Jared Padalecki Fires A Parting Shot At The CW

Shows at the CW haven’t always had the biggest budgets. Still, it managed to be the home to many genre-oriented shows. Some ran for a long time, like Supernatural. The horror show about brothers who hunt monsters was on the air for 15 years. It has a dedicated fanbase, and created stars out of its leads: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. After the show, both actors found projects on the CW. Ackles produced a Supernatural spin-off, while Padalecki stepped into Chuck Norris’s cowboy boots.

Jared starred in Walker, a remake of the Norris-starring TV show, Walker Texas Ranger. The show ran for four seasons. It was relatively successful but failed to match the ratings it achieved in season 1. Regardless, the CW liked it enough that they greenlit a spin-off (albeit a short-lived one). The worm would turn eventually, however, with the show getting canceled shortly before the end of its fourth season, something Padalecki was not a fan of.

Speaking to Variety, Padalecki offered his thoughts on the CW, their current ownership, and how he thinks it affected Walker. “My understanding is — and again, this is just what I’m told — that Nexstar is going in a different direction with The CW,” he explained. “I mean, they have an hour of Trivial Pursuit and an hour of Scrabble coming up. I don’t know why you wouldn’t just download the app or grab a board game and play with your friends, but they’re clearly just — what’s that great quote? It’s like, ‘If somebody tells you who they are, ask questions. If somebody shows you who they are, believe them.’”

According to the actor, the network has changed from when he was battling ghouls with Ackles. “I feel like The CW that I was a part of last year is not The CW that I was a part of under (former chairman and CEO) Mark Pedowitz for that entire, almost 20-year stretch,” continued Padalecki. “They’re just changing the network around, where it’s not really going to be a TV network as much as it’s going to be, “Here’s something fun for an hour that you’ll never watch again, but hopefully you watch it. And it’s cheap!” Again, things being cheaply produced has been the CW’s MO for some time, but I get Padalecki’s point.

He didn’t stop there, either. He isn’t worried about CW retaliating, saying, “And I hate to say that, but I’m just being honest. I mean, f*ck it. They can’t fire me again. I’m just being brutally honest. I think it felt to me like they were looking for really easy, cheap content that they could fill up time with.” With rumors swirling that Padalecki could join his old Supernatural teammates on The Boys, the actor won’t be hard up for work. Just don’t expect him to return to the CW anytime soon.