May 2010 Archives

On Tuesday, June 1, ABC's summer hit "Wipeout" gives viewers a sneak peek at the new obstacle course with the "Wipeout Blind Date" two-hour special (the series returns for its regular season on Tuesday, June 22).

Click here for a behind-the-scenes video.

In the special, 12 single girls and 12 single guys take on the course as their first blind dates, in hopes of winning $100,000 and perhaps finding true love.

Early this year, I headed out to the rural location north of Los Angeles where "Wipeout" is filmed to visit with executive producer Matt Kunitz (and bring him the scratch-baked banana bread I had promised) and watch contestants and crew in action.

I got to spend some time in the control room, and if you think doing several seasons of "Wipeout" has made the producers and crew blase about it all, think again. They want the contestants to succeed, because the show can't go on until the requisite number of contestants has cleared each round. As the day wears on and the light begins to dim, the situation starts to become a little desperate.

On this particular day, it was a nailbiter, as the producers were one contestant short of the number needed to proceed to the next round, and the day was fading fast. It was tense in the room (and not just because Kunitz was forced to share his precious banana bread), and when the final contestant made it through, raucous cheers and clapping broke out.

It's also hard not to get drawn into the stories of the individual contestants, including one plus-size lady who struggled mightily but made it through the big-balls course by sheer determination and persistence.

As always, my favorite folks are the Black & Blue Crew, the young men and women who test the stunts. Click here and here for earlier posts introducing them.

The B&Bs also participate in the games, which feature some themes this year, including a construction-worker motif. The idea is that the testers would dress up as workers and toss wet concrete -- actually well-aged, slightly gross oatmeal -- at the contestants.

Here are some of my shots to give you an idea of what's coming up.

Former Marine Megan Stiner (her usual partner, fellow former Marine Michelle Dickson, was out with an injury)...

The very cool and laid-back Kenny Shackelford...

Crew members strike a pose in repose ...

Many electrons have been seriously inconvenienced of late, as reporters and bloggers have vented their spleens about the series finales of two of network television's premier continuing dramas -- ABC's "Lost" and Fox's "24."

I watched both in one night, thanks to Fox sending along an advance DVD of the "24" closer (while saving "The Celebrity Apprentice" season finale for the next morning).

By the time I went to bed, I was neither elated (that waited for "Celebrity" the next day) nor particularly disgruntled (nothing could top my loathing for the "X-Files" finale, a wound that remains unhealed to this day).

So, here's what I thought (after I've had a few more days to think about it):

"Lost": Intentionally or otherwise, the writers started excavating a great yawning plot pit for themselves in the pilot and only enlarged it as the series marched on. In my way of looking at things, they never satisfactorily explained diddly-squat, and you know what? I really didn't care.

Years of watching J.J. Abrams' epically convoluted previous show, "Alias," had cured me of trying to make sense of anything that bears his name (but I did eventually figure out why the interior of the Starship Enterprise in the "Star Trek" movie he directed looked like a brewery -- because it was actually shot in a Budweiser plant, and not because a thirsty Scotty did major remodeling). You just pay your quarter, strap in and enjoy the ride -- sort of a Disney pirate ride in which dinosaurs and unicorns and garden gnomes and all sort of other things having nothing to do with pirates pop out, make you laugh or scream, and then disappear, never to be mentioned again.

Because, just like in "Alias" -- which was essentially "The Waltons" in spy clothes -- "Lost" aimed to make emotional, not logical, sense. Perhaps realizing that the jig was up, the writers decided to ignore nearly all plot points and go instead for a giant, heaping spoonful of sentimental goo, spiced with plenty of hugs and tears and personal journeys, ladled lovingly into the aforementioned pit, with the hope that the viewers, eyes misty and hearts full of happiness, wouldn't notice that the whole lot of it made no sense whatsoever.

And that's just what happened for me. Your experience may have varied. I sniffled, sniffled, smiled at the return of Vincent the dog, and sniffled again.

"24": Unlike the "Lost" producers, who had what seemed like an entire college career to plan their ending, the producers on this show suspected the end was nigh, but didn't know for sure until this year was well underway. Complicating the problem for executive producer Howard Gordon and company was the plan for a "24" movie, which made it very difficult to kill long-suffering counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer.

So in navigating the ledge between providing a sufficiently shattering ending to this series -- which had become a cathartic echo of the national case of the jitters born in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- while also leaving a door open for the franchise to continue (another problem not faced by "Lost," which could pretty much slaughter anyone it felt like), the writers opted for simple sadness.

