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Why did a show so great as the x-files meet such a normal t.v. epic demise?

Growing up in the mid ninties was a welcome relief for the craziness the mid eighties offered. It also was the starting point of the most epic television series ever. The X-files. The x-files had everything you could possible want out of television. Mystery, suspense, drama, romance, intrigue. It was all there. It was even comical at times. And not the un-intentional ER type comedy either, where Luca cracks some weak Croation joke and everyone laughs. That's not funny because of the joke, it's just funny because Luca trying to do anything other than looking angsty and petulant is comedy gold.

The X-files was shown in the same time slot as similar shows such as, "The Nowhere Man," "The Sentinel," "Time Trax," and "The Pretender." It outlasted all of these series for one reason. No matter what, waning ratings, foul critiques etc., David Duchovnies mediocre movie roles, the show always stuck to it's tried and true format. Not deviating so far either way as to lose their traditional fan base. For 7 solid seasons this is the way things were done. And life was good. I remember recording the show while I was in college so I could watch it when I got home from night classes. Rare was the case that my sister and I missed an opportunity to sit down and immerse ourselves in the torrid lives of Agent Fox Mulder and Dana Scully as they battled evil concpiracies from one end of the globe to the other.

Television shows use certain episodes as "filler." Meaning there is no real continuation of the overall plot, but it's good fodder for character development. Usually filler material is sub-par and agonizing to watch. Mainly because it easily recognizable as filler. You get the feeling the only reason the episode was recorded was in order to fill a time slot with advertising air time. It was never like that with the X-Files. I can still sit down at any time, randomly scroll throug the episode list on my media center, and view a quality episode in which the entire cast gives it's all for a great performance.

In season 8, the intrepid Agent Dogget took the reigns from Mulders capable hands. David Duchovny left to try his hand at Broadway and B movies as he was wont to do. Hooray for the Avengers, his triumphant return. And although "Playing God," was passable material, it wasn't his performance that drew me in. This was the beginning of the end for the series. No network makes that switch with the idea that the show will continue on for any amount of time. And that's exactly how they acted too. The replaced Scully with some moderatley attractive Bimbo from Mulders past, who was nothing but a sounding board for Doggets, "Have you seen this Alien," gravely voice. The show spiraled out of controll because it's originality went out the window. We were forced to watch roll actors bandy about tedious dialogue while praying that some epic revelation made everything worth the time we spent still watching.

As was to be expected, The show expired after 9 seasons in 2002. Could it have gone on indefintely? Common sense says no, but my heart says yes.

Comments

  1. Seems to me that Bones is the modern day version of X-Files (sort of) The dispassionate logical scientific chick, and the emotional go with your gut, dude.

    ReplyDelete

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