and just move on. Easy as that. Don’t waste your time insulting her or the show, or anyone else for that matter. I still love Supernatural so much and have nothing but good things to say about it!!! I’m with the show to the end!!!!

  • DM

    @Mary Dallas, THANK YOU! I can see you respect Sera and what she’s doing and think she’s doing a magnificent job as well! That’s the positivity this show needs, not so called fans bashing her or the show just because it’s different or they’re not enjoying it like others are (which it’s sad, really). Like you said, she’s been with the show since season 1, she knows what she’s doing. I for one love her and I know she’ll continue to do an amazing job with this outstanding show!!!

  • Micki

    Well, I did get this lame-ass apology for my e-mail to the PCAs. I pointed out the big gaping holes in the apology in my reply, posted after it.

    “We’re sorry you’re upset the cast of Supernatural wasn’t featured on The People’s Choice Awards. The show is comprised of 43 categories and we made every effort to showcase a variety of categories on the network broadcast. Unfortunately, only 14-15 of those categories can fit into a two hour television show.

    The cast of Supernatural was not invited because their acceptance speeches were not being aired. The cast was aware of this and chose not to attend, but had they expressed an interest in attending the show, we would have gladly provided them with tickets.”

    My reply:
    “Thank you for responding to my e-mail. However, I must point out that the time constraints do not explain that no mention of the Drama win was made when literally it would’ve taken just a few extra seconds for the Pretty Little Liar actors to add “and Favorite Network Drama” when they announced Supernatural had won SciFi/Fantasy. It also doesn’t explain why Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder were invited to present instead of Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki when Paul and Ian had not won anything and Supernatural beat The Vampire Diaries in both categories. Furthermore, saying you would’ve given them tickets to come as mere audience members to be snubbed in person does not make things better, it in fact adds insult to injury.

    We know as well as you do that you deliberately buried the Favorite Network Drama win because you felt a CW genre show without even the buzz of the trendy vampire craze was not worthy. However, isn’t that up to the people to decide? Isn’t that the whole point of the People’s Choice Awards? You may have felt Supernatural winning that category would’ve hurt the PCAs’ credibility. However, it is when the People’s Choice Awards disrespect the people’s choice that your credibility suffers.

    At this point, I think the only apology that would stick would be to invite Jensen and Jared to present next year and introduce them as “Last year’s winners in SciFi/Fantasy and Network Drama.”

    Thank you for taking the time to read my e-mail.”

  • Stephanie turpinat

    @Micki, Well put. Since when is tv drama not one of the most important awards of the night? If any of the other shows nominated had won, it would have been aired. I guarantee it.

  • Glissy Vega

    Appeal to the conscience of the people’s Choice Award and apologize to the entire cast and crew of Supernatural.

    As a writer and fan of Supernatural, I can’t believe that a recognized award forget to invite a cast so recognized and excellence, as it is the family Supernatural, but it is obvious that the lack of organization means that details like that do shout, all his fans.

    Supernatural is more than a television series is a family, where his good style and perfection, has reached more than thousands of homes, making it part of your lifestyle every Friday and is also the number # 1.

    Actors Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki as well as the entire cast, deserve respect and not be forgotten, by the lack of organization, they work hard for their fans to give us a series of quality and good taste, where only that we know
    “As copper breaks” in the set.

    Supernatural, despite its plot so interesting and insightful, it makes us understand what it means family, and how to defend against anyone who would harm them. That is, you hurt a Supernatural family, you’ll see it then, with the rest of his family, the fans.

    It’s amazing that at this point the organizers of the People’s Choice Awards, didn’t give the face, apologizing, because events like this, an error of this magnitude, is to create distrust of upcoming events. I expect an apology soon. Because this can not happen again, nor with Supernatural and not with others.

  • http://www.supernaturalislife.com Vicki

    Ok, they might even shrug and move on, but know this, PCA idjits: NEXT YEAR IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER! First they play this shameful stunt, then they open a whole new door by letting fans themselves bring Nina Dobrev as nominee. Rest assured: you snub us once, now deal with the consequences. I simply cannot wait until 2013.

  • Dia

    @Tessa, I agree with you. She’s ran this show into the ground with her ADD plot lines that went nowhere last year. What was even the point of bringing in the Mary’s family only to kill them off? Why even bother giving Castiel the Holy weapons story line if they were just going to destroy Castiel’s character by turning him into a soul eating ‘villain.’ Don’t get me started on how she turned Sam and Dean into major douchebags.

