10 Most Meta Moments In Supernatural
4. I Wish This Were A TV Show - Changing Channels (S5E8)
Supernatural is great at paying homage to horror, sci-fi, and supernatural genres. Dean's FBI aliases are Mulder and Scully in the first episode, season four's Monster Movie did all of the Universal Horror, and they even go animated in "Scoobynatural," the crossover we all wanted.
Changing Channels, though, references more shows in its 40 minute runtime than anything else has in an entire season. Based on the simple concept of flicking aimlessly through channels, Sam and Dean end up facing a variety of classic TV show tropes: a sit-com complete with laugh track, a procedural cop drama (specifically CSI, based on the sunglasses-based puns and close-ups of murder methodology), and even Sam taking the form of the Impala in honour of Knight Rider.
It's revealed that the Archangel Gabriel is behind it, masquerading as a Trickster to get the Winchesters to accept their roles as the vessels of Michael and Lucifer and bring about the Apocalypse, obviously. But his speech to the brothers in a persuasive effort is just the light smearing of meta icing on top of the meta cake.
"I wish this were a TV show. Easy answers, endings wrapped up in a bow. But this is real. And it's gonna end bloody for all of us."