Borrowing your rival network’s homework for viable formulas to tap for easy ratings is a tale as old as TV itself. Yet, regardless of many, many efforts to replicate the magic ofThe X-Files(1993 version), no one ever came close. That includes the network, Fox, and the creator of the show, Chris Carter.
The X-Filesovercame its confinement on the lowliest network (amazingly, not one show in the top 50 for Fox,according to The TV Ratings Guide), in the screw-you slot of Friday night. It built a cult following as it elbowed its way to the marquee Sunday night spot in Fox’s schedule on the same night as Fox’s other huge hit,The Simpsons.Gaining viewers but losing some charm, the show ascended the ladder of the Nielsen ratings by Season 4, inspired by Carter’s observation that TV had gotten soft.
Stealing your competitor’s recipeisn’t so easy without the right ingredients, and it soon became apparent that none of the shows attempting to imitateThe X-Filesheld a candle to the real deal. No one could compare to Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, played by Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. It wasn’t just a matter of xeroxing the show and changing the names, supernatural TV wasn’t a new idea after all — even Chris Carter’s baby was heavily indebted to the earlier seriesKolchak: The Night Stalker —the shows needed to satisfy exactly thatThe X-Filesessence. Without the same caliber of writers (Vince Gillian, Glen Morgan, Darin Morgan, James Wong, and Carter) they were all doomed.
The X-Files
From Proof of Concept to Must-See TV
Carter took some cues from the earlier shows, notablyTwin Peaks, in which an FBI agent played by Kyle MacLachlan trounced around the Pacific Northwest probing a dysfunctional little town hiding dark secrets. This simple premise would be carried out to far greater effect withThe X-Files, though the locale had more to do with cheap production costs in Canada than any stylistic choice. And yes, we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t point out that David Duchovny was onan episode ofTwin Peaks.
Chris Carter effortlessly spawned characters, plot lines, and quotes on the fly, thanks to the very peculiar Fox network that was not even a decade old, and firmly in last place, taking wild chances on anyone bold enough to pitch them a unique concept. The dark side of the show’s success is evident in the erratic plotting, a type of writing that was jarring to anyone who’s ever watched it from first to last episode.
The constant fake-outs consistently endedin ridiculous cliffhangerswith little fanfare, amounting to nothing. For most of the show’s latter seasons, as ratings sunk like a rock, the writers' room stared down cancelation and the need to wrap things up neatly.X-FilesresearcherSuzanne Speidel documentedVince Gilligan’s reaction as equal parts loyal obligation (to the show) and exasperation (toward the Fox suits):
“We need to find out pretty soon whether or not this is our last season, and that will inform quite a bit. If it is our last season, we just need to know so that we can end the show properly with a great two-part episode or a three-part[er] or something like that.”
Not even the “Friday night death slot” could deter viewers desperate for a little intrigue and harmless conspiracy-mongering by word-of-mouth marketing. By his own admission,Duchovny didn’t watch the showbecause it interfered with his personal life. BeforeTheX-Filesfilmed its finale (the first finale, that is) in Season 9, Carter would ride the hype to three more sci-fi series, including two directX-Filesin-universe spin-offs,The Lone GunmenandMillennium.
However, evidenced by their swift termination by Fox execs, the beginning of the end of the supernatural craze was already in sight. The bubble couldn’t last, the peak of the show ended when arguably the two best writers, James Wong and Glen Morgan, left to write for Carter’sMillennium.
TV Shows With the Most Spin-Offs
Some shows have managed to strike gold multiple times, creating spin-offs that are just as successful - if not more so - than the original.
Network Executives Wanted to Believe
As Mulder and Scully took America by storm, that acclaim drove other networks insane with jealousy. Cue the parade of impostors. First on the scene was CBS’American Gothicin the fall of 1995, boasting a fantastic cast of Gary Cole, and then unknowns Sarah Paulson and Lucas Black. Outwardly a cop show but with strong elements of Southern Gothic, creator Shaun Cassidy’s drama was darker and surprisingly daring for a mainstream network in ‘95.
This particularly applies to CBS, whose viewers were sufficientlyshocked byMurder She Wrote. That’s probably why it only lasted one year. The wisdom of Fox execs banning the most controversial episode of theX-Files, “Home,” now makes more sense in retrospect. They could only push the boundaries so far back then.
NBC would not be denied a piece of the action and tried their hand at the genre with the far dullerDark Skies, part of its spooky Saturday line-up in the 1996-97 season. The show lacked the wit or zaniness of TheX-Files,the incomparable J.T. Walsh (himself anX-Filesalum) wasted in a by-the-numbers drama about aliens and the 1947 Roswell crash and cover-up that incorporated many real-life historical events into the unfolding mystery. Sadly forDark Skies, the sight of dead aliens and men in black was already old hat by 1996.
The Infamous Banned X-Files Episode Was Supposed to Get a Sequel
Had the writers prevailed, we’d have seen the show’s creepiest story branch out into multiple series to further develop the lore.
The extent to which these producers copied the model is a lesson in corporate-mandated projects. Carter didn’t intend minutiae like The Smoking Man’s cigarette brand, or Fox Mulder’s red Speedo to become famous, but fan enthusiasm picked up on their favorite bits and ran with it.The phrases “I Want to Believe”(taken from Agent Mulder’s bleakly optimistic office poster) and the now iconic “The Truth Is Out There,” came to define the cynical but wacky spirit of a show about a conspiracy theorist fighting against the system from within.Dark Skiesfeatured its own tagline “History as we know it is a lie,” withAmerican Gothicconcocting their eerie “Someone’s at the door.” Neither caught on.
The Copycats Died Out as Quickly as They Began
Oddly, of all the pretenders, the most successful and endearing was from Canada, widely syndicated across the English-speaking world. From the mind of Dan Aykroyd, a man who has never met a tinfoil internet message board he didn’t bookmark, camePsi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, a blatantX-Filesknockoff about a real (you can argue the merits of that term) research group titled The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research.
The premise was supposedly based on “actual case files” of OSIR. Those real-life case investigations were fluff. Aykroyd was too deep in the delusion to realize an honest docudrama wouldn’t work, so the action was wildly exaggerated and flagrantly bogus. As detailed in Frank Garcia and Mark Phillips’ book, the executive producer, James Nadler, admitted as much:
“The case studies weren’t that exciting. They didn’t have stories. They didn’t have scientists mentioned within them. That’s not the most exciting television show!”
After a round of recastings, including hiringMax Headroomactor Matt Frewer to retool the show’s image, the show finally ended its four-year run, emblematic of most failed shows. Weekly TV works by fans investing in intriguing, somewhat cognitively dissonant characters. The “freak of the week” angle just kept it fresh, but in the end, we wanted more awkward sexual tension and snarky insults between Scully and Mulder.Dark SkiesandAmerican Gothiccertainly had the acting talent, but mostly followed Carter’s lead to their detriment orwere far too weird.
Unfortunately, there was only enough interest in the genre to support one alien/monster-themed show.And with the fragmented media landscape in the age of streaming, the idea of 20 million people in America regularly tuning in at the same time to watch a sci-fi show is absolutely wild. It’ll never happen again. Carter was the right man, at the right place, at the right time in the American zeitgeist.
The X-Filesis available for streaming on Hulu and on Blu-ray/DVD.