    This season has been boring and the only thing that keeps me around is my love for who these characters used to be and my loyalty to Jensen and Jared. At this point Jensen and Jared deserve these awards for making less-than- mediocre scripts decent. That’s a talent.

  • Kaylee

    This was amazing, appreciated and spot on! We aren’t crazy people, lonely house wives or psychos with nothing else to do. We are passionate and we voted til our fingers were sore and our eye strain drove us to bed, only to get up a few hours later and start voting again. We did all that, tweeted, reminded everyone on our blog sites (livejournal and tumblr for me) and sent emails reminding our friends to pick up the slack when we had to get offline, for our show and her boys to finally gain the recognition and at least a little bit of the respect they so richly deserve. Jensen and Jared didn’t deserve this kind of snub, regardless of actually winning. They had as much right, if not more, to be there than half the people I saw in the audience. They won those PCA’s, but they have ALWAYS been winners to us.

  • Tessa Marlene

    Thank you for this article. I was wondering if the massive fan outrage was getting noticed or if the PCA’s wish that it would be swept under the carpet like they did our show would come true. It’s a source of amusement to look at their facebook page and their blog. While they encourage people to talk about dresses and moments on the show all you see is hundreds upon hundreds of complaints from outraged Supernatural fans. And they deserve every one of them. Even if they snub us further and don’t issue a statement I take comfort in that we ruined their post broadcast online party like they ruined our enjoyment of the well deserved awards.

  • jenny

    WELL SAID!!! SHAME ON YOU PCA!!! WE DEMAND AN APOLOGY!

  • Janice Cummings

    Thank you, thank you, thank you for this awesome article. It’s just sad it had to come to this!

  • Teresa Pezzino

    This is the response I received from PCA re: their unnacceptable behavior – “We’re sorry you’re upset the cast of Supernatural wasn’t featured on The People’s Choice Awards. The show is comprised of 43 categories and we made every effort to showcase a variety of categories on the network broadcast. Unfortunately, only 14-15 of those categories can fit into a two hour television show.
    The cast of Supernatural was not invited because their acceptance speeches were not being aired. The cast was aware of this and chose not to attend, but had they expressed an interest in attending the show, we would have gladly provided them with tickets. We appreciate you taking the time to write.
    VeronicaP&G Entertainment Team”

    This response only proves our point and shows that the People’s Choice Award organization is completely out of touch with the people.

  • Lisa

    An email,I received, from PCA stated (and I quote)”We’re sorry you’re upset the cast of Supernatural wasn’t featured on The People’s Choice Awards. The show is comprised of 43 categories and we made every effort to showcase a variety of categories on the network broadcast. Unfortunately, only 14-15 of those categories can fit into a two hour television show.
    The cast of Supernatural was not invited because their acceptance speeches were not being aired. The cast was aware of this and chose not to attend, but had they expressed an interest in attendingthe show, we would have gladly provided them with tickets.”
    They seriously think this is going to appease the Super SPN fans!?

  • Linn

    As we say on Tumblr;

    THIS!

  • Dawn

    @Lisa, I call b/s. Like I said before, that’s the lamest thing I have ever heard.

  • Foof

    Wait, so according to those emails – you have to ASK to attend an awards show at which you were nominated for multiple awards, or else they couldn’t possibly know you’d be interested in attending?

    Bite me, PCA.

  • Sara

    Thank you so very much for this article! This hit every single point spot on…couldn’t have said it better myself.

  • shadowhund

    Thumbs up for this article! Thank you! Exactly how I feel! This is manipulation from the network (they show their true faces here), they probably don’t want to support a show with this wide age range in viewers. They want the twilight teenies….but its called “People Choice Award” for some reason.
    A huge mistake! I spare you the curse words I have in mind right now

  • Angela

    Thank you for this article!
    I am from Germany and I stayed up, frantically searching for a live stream for the PCA show – only to find out on twitter that the show had indeed won both awards (yippieh for that!), but it had never been broadcast properly (because let’s face it, I don’t want to hear winnners announced inbetween “What are you wearing tonight?”-questions). I myself voted 25,000 times in each category for Supernatural (granted, I was ill at home and had the time, but still…) That means that only for Supernatural, I clicked 50,000 times on the PCA website and they cannot even be arsed to broadcast the thank you video during the main show – let alone invite some crew and cast, I mean come on, you’ve got to be kidding me!! So, yeah, I agree: Apologise PCA and CBS!

