Did season 2 screw up the series

[Guest Butler'sMan2000]

Ok so I just finished watching the entire series. I loved season 1 I thought it was top notch. But it seems like the show changed way to much in season 2. For one thing the last scenes with Laura Means seemed campy to me and a direct rip off of Natural Born Killers. What I want to know is what fans thought about season 2, did it kill the series do you think? Should they have kept the same format that season one had? I really enjoyed the quotes at the beginning of each episode, and I wish that could have stayed. What are your opinions?

[Libby]

There have been differences of opinion about the various seasons since the show was on the air and I guess that's one of the many reasons why the show still has appeal. There are threads/ideas that run through all three seasons, but the approach changed because each season had different showrunners.

Most shows change over the seasons – those that actually are allowed to stay around long enough!

I don't regard season two as having "screwed up" the series at all. There are some aspects/episodes in season two that don't appeal to me at all, and others that do. And there are members here who have completely the opposite views. We mostly tolerate those differences of opinions.

For instance, the Lara-goes-mad scenes I don't like, but I can well appreciate the reasoning for those scenes. That was a daring "let's try something different" decision, and there's not much point in being a creative person if you don't try something daring when you have the opportunity.

[The Old Man]

I couldn't have said it better Libby, especially since you are under the weather!

The series means different things to different people, and always will. What works for one, won't for anther. My own opinion on each season changes every time I watch a different season!

[Earthnut]

The series means different things to different people, and always will. What works for one, won't for anther.

Graham, this is exactly how I feel. Plus, because there are so many different writers who have contributed to the show they have brought different perspectives.

Everytime I see an episode I either see or hear something for the first time or am reminded of somthing, and changes my opinion. Basically, MLM keeps getting better and better.

[Guest Butler'sMan2000]

I wonder about the switch of the Millennium Groups tactics. Do you think that is why Chris Carter got annoyed with the producers in season 2? I watched season two's special features and Carter didn't seem to like the way season 2 went, and then there was the disclaimer that the producers of season two did not want to be interviewed. That sounds like someone who is fired.

So I guess I just wonder if The Millennium Group was supposed to be as they were presented in season 1 (kind of like the academy group.)

[Guest RodimusBen]

Ok so I just finished watching the entire series. I loved season 1 I thought it was top notch. But it seems like the show changed way to much in season 2. For one thing the last scenes with Laura Means seemed campy to me and a direct rip off of Natural Born Killers. What I want to know is what fans thought about season 2, did it kill the series do you think? Should they have kept the same format that season one had? I really enjoyed the quotes at the beginning of each episode, and I wish that could have stayed. What are your opinions?

The change was very abrupt, but the fact is that FOX itself was looking for a change in direction since season 1 didn't get the ratings they'd hoped for. Millennium's history is one of different creative teams trying to find that perfect note for the show that would suddenly elevate it to X-Files status. This was back when any show on FOX that wasn't an instant smash hit usually had its head on the chopping block; there was no in-between.

Part of why people enjoy this show so much, even today, is because of how wildly different each season is; it gives people a lot to talk about and presents the same premise and characters in different lights. I will admit that a first-time viewer is likely to be taken aback by the sudden shifts between seasons 1 and 2, and seasons 2 and 3, but that also makes it positively fascinating television to watch. Each season is appreciable for its own merits.

About Lara's freak-out, it remains one of the most controversial moments of the series. I personally like it, if for no other reason than the "WTF, did they really show that on prime time television" factor.

I wonder about the switch of the Millennium Groups tactics. Do you think that is why Chris Carter got annoyed with the producers in season 2? I watched season two's special features and Carter didn't seem to like the way season 2 went, and then there was the disclaimer that the producers of season two did not want to be interviewed. That sounds like someone who is fired.

So I guess I just wonder if The Millennium Group was supposed to be as they were presented in season 1 (kind of like the academy group.)

To be clear, Carter didn't fire Morgan and Wong. They were contracted to spearhead one season of the show, fulfilled that obligation and moved on. They essentially ended the story in season 2 under the assumption that Millennium wouldn't be renewed for a third season.

Having said that, his vision of the Millennium Group was clearly different, and while I won't put words into the man's mouth regarding his emotions, he clearly didn't intend for the the Group to evolve the way it did in season 2. While Carter saw the Group as a fictional version of the real-life Academy Group, Morgan and Wong used that existing mythology from season 1 to craft a kind of conspiracy narrative like the X-Files had. Naturally the debate still goes on about the merits of both approaches.

Butler, you sound like a relatively new fan (I'm working my way backwards through the posts so you may have even introduced yourself), so I'm happy to say that you'll find a great deal of information on TIWWA about the behind-the-scenes story between the seasons and the creative elements that made Millennium such an interesting, if uneven ride. Personally, I try to appreciate Millennium for each individual episode rather than trying to find a cohesive whole where there really isn't one. As I've written before, Lance is the glue that holds it all together.

[ethsnafu]

I watched season two's special features and Carter didn't seem to like the way season 2 went, and then there was the disclaimer that the producers of season two did not want to be interviewed. That sounds like someone who is fired.

Hi there and welcome to TIWWA (I think I welcomed you already but you can never be too friendly right)

Can I make it clear to anyone reading this that Glen Morgan and James Wong were not fired at the conclusion of Season Two and have given a number of interviews then and since in which they state that they were only ever contracted for one season and that is all they intended to contribute to.

So much water has passed under the bridge since that time and Millennium remains an incredible body of work that speaks to many people in many different ways. Whilst it is right that we discuss our feelings with regards to our own appreciation of the episodes and those who contributed to them I feel there is little to gained from making assumptions such as these.

Eth

[Guest Reynard]

The change in direction in each season is the reason that I love this show so much. Most television is all about staying with an already established formula that I find it tremendous to see three seasons of a television show, each with different writers in charge carving out directions they themselves want to see the series heading in. I have to admit that when it was announced around the middle of 1997 that Morgan and Wong were taking over and going to draft the show into a new direction I had reservations, but I think the season was tremendous once it found ground it was comfortable in and that there is a lot of tremendous work to enjoy and love. Any season of television that contains pieces of work like The Curse of Frank Black, Goodbye Charlie, Jose Chung's Doomsday Defence, Somehow Satan Got Behind Me as well as The Fourth Horseman and The Time is Now is something to appreciate, the last two episode in particularly must rank as the most limit pushing piece of television to be broadcast, on a par with Twin Peaks for sheer balls to bone writing and direction, athough I always found it interesting that my favourite episode of the season was The Mikado, which in itself was more along the lines of something from season one. Curious that.

[Guest Coughcool]

I would say no. Season two didn't screw it up. Why you ask? Because the powers that be started retooling Millennium halfway through season 1. There was no patients with the series. If someone had been full time on Millennium during the first season there might have been a different out come. Well Maybe. That's my best guess.

[Guest Lynn]

I wonder about the switch of the Millennium Groups tactics. Do you think that is why Chris Carter got annoyed with the producers in season 2? I watched season two's special features and Carter didn't seem to like the way season 2 went, and then there was the disclaimer that the producers of season two did not want to be interviewed. That sounds like someone who is fired.

So I guess I just wonder if The Millennium Group was supposed to be as they were presented in season 1 (kind of like the academy group.)

Honestly, I was expecting a understory of some kind with the group, and while I enjoyed the mystical undertones of the Millennium Group I felt a little overdosed in Season 2 with the Owls/Roosters conflict and the rush towards apocalypse. A grand Millennium arch that spanned five years would have been just right.