We've all heard the news, right?

[feliciakw]

The news has broken that Sera Gamble (who has been with SPN since S1) has opted not to renew her contract and will be (from the sounds of it) leaving SPN to pursue other development projects. She is being replaced by SPN veteran Jeremy Carver. I'm not surprised she opted not to renew her contract, given some of the very vocal opposition (some of which has been expressed with extreme and violent hatred) from the fandom. Or this could be the politic way of describing a different series of events.

I'm nonplussed (in the non-standard meaning of the word). While her skills as a showrunner are perhaps questionable, she has without question written or co-written some of my very favorite episodes of their season, if not the series (my favorites in bold):

1.03 Dead in the Water
1.12 Faith (one of my favorite eps, period. With one of the best lines describing faith that I've ever heard in broadcast TV.)
1.14 Nightmare
1.21 Salvation
2.03 Bloodlust
2.08 Crossroad Blues - (She well and truly freaked. me. out. with this one. Ask Izhi.)
2.13 Houses of the Holy
2.17 Heart
2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One (along with Part 2)
3.02 The Kids Are Alright
3.07 Fresh Blood
3.10 Dream a Little Dream of Me
3.12 Jus in Bello
3.15 Time Is On My Side
4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester
4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer
4.17 It's A Terrible Life
4.21 When The Levee Breaks
5.02 Good God Y'All
5.07 The Curious Case Of Dean Winchester
5.13 The Song Remains The Same
5.21 Two Minutes To Midnight
6.01 Exile On Main St.
6.11 Appointment in Samarra
6.21 Let It Bleed (Yes, as painful as this one was, and as dubious as the ending was, I liked it.)
7.01 Meet The New Boss
7.10 Death's Door (arguably the best dramatic episode of S7)
7.17 The Born-Again Identity

Actually, all the eps on this list are pretty good to varying degrees. Those bolded are just my very favorites of the ones listed.

There has been much rejoicing, complete with extremely rude send-off wishes from some. I'm not dissing people for their delight that there will be a change in showrunners next year (which, renewal now seems to be all but a formality), or their happiness that Sera is stepping down. To each their own. Her seasons had some clunkiness, but then, Kripke got a little out of control, too. I wish her well on her next project.

This does lead us to something Bob Singer (the real one, not the one who wears a trucker cap) said earlier about next season, that they're going to get away from the All Angst, All The Time, and get back to the Saving People, Hunting Things. This? I cannot argue with. This makes me happy. This I look forward to.

So, best wishes to Sera. Maybe we'll see each other around.

Yay! for saving people, hunting things, the brothers working side-by-side and fighting back-to-back! Maybe we'll get a little more insight into the stuff Dean has (not) been dealing with the past three seasons. Maybe we'll get some of the incidental humor back into the flavor of the show. Sera gets blamed for a lot of stuff that I don't think is solely her fault. However, if bringing Jeremy Carver back will get us back to Saving People, Hunting Things in a fleshed out, creative way, I'm all for it!

Comments

[gluisa88.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've never been sure what things that the fandom blames on Sera are actually her fault or not.

Nevertheless, I'm thrilled about the change- it's always good to have new blood and I can't wait to see what Carver does :D

[leelust.livejournal.com]

I don't get why all starting to list her eps. She wasn't a writer the last 2 years, she was a showrunner and she was BAD doing it. That's why she should step out a long time ago. Her inability to run a show and her bias toward one character ruined the show and made a lot of fans to go away.
I hope carver will be better *fingers crossed*

[tahirire.livejournal.com]

Are we confirmed that she isn't writing for us anymore? I hadn't heard if she was just stepping down as Showrunner or if she was leaving entirely. I'd really hate to lose her as a writer. :-/

I too REALLY hope this is not because of the fandom crazies. :-/ :-/ :-/

HOWEVER. I love Jeremy, he is brilliant and honestly I feel that as a showrunner over all, he will do a better job. I love s7 and I think she really pulled it around, but it's STILL all angst all the time, even now, and damn but those boys deserve a break. I want one, final GLORIOUS season of the boys firmly on the same side and kicking some massive monster/demon/watever ASS.

*Firm Nod*

[ficwriter1966.livejournal.com]

My guess is (and it's backed up by nothing concrete) that she was *asked* to leave. It feels to me like, if she had a specific other project(s) she wanted to devote her time to, they'd be mentioned in the write-up. It feels to me like, the network looked at declining ratings and a lot of fandom complaints (which would logically lead to continuing declining ratings, to some folks) and pinned the blame on the person at the top. ("The buck stops here," if you will.) Networks have a habit of doing that, for good or ill.

I wonder, too, if Bob Singer knew this was coming when he gave that interview to EW two weeks ago, talking about how they'd done enough angst and he wanted to see a rolicking, wild west-type tale next year.

My wish is that they go back to a scenario where Sam and Dean LIKE each other. And that they stop creating adversaries the boys have no reasonable ability to conquer without the use of a miracle they've pulled out of...the Impala's trunk (harking back to the end of "Changing Channels").

[sarcasticval.livejournal.com]

Your journal is the first I've heard about this, as I tend to avoid the fandom due to its fringier elements.

That said, I do find it endlessly fascinating that as a whole this is a fandom that looooooves to wail about the lack of female representation in Show, yet turns it on a dime to vilify the head female honcho behind the scenes. Curious and curiouser.