  • Yanira

    Well said.
    They deserved to be there and they deserve a public apology from PCA!!!
    And sorry PCA’s people, but they still won ;)

  • Darlene

    Every vote Supernatural fans cast was our way of saying “Thank you” to cast and crew of Supernatural for giving us the one show we all look forward to every week. They deserved to be there and I watched the award show to specifically see them get those awards. That’s a lot ofwasted time when I could of been watching my Supernatural DVDs instead!

  • Beate

    Thanx for this article, it expressed exactly how we all felt !

    That the Scifi/Mystery genre has been downplayed and ignored by media and award shows is nothing new.

    I remember sitting there watching the Oscars for the first time in 10 years, because the Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring was nominated:

    And it was clear it wouldnt win much, if not nothing at all.

    A friend of mine from the US, who worked in film during these years told me, that media and award shows dont take this genre seriously, never have, till LOTR all 3 movies became so hugely popular and won so many awards around the globe, that finally for the Return of the King they just couldnt there was no other way for them as to nominate and let them win.

    For the first time ever a mystery/fantasie movie won awards at the Oscars.

    This was 10 years ago and still these people dont seem to have respect for this genre, its a shame.

    An apology is overdue !

  • Erin

    Great article. It was completely uncalled for not to show Best TV Drama. It’s a major award, Supernatural won it, and the PCA swept it under the carpet like it was nothing. They seemed to be only set out on advertising their CBS shows. It’s sickening that an award show for the people, has turned into one big commercial.

  • Sheri

    @Lisa, What a stupid e-mail that was that they sent you. Basically it says that they weren’t going to let the boys accept one of the prestigious awards, but if they wanted to fill up a seat, they could have asked. Incredible.

    This was as much an affront to the fans as it was to our boys. The PCA, in effect, encouraged everyone to vote, but discounted our efforts and those who were were making the effort for.

  • Brooke

    @Lisa, WHAT A LOAD OF BULLSHIT! Clif posted a tweet on twitter saying that J2 WEREN’T invited and that they were both extremely upset about it.

    I hate the PCAs and the stupid fucked up lies they sent you.

    I’m not raging at you by the way, lol. :D

  • Laurie

    Thank you for writing this article. There’s nothing else I can say that hasn’t already been written.
    #PCASNUBSSPN Tweet your frustration with the PCA’s for not inviting/airing SPN cast and crew.

  • Toni

    Best TV Drama was a category they didn’t have time to air? Since when?

    Did Julianna Marguiles or Patrick Dempsey have to ask if they could attend?

    Were they just throwing Supernatural a bone when they nominated them in the first place? Was it the ‘gag’ nom? Then PCA had trouble picking their jaws up off the floor when SPN actually won?

    The PCA’s are supposed to be about what the fans love (which is why WE get to do the voting, right?) not which shows are “respectable” choices.

    They didn’t just flip the bird at SPN; they flipped off the whole concept behind their own award. Let the Emmy Awards be stuck up about who they allow to receive their accolades; PCA is supposed to represent the underdogs, the shows the fans love even when the critics are hatin’ on them.

    Don’t make me turn to the MTV Awards for appropriate fan respect.

  • Rebecca

    @Lisa, it’s amazing that they told you they didn’t have time to present an award in a MAJOR category, yet they had time to have lengthy monologue’s and pointless sketches. Even if they didn’t present for Sci-fi, understandable, but major TV Network Drama? Insane.

  • Rania

    Thanks for this article, it’s spot on. I’m deeply dissapointed by the PCA’s behaviour towards SPN. Anyway, what were they thinking? It’s all about people’s choice…or maybe not? -.-
    It’s great to be part of such a strong fanbase, I believe that we are like family, and we don’t want to let supernatural down. We will always support our show, because it deserves it! <3<3<3

  • Micki

    I did some digging because people were saying House didn’t get the PCA Drama award on air last year either. Turns out it was a COMPLETELY different situation. House won Drama 4 years in a row, and not only was it presented on air the previous years, look what a HUGE deal was made out of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0scUEW7B_I (In 2008 all acceptance speeches were pre-taped due to the writer’s strike.) Last year Hugh Laurie couldn’t make it (though it was initially advertised he would be there) so the Drama win was announced when House co-star Lisa Edelstein picked up her award: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r8MNq6uQWI So with House, the award had already been received on air 3 times, they were invited, the show was represented by Edelstein, and the Drama win was announced on air. With Supernatural, it was their first time winning the award, they were not invited, the show was not represented, and their win was not announced.