As the president faced the terrible price she must pay for her poor decisions and indiscretions, there was a measure of forgiveness for Bauer, but not true absolution. He went far over the line at the end of the year, and he finished his life on TV on the run from both his enemies and the nation for which he sacrificed all but the last measure of his humanity.

Jack Bauer could not go out in a hail of bullets, but he could once again take on himself the sins of his country, shoulder his burden and head back into the wilderness.

As I said on Twitter at the time, it was "the just-right porridge." I smiled in satisfaction.


Then, the next day, watching Poison frontman and reality-TV star Bret Michaels face down multiple brushes with death and successfully show up and make the case for why he should win "The Celebrity Apprentice," I cheered and clapped. It was by far the loudest reaction of the three.

After all, the "Lost" cast and Jack Bauer aren't real, but Michaels is, and so are his many health issues.

It wasn't just a TV show.

Here's a print profile, out this week, of a pro dancer who has a good chance of going all the way ...

Before this season even began on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" - which has its two-part season finale on Monday and Tuesday, May 24 and 25 - professional ballroom dancer Derek Hough was already nursing an injury after celebrity partner Nicole Scherzinger accidentally kicked him in the face during rehearsals.

 

This is nothing new for Hough. Previous troubles included a neck injury, food poisoning, a brief blackout after a fall and a bout of the flu.

 

Thankfully, he's in his early 20s and has strong recuperative powers.

 

"I'm definitely accident-prone," he says. "I'm always getting hurt, especially on this show. Around this time - knock on wood - I get sick or the flu or my neck gets hurt. It's always something with me."

 

(HCTV: Not long after this interview took place, Hough complained on camera of neck and back pain, so apparently his streak continues unbroken in this regard.)

 

While many celebrities get hurt, they're not the only ones.

 

"You know what," Hough says, "you've got to make sure that you stretch and take care of yourself. Sometimes, honestly, we forget, because we get so caught up in choreographing and teaching our partners that we sometimes forget to stretch ourselves and take care of our bodies. That's why sometimes injuries happen to us as well."

 

Hough characterizes himself a taskmaster but not a joyless one.

 

"My style of teaching," he says, "is I'm very strict, I'm very hard, but it's always fun for me. I always want to have fun in my rehearsals. In whatever I do, I want to enjoy myself. I love what I do, and I want to make sure, when the celebrities walk out, that they enjoy the rehearsals and they don't dread it."

 

He also thinks it's important to bounce back from disputes in the rehearsal hall.

 

"In general," he says, "in life, I don't believe arguments should last very long. So we argue for about five seconds, 'All right, we're done; on to the next thing.' There's just not enough time to argue."

 

Birthplace: Salt Lake City, on May 17, making him a Taurus

 

Family cred: His sister, Julianne Hough, is also a professional ballroom dancer. She has appeared on "Dancing With the Stars" and is currently pursuing a country music career.

 

Theater cred: Played Ren McCormack in the U.K. tour and the West End production of "Footloose: The Musical," played the lead in "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Millfield Theatre in London and danced in the company for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" at the London Palladium

 

Dance cred: Won the IDSF World Youth Latin Championship in 2002 for Poland with Aneta Piotrowska

 

Favorite book: "I read all the Dan Brown books a long time ago. I really enjoyed those. I really enjoyed 'Angels and Demons' when I read that, but that was a long time ago. I'm terrible, I don't want to say this, but I don't read very often."

 

Favorite music: "My favorite type of music is rock music. One of my favorite bands right now is Muse. I love Breaking Benjamin. I love 30 Seconds to Mars. I love rock music; I love metal music. The one music that I'm not really huge on is country music, which is pretty funny considering my sister's a country artist."

 

Favorite movie: "I'm a huge movie buff. I love to go see movies. I go by myself to movie theaters, get my popcorn, so for me to pick one would be extremely hard. I loved 'American History X,' thought that was a great film. I loved 'Inglourious Basterds'; that was awesome. And I like the lighthearted ones. I really enjoyed 'Kick-Ass.' "

 

Starting Saturday, May 22, ABC's epic castaway drama "Lost' goes out in a finale-o-rama planned to last two days and into the wee hours of the night.

The festivities begin with an enhanced version of the show's pilot from Sept. 22, 2004, on Saturday night from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT.

