#ackles critical

[laf-outloud]

I know this has been discussed before, but it’s interesting enough to me to be worth repeating . . .

The recent photos of Jared and Gen posing with others at the stem cell treatment facility as well as the photo of Jared and Gen at the coffee house chatting with the two women, leads me to believe that 1) the Padaleckis are down-to-earth enough that they venture out-and-about into the masses to live their lives; 2) the Padaleckis are famous enough (at least in their hometown of Austin) that they are recognized by people that they don’t know personally; 3) the Padaleckis are welcoming enough in their demeanor that people feel comfortable approaching them; and 4) the Padaleckis are human enough that they will engage with the common folk and pose for photos. This tells me a lot about Jared and Gen and who they are as people.

I have watched SPN and been a non-participating (lurker) part of the fandom for years, including at SPN_Goss and Tumblr, so I have seen a lot. I am not on FB, Instagram or Twitter, and I don’t follow any of the cast. I only see what’s posted on fan sites on Tumblr (some of which are admittedly anti-Jensen), so someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there are often similar sitings and interactions with the Ackles. This leads me to think that 1) the Ackles are not out-and-about as often; 2) the Ackles are not recognizable when/if they are out; 3) the Ackles are not as approachable if they are recognized; and 4) if the Ackles are approachable and engage, they may not consent to a photo or they may ask the person not to post the photo on social media. The only other reason I can come up with is that maybe people just don’t care, but I know that won’t go over well with the AAs.

This is just something that occurs to me every time I see a photo with Jared (and Gen) and a fan out in the wild. I love that he isn’t afraid to engage with people and I love that people always post about how kind and friendly he is. It does make me wonder about the comparisons between the two men though. Perhaps Jensen just isn’t as recognizable and famous as his super-fans think he is and perhaps Jared, with his more mainstream TV and film career, is.

I think there's a lot of truth in your observations. Thanks for sharing! To your question, I do follow some people who post Jensen and Jared fan interactions, and you're right that there are certainly more fan photos with Jared. Jensen content tends to come more from people he's worked with as opposed to fans out on the street.

There are definitely some interesting comparisons into how each couple handles recognition/fan interactions. Of course, I'm not going to say one way is better than the other as every celebrity should be allowed to interact within their comfort level. (And frankly, seeing how obsessed some of Jensen's fans are, I don't blame him for staying under the radar.) I do appreciate Jared and Gen's willingness to interact with fans and I hope someday I can meet them!

"Perhaps Jensen just isn’t as recognizable and famous as his super-fans think he is and perhaps Jared, with his more mainstream TV and film career, is."

It's unsurprising how many comments I saw on photos from Jared's USO tour that mentioned different shows Jared's been on, including Gilmore Girls, SPN, Walker, Friday the 13th and House of Wax. It helps that GG and SPN frequently make the weekly top 20 of streaming shows. Jared is very recognizable despite looking nothing like his teenage self from GG!

(Surprised no one mentioned New York Minute. LOL!)

[familydontendwblood]

I'm still trying to grasp the connection between Danneel and Hilarie's book, apart from the fact that Danneel enjoys dressing up as a witch as a hobby.

[strawlessandbraless]

Dean and Cas should have gotten to poke fun at Sam’s career choice more often. When Cas is annoyed, his response is always ‘ok law boy’ with an eye roll. Anytime Sam utters ‘so get this’, Dean and Cas rush to be the first to object. Dean threatens to sue Sam anytime he interrupts his alone time with Cas. The party city wig was actually one of those white British judge wigs.

[warpedwings]

How have I never noticed this before?

Misha at the Television Critics Tour in 2013, and Jensen in Mint Condition in 2018.

More Jensen in Mint Condition, and Misha at AHBL in 2013.

[castiels-undercoat]

Episode similar to changing channels except its just Dean and Cas going into different sitcoms and Dean is Cas's wife in all of them.

[hologramcowboy]

Get you a man that looks at you like you are the dumbest woman to walk the earth….Ah, what a fairytale marriage!

[justjensenanddean]

The HCA Astra TV Awards will be taking place on Monday, January 8, 2024 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, Jensen Ackles is nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Drama Series.

[khawla-gfm2]

📰Khawla's Family Campaign Update: 152📰

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(^send money to the paypal as "friends and family")

Please consider donating even just $5, $10, or $20 to help Khawla in her time of need! every amount counts!

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[kvitka97]

So, so many people need to read this. Very true.

[inthenameofallthingsholy]

Speedy’s Supernatural Watch-through

hey can we all just pretend season 15 doesn’t exist?

I’m on Season 15, Episode 17.

The drop in quality from 14 to 15 is drastic and horrific. Whoever was in charge of the music completely changed the instrumentation of the background music, and instead of classic rock every song used is either like underground indie or country music.

I don’t want to critique the acting because that is unfair, the actors were working with a god awful script, but at times it feels like the actors are genuinely giving up. It gets better later in the season, but Jared in early season 15 is…struggling. Again, mainly the script’s fault.