  • sylia91

    I swear this seemed like high school all over again. The PCA reportedly encouraged many SPN fan site administrators to encourage SPN fandom to vote and promote the PCA awards to win our beloved show an award to show the cast and crew our appreciation then turned around and basically spit on SPN and its fandom. The high school analogy would be akin to nominating the nerds for prom king or queen as a joke and then refusing to crown the winner at the dance because an upset occurred and the nerds actually won.(proud member of the nerd herd here)The SPN cast and crew have reacted with grace and class thus far as opposed to the PCA and CBS whose nonchalant responses to the outcry seems to indicate they are aware but frankly don’t care. Fortunately fandom doesn’t have to be as polite and diplomatic. While we don’t need to respond violently nor rudely were certainly won’t be quiet or let this go.

  • Sue Ashworth

    The CBS Choice Awards are obviously not the peoples’ choice. If the organizers don’t agree with the result, they obviously feel free to substitute their own reality and discard that of the people.

    My suggestion is to make sure that they win the category next year, and stick it to them!

  • Chealsea

    Thank you so much for posting this. We love our show, and we love the people who create it for us. It’s only right that they be recognized for their efforts. It was just indecent to not invite them, and completely baffling to not announce the winner of best network drama. Our fandom appreciates this article more than you could know.

  • Mieke

    Well said! I believe the next step from the SPN fandom needs to be contacting Proctor and Gamble with an organized effort at boycotting their products until this situation is rectified. Economic interest is the only thing they will care about. I am very happy to see another article like this, because this is not getting enough notice in the “mainstream” media. EW has paid no attention at all for example. They dismissed the PCAs all together as unimportant and have not reported on the SPN snub. CBS and the PCA corporate sponsors need to either feel a PR backlash that goes beyond SPN fans or a hit to their wallets to care.

  • rida

    PCAs shld b ashamed nd apologise! not to the fans but to the cast and crew of SPN! who worked nd worked nd for wat? to be humiliated?! d fans will luv and adore them regardless but its very unprofessional nd very disrespectful and i for one am very hurt nd it brought me to teras after i watched d awards nd saw they were simply not there bcuz d stupid fukin PCAs dint wanto air any caragory that SPN was gona win! it looks kindof personal grudge r hatred for d SPN by PCAs! fuck u PCA! thats all i gota say!

  • rida

    JUSTICE needs to b served!

  • Cookie6

    Thank you very much for this succinctly written article giving voice what every Supernatural fan and PCA voter is feeling right now, we really appreciate your support. We are angry and disappointed that our voting and our Show were disregarded in such a blatant and insulting manner. To not publically recognise Best Drama especially is shameful and unprofessional. I hope our Show’s cast and crew see every comment on every article to know that we are honoured that Supernatural won both awards, and furious that we our wins were not publically acknowledged. PCA and CBS, you picked the wrong fandom to disrespect – if you think our voting is loud and passionate, wait til you hear our fury.

  • LostInTardis

    Great article! I reckon we should ALL get on and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE Supernatural to win in both Sci-Fi and Best Drama again for 2013!!

    That’ll stick it up them! Wonder what they would do? Run for the salt to keep us at bay perhaps? *larf*

    This Fandom/Family is the MOST Awesome possible! #TeamFreeWill

  • Kim

    I couldn’t have said it better. This show deserves to be recognized in the mainstream media. It is creative and continues to take risks many shows would never do. It’s own network barely publicizes it (I assume because it doesn’t have enough sex or vampires), and when fans actually have a chance to voice their opinion they are slapped in the face and reminded how money makes the world go round. So much for well-written, well-produced, and well acted shows. Maybe if it was a generic sitcome or procedural on CBS…

    Congratulations to Supernatural anyway. The PCA owes everyone an apology.

  • donna

    I think it was terrible they were not invited it is an awesome show and they are wonderful actors who are loved as much by their fans as any other show it was a slap in the face not only to them but to the fans as well

  • Mac M

    Well said Kim. Let’s hope in future this is not repeated with any other winning show, else PCA would have lost its title cause. We fans might just have to round up and create a ‘real’ PCA of our own, like the Mercury Prize against the BRITs (hehe jk)… But seriously, don’t diss the winners for your own profit gains, you ARE representing the people’s favourites right?.

  • http://gravatar.com/timfromla TimTimFromLA

    Honestly? What do you expect? Supernatural breaks every “religious” rule: An Angel-turned-god-smiting-an-anti-gay-priest, two guys in love, a lesbian, demons, devils, ghosts…Supernaturl is the antithesis of everything religion AND the PCA succumbed to the religious nutcases. So don’t expect much, BUT keep on doing the online voting and show C.W. tht we love Supernatch!

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