Thanks to Janet and cricketclark for sending this in!<\/p>\n
\n08\/13\/2000
\nStar-Tribune Newspaper of the Twin Cities Mpls.-St. Paul
\nMETRO
\nPage 01F
\n(Copyright 2000)<\/p>\nThey’re out there – more alien abductions, UFOs, killer mutants,
\nCigarette Men and other things that go boo in the night. With “The X-
\nFiles” showing signs of yellowing, a brigade of new network programs
\nis lining up to take its place, promising the heftiest slate of
\nscience-fiction dramas in TV history – even though the genre’s shows
\nusually disappear faster than you can say “Shazam!”<\/p>\nThe networks have every reason to be scared of spacemen.<\/p>\n
While light-hearted fantasy shows (“The Bionic Woman,” the original
\n“Fantasy Island”) and spaced-out sitcoms (“Mork & Mindy,” “My Favorite
\nMartian”) have done just fine, serious sci-fi dramas rarely have
\nscored outside of syndication and cable, where smaller, dedicated
\naudiences can create hits.<\/p>\n“Star Trek” didn’t gain a huge following until well after its
\nthree-year tour on NBC. “The Twilight Zone,” while successful in the
\nearly ’60s, never finished in the top 20. In fact, that has been
\nachieved by only two space odysseys: “Project UFO” and “The X- Files,”
\nwhich both peaked at No. 19.<\/p>\nBut while “UFO,” a docudrama created by Jack Webb, only flew during
\nthe 1978-79 season, “X-Files” has been a pop-culture phenomenon,
\ncaptivating the much-coveted young-male audience, spawning a hit
\nsummer movie and gracing the cover of Entertainment Weekly so many
\ntimes, you’d think Walter Skinner had taken over as executive editor.<\/p>\nNow with ratings dropping, star David Duchovny only appearing in a
\nhandful of shows next season and the Emmy Awards shutting out the show
\nin major categories, Hollywood obviously feels as if there’s a gap to
\nbe filled.<\/p>\nThree of Fox’s five new dramas – “Night Visions,” “Freakylinks,” “Dark
\nAngel,” – have sci-fi themes, and an “X-Files” spinoff, “The Lone
\nGunmen,” is expected to premiere in January. There’s the NBC summer
\nseries, “Mysterious Ways,” described by producers as “Touched By An
\nAngel” meets “The X-Files,” which moves to the Pax network on Aug. 22.
\nOver at the WB , ” Roswell ” – the drama about teen extraterrestrials
\nhiding out in a New Mexico town – only survived when producers
\npromised network executives that the show’s second season would be
\nless about high school and more about alien adventures.<\/p>\nAnd while writers and stars of these shows will tell you that they
\nnever would attempt to imitate “The X-Files,” they admit that all sci-
\nfi shows in the near future will be judged against it.<\/p>\n“I think `The X-Files’ created a litmus test for all sci-fi shows,”
\nsaid ” Roswell ” star Jason Behr . “Because that show is in its last
\nseason and some key people are not going to be involved anymore,
\neveryone wants to fill that void.”<\/p>\nFox TV entertainment president Gail Berman agreed that “X-Files” has
\nraised the standard for all sci-fi shows to come. “Any drama that
\ndares to tread in that territory, better come up and not leave the
\naudience hanging,” she said. “That’s the responsibility of the network
\nto grab that audience, but the only way to do it is to create
\nsomething as monumental.”<\/p>\nThat might make it even harder for any of the new sci-fi shows to last
\nlonger than one of Capt. Kirk’s love interests. But many feel the
\ngenre will be successful in the future if Hollywood takes a few pages
\nfrom “The X-Files.” The problem is, which ones do you steal?<\/p>\nTommy Thompson, executive producer for “Freakylinks,” which has young
\ncomputer geeks exploring supernatural mysteries, said “X- Files”
\nproved that audiences crave open-ended, even complex stories.<\/p>\n“I think we’ve learned that you don’t have to give the audience
\neverything,” he said. “This isn’t a slam to TV executives, but what I
\nrun into in meetings is executives who want all the answers, while
\nyou’re trying to create a story arc that spreads over a period of
\nyears. But if you give the public a little bit, they’ll come back.”<\/p>\nKarim Prince, who plays one of the “Freakylinks” ghostbusters, said
\nit’s now clear that there’s room for smart sci-fi on TV. “I think the
\nsuccess of `The X-Files’ was due to the intelligent way they presented
\nthe stories,” he said. “We need to piggyback on that idea.”<\/p>\nIntelligent life<\/p>\n