Also just grave mischaracterizations. Since when does Dean not consider Jack family? They spend most of the last 2 seasons showing Dean getting closer to Jack and seeing him as more than just Lucifer’s son, yet when Jack has to sacrifice himself, suddenly “Jack’s not family.”?

There are things about this season I appreciate, mainly Jensen’s acting choices when interacting with Castiel, as well as…everything Alexander Calavert does cause he’s great.

I’m also deeply upset by the way they treat Dean, especially people outside of TFW interacting with him. Dean is still an attractive guy, Jensen looks incredible now at 46, and he did in 2020 too. And yet whenever Dean’s on a job, people treat him like he’s super freaking old and unattractive. Just feels like a giant fucking insult to one of the most attractive men in hollywood.

All in all, this feels like a grave misrepresentation of a show I’ve adored for months now, and I hope that if they do a season 16, they will fix some of the glaring issues with the plot.

[borgialucrezia]

david oakes' takes and anecdotes on juan are always so delicious to read because he talks about him enthusiastically and understands the character so well and he makes sure to try to make people understand what led juan to behave the way he did without diminishing any of his wrongdoings. i can't lie i always giggle every time a borgia fan gets bothered under my gifsets that he isn't the b&w "villain" some of them wished him to be lmao

[laf-outloud]

The problem with the way AA's are dealing with this Amazon news is that they are trying to compare Amazon to the CW. But what they need to be comparing is Amazon to WBD. CMP didn't work for the CW. TW wasn't a CW show. Both were WBD commodities. Now that they were let go from WBD and TW is all but officially DOA they are scrambling to make this move a "step up" to prove they're still "winning"

I'd be shocked if I saw any of them actually express disappointment at CMP moving to Amazon. I think they're blinded by the fact that it's the streaming services that tend to get most of the awards nowadays, which in their minds, means greater opportunities and more clout. What they fail to realize is that streaming services, particularly Amazon, suck at being television studios. Pay is crap, organization is all over the place, shows are canceled after 1 or 2 seasons with no reasons given so there's no job security. At least with the WB, they were with an established studio (100 years strong), with opportunities outside of the volatile streaming arena. Of course, the Ackles also wasted those opportunities, so Amazon it is, but for AAs to think it's better? Not happening.

[lightofraye]

An excellent article and one particular section jumps out to me. Can we send what he said to other actors? One in particular? (Hint: It's to Jensen Ackles.)

--excerpt--

I first became aware of you, as an actor, with Passions. When you think about the trajectory your career has taken since then, how has it compared to what the goal was or what you might have envisioned it to be? You’ve definitely spent time on a number of memorable TV series and you had that successful run on This Is Us. Was this a goal? Had you always wanted to lead a TV series? What did you envision for yourself?

HARTLEY: I don’t know if I had a particular vision in mind where I manifested something like being the lead of a show, or anything like that. I think I was just enraptured with the art and the craft and the idea that you can go to “work” and make believe, and meet all these really interesting people and artists, and get ideas from them, and just work really hard on making something look effortless. I guess that was the goal. Most of these actors that you watch and admire, when you look at what they’re doing, it looks like they’re not doing much, but it’s so captivating. When you watch Jon Hamm, if you didn’t know any better, the guy is just such a natural. He’s just sitting there staring and listening to this guy, but I can’t stop looking at him because he’s doing a million things all at once and he makes it look effortless. That’s an artist. That is dialed in. When you watch Tom Hanks do a scene, you could watch that guy read a phone book. So, I guess that was the goal. It still is my goal to just be the best I can possibly be, and I haven’t reached it yet. I’m not done learning yet. But I don’t know if I ever had a vision of where I would be at this age. I’m just lucky to be in this business and able to afford a life in this business. I love the process of learning new things and I love the idea that, if I had a chance to redo a scene from two years ago, I bet you I could do it better. If the day comes along where I’m like, “Yeah, I’m getting worse,” then I’ll probably retire.

[strawlessandbraless]

i swear to god if misha also makes a secret guest appearance in season 5

I know. I think Misha’s supe name should be Astro Glide and he plays Soldier Boys secret Russian lover from back in the day. But I’m just spit balling here.

[rewatching-sam-and-dean]

Posting this here because I saw an obnoxious take on Threads just now, and I don’t have the character allowance needed to vent my annoyance over there. Plus, I hate that app.

Anyway, the offensive (to me) take I saw was one I see all too often, yet this person ventured forth their opinion like they were bravely standing up for the little guy. Please. The internet is crawling with AAs who spout the same crap 25/8.

The opinion:

“I have nothing against Jared…he’s a great Sam…but Jensen is just PERFECTION as Dean. Like. Besides being a fucking DREAMBOAT, he’s hysterical with his words and expressions.“

My Rebuttal:

I like Jensen as an actor, and I like Dean. I do. I also agree that Jensen is a good actor and Dean is a great character … when he isn’t pissing me off (or becoming a caricature in later seasons). I mean, he’s made me cry a good few times when watching the show, particularly when he’s just lost Sam. But, there are some parts of the ststement that just really bug me, especially because I’ve seen so many people make statements like this one.