Then on Sunday, May 23, a retrospective special, "Lost: The Final Journey," starts things off from 7-9 p.m. ET/PT, including messages from fans. The final episode then follows from 9-11:30 p.m. ET/PT.

And if that isn't enough, Jimmy Kimmel pops in from 12:05-1:05 a.m. ET/PT, with "Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost." His in-studio guests include Naveen Andrews, Nestor Carbonell, Alan Dale, Jeremy Davies, Emilie de Ravin, Michael Emerson, Michael Fox, Daniel Dae Kim, Terry O'Quinn and Harold Perrineau, with guest appearances by Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway and Evangeline Lilly.

There's also a look at three alternative final scenes, as envisioned by executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

Of course, along with the show's fans, cast and crew, "Lost" has also had a huge effect on ABC, which has seen its fortunes dramatically improve since the show's premiere. As part of a syndicated feature story this week, I emailed questions to Suzanne Patmore-Gibbs, executive vice president, network scripted programming, for ABC Entertainment Group.

An edited version of her answers appears in print, but my Cuppers get the full Monty. Enjoy! (Questions in bold italics) ...

Of course the ending hasn't aired yet, but the reaction to the episodes leading up to the predetermined finale has been positive. In retrospect, did setting an end date accomplish its intended purpose?

 

Yes. This decision helped crystallize things for the creators, who at the time felt like they were being forced to swim in place. Every episode since has really forwarded the storyline, driving towards a very specific, and hopefully very satisfying, conclusion.

 

It's extremely painful to even think about saying goodbye to an iconic show that helped redefine our network, but it was ultimately the right creative choice and I think (ABC entertainment chief) Steve McPherson was very courageous in agreeing to the end date.

 

In the future, might you create a series with an end point in mind from or near the beginning - and what are the arguments for and against that?

 

We have entertained this idea before and certainly would again. The UK does it all the time.  It's certainly liberating from an artistic perspective. When you let go of the idea of producing a hundred plus episodes, the creative possibilities expand exponentially. But the financial model has to make sense for both us and the studio involved, and figuring that out is no easy feat.

 

Furthermore, the model doesn't really make sense for shows that do not have a built in end point, something you can escalate to and promote towards. Obviously, most shows on the air today don't follow this model.

 

Any plans that can be announced at ABC for any of the "Lost" cast or producers?

 

Other than Daniel Dae Kim's role in "Hawaii Five-0" (at CBS), not at this time.

 

Everyone looks for the new iteration of a hit series. Are there specific elements from "Lost" that could be incorporated into a new series or is this a nonreproducible phenomenon?

 

At its core, "Lost" is and always has been a nuanced character drama, and we are a character-oriented network, so the creation of iconic new characters that are flawed but charismatic/compelling will continue to be a focus for us in development.

 

The mystery has been a huge driver. The sense of romance. The juxtaposition of danger and wish fulfillment/escapism. The fusion of soap opera and sci fi. We would like to tap into elements of all of these in future shows. But we do believe it is extremely difficult to manufacture a "phenomenon." This show is unique. There is no formula to replicate. It succeeded precisely because no one had seen anything quite like it. It inspires us to continue to think outside the box, search for writers with vision and swing for the fence posts now and again.

 

We don't have specific plans at this time for any "Lost" off-shoots/spin-offs.

 

How do you think "Lost" helped change the image of ABC in viewers' minds?

 

It bought us a lot in the way of respect from the creative community and the world at large. ABC once again became the network for appointment television, and also a network that dares to take risks with new and innovative programming that engages viewers on many different levels.

 

How did "Lost" change the thinking at ABC?

 

It changed our thinking in so many ways, big and small. It opened our minds to the upside of serialized drama.  It expanded our palette in terms of tone. We used to be afraid of "dark."  Well there is some REALLY screwed up stuff that has happened during the course of this show, but the lows make the highs, like Sun and Jin declaring their love for one another at the end of season two, THAT much more satisfying.

 

We used to regard sci-fi with trepidation.  Now we are more open to it when it comes from a more emotionally grounded place. We learned a lot about audience limits with regards to teasing versus providing answers. We learned the importance of including an element of comedy, romance and hope amidst the danger and the value of leaning into the wish fulfillment of reinventing oneself and the exploring the road not taken.

 

The show also broke so many TV taboos that were prevalent at the time across the board.  At that juncture, serialization was frowned upon. So were soap opera, subtitles, flashbacks. All of which Damon and Carlton employed with abandon, liberating other shows to do the same.

