Fall TV: 'Supernatural' Premieres During Strong CW Week

One of The CW's most venerable series has its season premiere this week, and it's coming at a time when the network has to be feeling pretty good about its programming choices. Supernatural debuts its twelfth season the same week that a new CW show posted some of the best ratings ever for the network.

In a way, season 12 will be business as usual for the Winchester brothers (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki), as they continue to travel the country, saving the world from the forces of darkness as they go. There will be some new developments along the way, though. For one thing, fans can count on Mary Winchester being around during this season, and that might cause some uncomfortable situations for the Winchester boys.

Lucifer will be back, too, but this time the diabolical bad guy will look a lot like Rick Springfield. That's because the one-time rocker will be playing the new incarnation of the infernal one.

Behind the scenes, the series will have new showrunners in Robert Singer and Andrew Dabb, who will take over the helm from departed boss Jeremy Carver.

The Supernatural premiere comes just a few days after the season premiere of Supergirl, which moved from CBS to The CW this year, posted record-breaking ratings. That series' debut-episode ratings were the highest for any show in its time slot on the network in the last eight years. The series had pulled in better ratings last year at CBS, but the bar is a bit lower at The CW, and no one is complaining.

Supernatural's season 12 premieres on Thursday, October 13.