In Supernatural history this week: Seasons 6 and 7 premiere

In Supernatural history this week, two seasons premiered. Here’s a look back at the importance of the seasons and their premieres.

September and October are the months for TV show premieres. While The CW now opts for October to premiere its shows, September was an option for many years. In Supernatural history this week, two seasons premiered: Seasons 6 and 7.

Season 6 premieres on Sept. 24, 2010. A year later, Season 7 premiered on Sept. 23. Both of these nights were Fridays, seeing the show move into the “death slot” of TV. There was a lot riding on both seasons to make sure they were renewed.

The importance of the premieres

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Both seasons had Sera Gamble at the helm, who had been with the series from the very beginning. She certainly had the mind of Kripke (and certainly does when it comes to The Magicians) but the seasons didn’t quite pull off.

However, the premieres were a mix. Season 6’s premiere was one of the lowest-rated of the season, yet Season 7 was strong. This was also a time when the season still had 2+ million viewers! In fact, Season 6, Episode 1 saw 2.980 million viewers and 1.7 in the demo. Season 7 had 2.077 million viewers with a 1.2 rating in the demo.

These were the premieres that would set the tone moving forward. They were the first two season premieres after Eric Kripke ran the show with a five-season story arc. It was never going to be easy to follow all that!

The seasons’ ups and downs

Both seasons had high and low points. Supernatural Season 7’s low point is the one that has set the tone for the rest of the series when it comes to guest stars and series regulars.

The very first episode took out one of the characters fans clung to for humor and growth. Castiel was seemingly killed off, and it proved to be a huge mistake. After that moment, the season started to lose traction—and not just because the Leviathans didn’t quite end up being everything they could have been.

It’s telling that the episode with Castiel returning is the highest-rated since the Season 7 premiere on IMDb. Nobody wrote Castiel out entirely again after that, although Misha Collins is still only contracted for a set number of episodes, even as a series regular.

Meanwhile, Season 6 continued to prove that some of the best episodes were monster-of-the-week episodes. “The French Mistake” remains one of the highest-rated episodes of the whole series, a firm favorite for new and returning fans.

These two season premieres could have been the beginning of the end. Instead, the show learned from mistakes and was able to pick up the pace again, encouraging fans to tune back in.

What did you think of the Supernatural Season 6 and 7 premieres? Which one is your favorite of the two? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Supernatural history throwbacks continue throughout Hellatus to get us through.