 

Thanks to "Lost" and the fantastic team behind the scenes, we take more daring risks in our programming choices and also nurture them to give them time to grow the audience.

 

What have the studio and network learned from developing all of the ancillary "Lost" elements, including those on the Web?

 

"Lost", with all of its twists and turns, is the perfect show to experiment with on this platform, and the audience just eats it up. It enhances the viewing experience. Since "Lost" has been such a successful and exciting project on and beyond what's on the screen, applying those tools to the next franchise series will be less daunting.

 

Today's cuppa: Italian roast coffee

On Monday, May 17, in "A Deadly Game," the season-two finale of ABC's sophomore hit "Castle," legendary TV writer/producer -- and successful mystery novelist -- Stephen J. Cannell (in purple shirt in photo) makes his third appearance as himself and as part of the regular poker circle of fictional mystery novelist Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion, in photo at right), which also includes real novelists Michael Connelly and James Patterson (also as themselves).

"They're terrific," says Cannell, also a longtime friend and mentor of "Castle" executive producer and director Rob Bowman. "They're fun. They only take about three or four hours to do. I get to work with other great novelists, and I get to act with Nathan. It couldn't be more fun."

(BTW, the two might just work together on something else. Click here for details on their mutual interest in remaking "The Greatest American Hero.")

Asked what he likes about Fillion, Cannell says, "He has so many interesting qualities that you don't often find together. You often can get a good-looking leading man who can do humor, or you can get a good-looking leading man who can do action.

"But not only can he do both of those things, but he adds things that you would actually think would be unattractive, like arrogance. His character is arrogant. To pull off arrogance and make yourself lovable while you're doing it -- it's a lot harder than it looks."

In fact, Fillion does it so well, that he's not even sure he'd like Castle if he met him -- and he also has great sympathy for Castle's unofficial partner, NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic, on right with Fillion in photo below).

"I don't think," he says, "if Castle were a real guy, that I would hang out with him that much. He'd probably get on my nerves. His advantage is, for the audience, people get to see him at home. He's a pain in Beckett's side all the time, God bless her -- woman's tortured, tortured, tortured.

"People enjoy seeing someone get under someone else's skin like that."

In the critically acclaimed but short-lived Fox series "Firefly," Fillion played the brooding yet witty starship captain Malcolm Reynolds.

Asked what Reynolds might think of Castle, Fillion says, "Hah. He'd certainly punch him in the face a lot. But we get to watch Castle go home (to his mother and daughter), and that's where the show lands. We can forgive Castle a great deal of his antics and his behaviors, because we get to see what kinds of things actually do matter to him.

"We can all relate to that. I don't believe in being the supercool dude who's unfazeable and just on top of it and super-duper cool all the time. I believe in the guy who's not that cool. As cool as he thinks he is, he's not that cool.

"That's me -- only I'm aware of how uncool I am, how many times a day do I go, 'Shortcoming, yep, shortcoming.'"

Fillion is also very aware that he's not a novelist, but only plays one on TV. That goes double for the "Richard Castle" novels, which, despite the book-jacket photo, are not written by Fillion.

"I was approached in one bookstore," he says, "and they said, 'We only have three copies left, could you sign them?' 'Sure.'

"I always sign as Nathan Fillion, because that's the autograph I practiced since high school. If I were to sign 'Richard Castle,' it just wouldn't look right.

"He's probably got a very flourishy 'Nathan Fillion,'" says Cannell.

And, by the way, Cannell didn't write the books either.

"They do have these Castle books," he says, "and I blurbed the book. Everybody thinks that I wrote it, or that Michael Connelly wrote it, or that James Patterson wrote it. Of course. none of us did.

"But I think the guy who wrote the books did a really good job. It's a secret, because as we know, it's supposed to be written by Castle. I don't know that I'll ever get around to co-writing a book with Castle, but we'll see."

Fillion may not be a novelist, but he does have a talent aside from acting.

"I am the Napmaster 2000," he says. "It's a gift, napping. It doesn't really matter where. I once slept on a rock in the rain during a shoot. We had 15 minutes, it was a rock, it was raining, and I was out.

"Know what they used to do to me? I would fall asleep in the chair (on set). I'd wake up, and there'd be a Polaroid on my chest of me, right then, sleeping on my chair, but littered with empty pizza plates, toilet paper wrapped all around.

