Well this is new. Maybe it's their way of self-soothing over Dean's early death in the finale what was a love letter to Sam fans.

Then I read the rest of the thread.

Here you go readers, another AA pretending that AAs haven’t been obsessing over first bilings for the past 15 years.  Remember this treasure?  Anon, don’t try to rewrite history, AAs’ “first on the call sheet” obsession somehow reached Jensen who said, umprompt, three times over the course of four years that Jared is first on the call sheet.  Even Jim Michael got in on the fun (X).

My favorite AA excuse: “The only reason why this Jared guy has first billing is because the ‘a’ in Jared comes before the ‘e’ in Jensen.”   

They spread this so much that I’ve seen it repeated on Quora by new SPN fans.  Like, it never occured to the newbies that ‘Ackles’ comes before ‘Padalecki’ in he alphabet?  So I could hardly blame Jared’s stans for needling and aggrevating AAs over first billings because AAs orginally wouldn’t shut up about it.

I give credit where credit is due, I started this blog to aggrevate the AAs after they ran me out of the IMDb discussion boards.  I let my passion for superheroes get the better of me and I included IMDb boards among the many superhero discussion boards I particpated in. That was a mistake, the IMDb SPN boards were run by Ackles Army and they completely flipped their shit when I corrected some of their misconception about the show, like rules of protagonist, superhero themes, and oh yeah, the billing order.  I decided it wasn’t worth it and left the SPN board, but they chased after me to the Superman Return, The Other Boleyn Girl, The 300s, Hellboy, Dark Knight, Noah, and Black Swan IMDb boards, all the while screaming,  “YOURE TRIGGERING ME I’M TRIGGERD DON’T YOU DARE IGNORE ME WHILE I’M TRIGGERED!”

Readers, here is an AA in stage 3 of grief: stage 1 Denial (”the only reason why Jared has first bllling is because Gilmore Girls is mainstream so he’s more famous than Jensen”), stage 2 Anger (”Jensen is the real star!”), stage 3 Bargaining (”first billing has no importance” or “both Jensen and Jared has top billing).  Next stage is Depression and Acceptance.  Anon, I trust you’ll keep me in the loop when you are in stage 4 and 5.

AA Anon, when two actors truly share the top billing their names will alternate between #1 and #2 in the credit order in every episode.  Jared would be first in the credit order and in the next episode Jensen would be first in the credit order and in the next episode Jared would be first i the credit order and on and on.  But that never happened because only Jared has top billing.

“i doubt he would have been cast if he wasn't executive producer”

And now the AA Anon is in stage 1 of grief over Jared’s new show Walker, Denial (”the only reason why Jared was cast is because he’s the executive producer!”).  Anon, you really should listen to Jensen when he explained that actors with “executive producer” titles don’t have creative control, can’t hire actors (only producers and directors can hire actors) much less themselves.  Jared does not own a production company therefore he can’t hire himself to Walker.  

Actors take the jobs where they can get them, those are the realities of the Industry and there’s no shame in it, everybody goes through it.  When Sandra Oh left Grey's Anatomy in 2014, she said she found herself back to square one when lead role offers didn’t materialize and it was "heartbreaking".   It was 4 more years before she finally got lead role in Killing Eve.  

It took Alan Tudyk's two decades of supporting roles as somebody's favorite characters to finally land top billing in SyFy's Resident Alien.   Alan talked about the positive difference in being a lead is "you have more opportunity to play and craft something."  By being a lead he has more material to make something with.   As opposed to being a scene-stealing supporting actor who " do half the work and people walk out of the theater remembering you for a funny line or a funny accent" (credit) 

Alan was honest about preferring getting that top billing.  

Ackles Army think Jensen’s Solider Boy will be the Big Shiny that Outshines All the Shinys.  Some AAs have matured and gotten realistic and are just happy that he got a new job from his old boss, but most have high expectations.  Remember kids, expectations are premediated disappointments.  But in the meantime let the AAs have their high.

“ while Jared stans are obsessed with the "first on the call sheet" status”

Did you read this treasure?

Don’t try to rewrite history, AAs started and kept up the “first on the call sheet” obsession for at least dozen years that somehow reached Jensen who said three times over the course of four years that Jared is first on the call sheet, seemingy unprompt.  My favorite excuse by AAs was, “The only reason why this Jared guy has first billing is because the ‘a’ in Jared comes before the ‘e’ in Jensen.”   So......’Ackles’ doesn’t come before ‘Padalecki’?  How does that work. They spread this so much that I’ve seen it repeated on Quora by new SPN fans.    Jared’s stans and some fans bring up his first billing because they know how much it needles and aggravates the AA who brings it up  bring it up just as much, if not more, than Jared’s fans. 

“ I've already read your predictable opinion about Jared getting the better deal”

It is a predictable opinion beause most in the industry holds the same opinion, that being a lead of a small show is better than being part of an ensemble cast in a big show, especially with over 500 scripted television shows it’s even harder for ensemble members to stand out.  It’s why agents and managers are even more hell bent on turning their B and C list clients into lead stars than previous decades.

“ so everyone's happy.”

Jared has first billing.  The order in which credits are billed signify their importance. Actors whose names appear first have “top billing” or “first billing” means they play the principal characters in the film or show.   In other words, the film and show exist because of the principal character played by the actor with the first billing credit.

Now you know why AAs went apeshit over the issue of first billing.

Jared also has the highest Q score in the cast (because Sam is well liked by the general audience)  and the one with the most mainstream fans.

The same what? 

What interview say they have “the same billing”? Send me that link. You’re probably remembering wrong because it’s 14 seasons of “starring Jared Padalecki” and followed by Jensen Ackles followed by lesser beings .  

When Steve McQueen and Paul Newman each wanted top billing for Towering Inferno, the compromise was a staggered biling, McQueen’s was on the left and lower and Newman’s on the right and higher - which meant McQueen’s was read first.

In rare cases two TV actors share top billing by switching 1st and 2nd credit order every episode and my brain fart is preventing me from remembering what TV show it was.  Jared and Jensen never switched in the credit order for 14 seasons.