My
latest article at Anorak remembers that special time in the
middle-nineties when every new network series on the air was trying to copy
Chris Carter’s The X-Files (1993 – 2002).
Many of these knock-off series didn’t last, or weren’t very good.
But some were actually quite promising, and this article lists my
five favorites from the era. Here’s
a snippet:
CHRIS Carter’s
landmark TV series The
X-Files (1993 – 2002)
proved not only a ratings blockbuster throughout the 1990s, but a cultural
phenomenon too…the Star
Trek of
the Clinton Age, essentially. The series, which starred David Duchovny
and Gillian Anderson proved so popular that its success led to movies,
comic-books, toys, and even spin-offs such as The
Lone Gunmen (2001).
Chris Carter even had the opportunity to create another masterpiece for the
era: Millennium (1996 – 1999).
But importantly, The
X-Files also
dramatically proved to network executives that horror and science fiction could
play well on television if presented intelligently, and with a strong sense of
continuity.
Accordingly, the years between 1995 and 1999 saw a veritable flood
— a genuine boom — of horror-themed genre programming hit the airwaves.
These series had titles such as American
Gothic (1995 – 1996), Strange Luck (1995 – 1996) , Dark Skies (1996), Kindred: The Embraced (1996), Poltergeist: The Legacy(1996
– 1999), Psi-Factor:
Chronicles of the Paranormal (1996
– 1999), The Burning Zone (1996
– 1997), Sleepwalkers (1997), Prey (1998), Brimstone (1998 – 1999) and Strange World (1999).
Most of the series above lasted only a season, but nearly all of
them involved, like The
X-Files, aspects of the
police procedural format, and elements of the horror genre, namely the
supernatural or paranormal. Many of the series also involved government
conspiracies, or an “Establishment” attempt to hide some important “truth” from
the American populace.
Below are my choices for the five best of this post-X-Files pack.
Uh, I don't see them.
ReplyDeleteYou have to click on the links, sir.
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