"They'd dress me all up, take the photo, clean me all up, leave the photo, and I'd be oblivious."

Click here for a Zap2it story I did with Cannell, talking about Fillion and the idea of him starring in a big-screen remake of "Greatest American Hero"

The quest for energy drives much of human history.

Whether it's gathering firewood, cutting peat, digging for coal or drilling for oil, humans risk life and limb to cook, stay warm and keep the lights on.

 

But none of these pursuits is perhaps as dramatic and as surprisingly romantic as the centuries-long whale hunt, in which men set forth in small wooden boats to take on leviathans in search of the precious oil that could be rendered from their blubber or harvested from the heads of sperm whales.

 

Monday, May 10, on PBS (check local listings), "American Experience" presents "Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World," in which filmmaker Ric Burns examines three centuries of American whaling, which changed towns, lives, art, literature - including one of the greatest works in the English language, "Moby-Dick" - and the world economy.

 

Of course, it also had a deadly effect on whales, which would be the primary concern of people today.

 

"The contemporary deep empathy for whales," Burns says, "is kind of a silent partner in the film. The one thing you don't have to talk about in the film is how deep the feelings are. It's there; all of us feel it.

 

"I thought, early on, we would have to bring the story further into the 20th century and understand the emergence of an active save-the-whales movement, but that's completely unnecessary. There's not a person today who considers the 200, 300-year history of whaling who would ever want to go back and do that again."

 

Instead, Burns takes an objective look at the industry, which literally helped fuel economic growth leading up to the Industrial Revolution.

 

"Whale oil was petroleum before petroleum in every respect," Burns says. "It lit the streetlights of London and Paris. It was absolutely the middle-class illuminant of choice. It burned brighter and whiter. It was a remarkable product that really did a better job at what it did than anything else comparable."

Today's cuppa: Barry's Gold Blend tea (that my Mom sent to me -- Happy Mother's Day, Mom!)

Not long ago, I made a rare foray into daytime drama with a set visit to ABC's "General Hospital," and this syndicated story, out in print this week, was the result. ...

On the long-running ABC daytime drama "General Hospital," Nancy Lee Grahn (left) plays attorney Alexis Davis, mother of teenager Kristina (Lexi Ainsworth, below), whose father is the mobster Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard), who didn't know about his daughter for a long time.

 

In real life, Ainsworth is a mostly home-schooled teen taking online college courses, and Grahn is the single mother of a tween daughter, Katherine.

 

Over the course of this year, the two have been playing out a storyline that's all too real for too many mothers and daughters. Kristina's charismatic boyfriend, Kiefer Bauer (Christian Alexander), while appealing and polite in front of adults, secretly beat his girlfriend.

(HCTV: Kiefer Bauer? Really? Was the writer a "24" fan?)

 

At first, fearing her mobster father's wrath, Kristina lied about the assault, saying it was (slightly) older man Ethan Lovett (Nathan Parsons). But after a second beating from Kiefer, the truth came out. In an episode that aired in early April, Alexis, who witnessed the second assault, struck and killed Kiefer with her car.

 

While that last bit may not happen to all families, the fears mothers have for their daughters are very real.

 

"What I've done," Grahn says, "naturally, is research teen violence, because it now interests me, and also because I have a just-turned-12-year-old. I ended up talking to a few different organizations. I was curious about it in a general way and curious how Alexis, being an intelligent, seemingly devoted mother - at least when I read my script, I'm devoted.

 

"But that being said, how can somebody like Alexis or any of you who are parents, how could this happen to you?"

 

While visiting an organization that deals with abusive teen relationships, Grahn ran into a "General Hospital" fan.

 

Grahn recalls, "She goes, 'This could happen to somebody like you, and it does, in fact happen a lot more than any of us would think.' ... This does indeed happen, and parents don't see it. There's truth to it as well."

 

"I've gotten tweets," Ainsworth says, "from people who have shared their stories about being abused. It's scary that so many people can relate to this. I personally have never been in an abusive relationship. I don't know any of my friends that have."

 

Of course, being a mother, Grahn couldn't be entirely detached when seeing her TV daughter made up to look as if she had been beaten.

 

"You can't help but see your kid like that. I don't use my personal life in acting. I learned that you can't count on that all the time. Also, I don't want to imagine my daughter getting beaten up. But you can't help but have flashes of that, just thinking, 'What would you do?' "

 

And the TV mom wound up discussing the topic in her role of real-life mom.

