TV-Turnoff: Finding relief in the 'Supernatural'

National TV-Turnoff Week has been an acutely painful experience for this intrepid blogger: As many of you know, I decided to protest the annual anti-boob-tube event by turning on one show per day that’s usually dead to me, and on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I hit the trifecta of torture with Two and a Half Men, Teachers, and Yo Momma. Last night, however, brought with it a much-needed reprieve, in the form of The WB’s Supernatural.

Admittedly, my enjoyment (or non-un-enjoyment) of the show may have had something to do with the fact that I caught it less than 24 hours after suffering through an unscripted Wilmer Valderrama vehicle. Still, it’s a good sign that the episode’s most annoying aspect was the way the network kept killing the suspense by flashing the phrase ”After 22 years, it comes down to one night. Supernatural season finale next week” after each ad break. Um, why not just run a crawl along the bottom of the screen saying, ”Don’t get too excited…we’ve saved all the really good stuff for next week.”

Also unnecessary: Devoting half the episode to family drama between the Winchester brothers (and their absentee dad) — especially since these scenes seem to bring out the worst aspects of series lead Jared Padalecki’s acting. Seriously, the kid is so wooden, he should tell his agent to keep an eye out for a live-action, big-screen version of Pinocchio. Note to the writers: Cut to the good stuff; your show’s not called Supernatural for nothin’.

Speaking of which, I enjoyed how saucy Meg (Nicki Aycox) showed no mercy — dropping in on the Winchesters’ closest family friends and slitting their throats — in her efforts to get back the magic demon-killing gun, and the way she casually barked ”What the hell are you lookin’ at?” at one of her recently departed victims. I also liked the way Izzie’s heart-patient boyfriend Papa Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) sanctified the contents of that water tower to thwart his nemesis, but why didn’t he hightail it outta that warehouse before stopping to check his cellphone messages? And one other burning question that’s been nagging me for months: If new episodes on The WB are ”fresh,” what’s a rerun? Stale? Spoiled? Musty? Holla back!

addCredit(“Supernatural: Sergei Bachlakov/The WB”)