A dark road... a figure in white... an unsuspecting teenage boy... the lure of a little ghost action in the back seat... Who can resist?

Certainly not anyone in the WB's Supernatural - the premiere of which is being encored tonight. Of course, technically, that doesn't make it a premiere anymore. More of a deuxieme.

Can I just pause here to whine? Thanks. Because these encore screenings are really screwing up my TV-watching schedule. On Tuesday night, I missed Over There because I watched Supernatural, taped House, and flicked to Canadian Idol in the ads. Now it turns out I needn't have worried - not only is Supernatural coming back, but if my local listings are anything to go by, they're encoring House tonight as well. Don't even get me started on the number of times Prison Break has been replayed. Bastardly networks! Stop messing with me!

And while I'm complaining, what happened to the days when re-runs (let's call a spade a spade) had a little symbol next to them in the TV guide, to let you know exactly what they were? Eh? Do your TV listings provide that service? Or is it just mine that are crap? Because currently, I have to devote study time each week to figuring out what the TV listings actually mean (is that a new ep? an old one? or a dreaded 'clips' show?) and cross-referencing them with internet checks and general viewer's intuition. It's not right! Maybe I should start an online petition. Bring back the re-run symbol!

But I digress. Ghost-hunting. Teenage boys. Girls pinned to ceilings, on fire. You know, your usual weeknight fare. Having come to Supernatural with zero expectations, I have to say that, well... I lurved it. Truly. I hadn't been swamped by the hype, so I just kind of gave myself over to the silliness of it and... well... yum. Excellent trashy fun! Sure, there were your standard horror movie moments, and they were sometimes cheesy. But the writing was sharp, the characters watchable, and the premise suitably absurd (brothers brought up as ghost-hunters/evil-slayers go on road trip to find missing ghost-hunting, evil-slaying father, all motivated by fact that mother died while pinned to ceiling by supernatural fire).

Better yet, the first episode featured a collection of cassette tapes, which Older Brother liked to play in the car. Having spent many road trips myself digging through just such a collection, arguing with the driver about which overly-stretched, bought-it-in-a-secondhand-store-for-a-quarter tape to play next... well, I could relate. CDs? MP3s? Pshaw! Not only that, but there was a decided lack of hyper-attractive, OC types on screen. Everyone was lit badly, which gave them shadows beneath the eyes and a kind of hungover look. Yes, even the hot girlfriend. By the time that one of the brothers mused on the trials of their childhood ("the weapons training, the melting silver into bullets...") my notes had just turned into a whole lot of little happy face doodles.

Will I watch it again? Put it this way - I wouldn't not watch it. I'm not sure I'll get hooked myself - but I'll fight for the right of anyone else to get hooked on it. After all, it's only Natural. And Super.

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More teletart thoughts on this season's shows: right here!
ED: JH