 

"We had a conversation," Grahn says, "because (Katherine) saw me on the Internet, researching it, and said, 'What are you doing?' She has a general sense of what goes on (at 'General Hospital'), and this is an interesting topic of conversation right now, with what these kids are exposed to, with the media and violence on television and all that.

 

"What young women are accepting from boys or young men right now is unthinkable to me. I'm discussing this with other parents, and I'm saying, 'What happened, that girls are feeling that they need to be so highly sexualized, that they have to do so many things, that violence is cool, and arbitrary, random sex is cool. Where did this come from?'

 

"I honestly think it's raising a really interesting conversation for parents to start having with their kids."

Today's cuppa: Barry's Gold Blend tea

This syndicated feature appears in print next week, but a shorter version is already posted over at Zap2it.com, so I thought I'd give my Cuppers the full shot!

(And, either later tonight or tomorrow morning, depending on how sleepy I am, I will be recapping tonight's new "Supernatural.")

On The CW's Thursday drama "Supernatural," demon-hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles) travel the highways and byways of America in a 1967 Chevy Impala.

 

Now what sort of music would one play while driving such a car? Somehow Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and Miley Cyrus just don't cut it.

 

If you're hunting ghosts, ghouls, zombies and even the devil himself in a classic muscle car, you need some classic muscular rock 'n' roll, and that's just what "Supernatural" delivers.

 

Composers Christopher Lennertz and Jay Gruska create the show's original score, while music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas is in charge of picking the pop songs.

 

Calling in on her way to the Coachella music festival, Patsavas says, "When I got hired for 'Supernatural,' I had an extensive conversation with the executive producers about the music on the show. They knew from the beginning that they wanted it to be their very favorite, iconic popular rock songs from the '70s and '80s, but mostly from the '70s.

 

"It has a very road-trip flavor. Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult, those are the kinds of bands that we use on the show."

 

For example, here's a sampling of songs from the current season, the show's fifth: "Thunderstruck" (AC/DC), "Long, Long Way From Home" (Foreigner), "Spirit in the Sky" (Norman Greenbaum), "Won't Get Fooled Again" (the Who) and the theme from "Knight Rider."

 

Other 8-track classic bands featured include Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bad Company, Rush, Metallica, the Rolling Stones, Iron Butterfly, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ted Nugent, Three Dog Night, Journey and REO Speedwagon.

 

Some rock anthems have become integral to the show, such as Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" (not hard to guess why) and especially Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son."

 

It's easy to see how a song that opens with the lyrics "Carry on, my wayward son; there'll be peace when you are done" could apply to a pair of brothers with serious father issues on a seemingly endless quest to save the world from evil forces.

 

"A definite favorite of the executives," says Patsavas, "and a song that we actually use for all of our season recaps."

 

While the show's two leads - Ackles (in picture, at right) was born in 1978 and Padalecki (in picture, at left) in 1982 - are probably too young to have grown up on many of these songs, Patsavas doesn't see that as a problem.

 

"It's probably before the time of much of the audience," she says, "which is perhaps why they've responded so well to it, because maybe it's the first time they're hearing these songs.

"I actually think the actors probably feel really good about it, since it's exactly what their characters would be listening to."

 

Although the composers don't get to pick the pop tunes, they do get to hear them, and they do have opinions.

 

By e-mail, Lennertz answered a few questions about the "Supernatural" songbook:

 

Q: What songs and/or bands have elicited the most response from viewers?

 

A: "Definitely 'Carry On My Wayward Son' by Kansas. All of the AC/DC tracks have been big hits."

 

Q: Has doing this job made you a fan of any bands or songs you weren't an admirer of before?

 

A: "Have a huge newfound respect for both Kansas and Blue Oyster Cult."

 

Q: What songs would you like for the show but still haven't been able to use?

 

A: "Led Zeppelin would be perfect, but they will not license."

 

Q: What personal favorites would you like to hear on the show?

 

A: " 'Stone in Love' by Journey, 'Fade to Black' by Metallica, 'Running With the Devil' by Van Halen."

 

As to how Patsavas has enjoyed her own immersion in '70s and '80s rock 'n' roll, she says, "I'm from Chicago, so I'm a Cheap Trick fan from way back. It's music everybody's familiar with, whether we're conscious of that or not. This music really strikes a chord with 'Supernatural' fans, because it's music they recognize."