But others warn that brainy sci-fi never will have enough appeal to
\nsustain a mainstream network audience. Minneapolis author Joel
\nRosenberg, who has penned 18 science-fiction and fantasy novels, said
\nthere’s a big difference between good sci-fi and good TV.<\/p>\nRosenberg said fantasy dramas fare better than sci-fi drama because
\nthose shows don’t ask as much from the audience.<\/p>\n“I don’t mean people are dumb, but I don’t think people want to watch
\nthe networks and have something extra required of them. `The Six
\nMillion Dollar Man’ was horrible as science fiction – I mean, just
\nbecause he has bionic legs and a bionic right arm doesn’t mean the
\nrest of his body wouldn’t collapse when he lifts a car – but it was
\nfun. People don’t want to have to think so much about the tropes.”<\/p>\nWhen sci-fi such as “The X-Files” does succeed, it’s not because
\nsomeone has cooked up a three-story Martian monster with fire-
\nbreathing feet or a time-travel plot that would make Ray Bradbury’s
\nhead spin. It’s because of good ol’ fashioned characters.<\/p>\n“One of the reasons the `Star Trek’ shows have done so well is that
\nthey realize it’s not about the phasers and the gimmicks,” Rosenberg
\nsaid. “That’s the scenery. No one is going to tune in week after week
\nto watch scenery. And if you have to explain a complex background,
\nthere’s an extra tough weight on your shoulders, and it will take more
\ntime than most networks are willing to give.”<\/p>\nLaurel Krahn, a science-fiction fan who works as a systems
\nadministrator in Minnetonka, said she’s an `X-Files’ watcher, even
\nthough the mythology has turned out to be a mess. “It doesn’t hold
\ntogether, and it seems like they’re making things up as they go,” she
\nsaid. “But I stick with the show because I love [Fox] Mulder and
\n[Dana] Scully and Skinner and the Lone Gunmen guys and because
\nsometimes they tell really good tales.”<\/p>\nColin Hanks, who co-stars in ” Roswell ,” said good sci-fi TV must be
\ngrounded in realistic heroes and stories. “It isn’t just about
\nspaceships,” he said. ” `X-Files’ gave sci-fi a human quality. Most of
\nthe other science-fiction shows relied on the science fiction too
\nmuch. Ultimately, I don’t think people want something that is totally,
\ncompletely 100-percent not possible.”<\/p>\nMysterious direction<\/p>\n
The man who created “The X-Files,” Chris Carter, said that special
\neffects are only half the battle and that the show’s success is due
\nmostly to chemistry between its stars.<\/p>\nSo where does that leave the master in this eighth season? Grumbles
\nhave grown about unresolved plots (Just who is Mulder’s sister? Ally
\nMcBeal?) and, even though veteran tough guy Robert Patrick is joining
\nthe cast, many feel the show can’t work without the sexual tension
\nbetween Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.<\/p>\n“David and Gillian are the reason for the show’s great success,”
\nCarter said. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t threaten the paradigm,
\nyou can’t threaten the model, you can’t threaten the relationship.”<\/p>\nThis season will tell whether Carter is right. As for the fate of the
\ngenre, try figuring out something easier, like who’s the father of
\nScully’s baby.<\/p>\n“It’s such a miracle that `The X-Files’ worked,” Carter said. “There’s
\njust a million ways to fail in television, and when you have something
\nthat hits, you realize how lucky you are and that the gods are in your
\nfavor. Everybody can be lined up, but you better make really good
\nchoices and hire really good people every step of the way or else
\nthere’s a good chance that you’ll fail. A lot of people would like to
\nbe popular or successful, but it’s mostly hard work – and a lot of
\nluck, too.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thanks to Janet and cricketclark for sending this in! 08\/13\/2000 Star-Tribune Newspaper of the Twin Cities Mpls.-St. Paul METRO Page<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2377,2375,3],"tags":[18,13],"coauthors":[2266],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colin-hanks","category-jason-behr","category-leading","tag-colin-hanks","tag-jason-behr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28291,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions\/28291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}