First, Jared is good as Sam, But Jensen is PERFECTION as Dean. My issue with this is, how do you even quantify who is better at playing a chracter when the two characters are so different from each other that they are near opposites? Jensen is very good at playing Dean. He makes him feel real, and you can feel the connection he has with his brother and other family, which also adds to how empathetic and relatable he feels (at times). However, Jensen cannot forge the Sam and Dean connection alone. Jared makes up the other half of their duo. And sure, people can not like Sam or claim they don’t care for the brothers' dynamic, but 75% (or more) of who Dean is … is his love for and relationship with Sam. People can love to see Dean with Castiel or Charlie or whoever, and even say they like Dean better with them than Sam 🙄 but the only person he was playing off of when we first get to know Dean (and in my opinion the superior version of Dean) is Sam (Jared). If Jared wasn’t playing Sam very well, Jensen could emote all he wanted, but there would still be a disconnect there. I’m not saying Jensen wouldn’t still be charismatic or interesting on his own, but I will say that the Dean people love for how much he cares for his family and how real it feels did require Jared in particular. When Kripke talks about “lightening in a bottle” he wasn’t only talking about Jensen.

Anyway, let’s move on to the reasons for Jensen’s “perfection”:

1. Dreamboat - Okay, shallow, but let’s address this one first. Is this person claiming Jensen is perfect as Dean … because he’s hot? She knows Jensen isn’t actively choosing to be hot, right? Right? This isn’t a skill or talent, it’s being blessed with good genetics. While I do agree that Jensen is very attractive, i think Jared is too. I’d even say for a good few years there Jared put more effort into being physically fit, so does that make him more perfect at playing Sam … because he achieved pleasing physique? At least that wasn’t only genetics but work, too. This particular reason to love Jensen’s portrayal of Dean is shallow as hell, so I’m moving on.

2. Hysterical with his words and expressions - I am not going to argue against Jensen being “hysterical” because 1) what we all find funny is subjective, and 2) I also think he’s funny. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Jensen is good at humour and comic timing, and I’m certainly not going to try take that away from him. He’s a scene steeler. But, and I can’t believe I have to say this, he also plays a funny character. Dean is funny, or cheeky anyway. Sam is not (usually). So, why is Jensen being good at being funny when he’s playing a funny character more “perfect” than Jared who shows off his own comedic skills much less often because he’s playing a serious character? They are both doing what they are supposed to do for their respective characters. I also have to add that a good portion of the time, Dean’s humour is enhanced by Sam’s deadpan reaction. This is also good comic timing, but given who Sam is, it would be weird if Jared was constantly leaning into humor. As For Jensen’s “words” bring hysterical … does this person not realize that 90% of the time Jensen is saying the words written for him? Of course the inflection is his, and he’s been known to add lib, but the writers are more responsible for Dean’s words than Jensen. Conversely, Jared can’t use words to enhance his chrdcter that his character isn’t given. In fact, the fact that so many writers suck at writing Sam dialogue, forced Jared to crest a whole lexicon on physicality for Sam that makes him feel real and nuanced into the (abysmal) later seasons. Finally, with the “expressions," again I agree, Jensen uses his facial expressions very effectively at times (but I also think he over does it at other times). However, I also think Jared uses his expressions very effectively, broken puppydog eyes, anyone? Still, I also think Jared goes a little over the top at times in his expressions. Neither, despite what this person claimed, are perfect.

Anyway, my whole point with this (perhaps nit-picky) rant is NOT that I fault people for preferring Dean or liking Jensen’s acting style better, my annoyance comes in when they claim he’s perfect because he’s just no. No one is. And saying that Jensen plays Dean better than Jared plays Sam when they aren’t even comparable because of how different they are is just ignorant. It’s not a competition, yet some Dean fans so often need to make it one.

My honest opinion about JA and JP’s acting is that I think Jensen excels at drawing out empathy from the audience, making (many of) them feel sad when he’s sad, but I find Jared stronger when it comes to making different characters (or versions of his character) feel different. See Meg!Sam and Soulless!Sam in particular. So yeah, my issue is not with people liking a character or actor more, it’s with them thinking thst they are leagues apart when they are both, in fact C tier actors who have different strengths. And this additional and related notion that SPN would have been fine with just Jensen, or that just anyone could have played Sam and it wouldn’t have mattered is just … wrong.

Anyway, if you’re of the opinion that BOTH brothers and BOTH actors were crucial to the show, I’d love to chat about it with you, so feel free to hit up my asks or messsges. I love talking about the show and don’t get to do it enough.

If you think one actor was carrying the show on his shoulders (either one honestly, but we know who this is said of more often and by whom) … we just aren’t going to find common ground. So to those SPN fans …

Have a day.

[queenoma]

“Danneel Ackles, who played Rachel Gatina, is said to be in talks to reprise her role. She is also acting as an executive producer alongside her husband, Jensen Ackles.”

The attention ADDICT was NEVER going to be content to be an executive producer, albeit in name only, b/c she as a malignant and grandiose narcissist HAS to be SEEN and NOT let anyone else get MORE benefits than HER