Dixon

[Guest Second Coming]

It's been awhile tell us some trivia or some odd fact about Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense. Or any other morsel you would like to share of anything MillenniuM. Please! :D

[Guest Dixon]

Well, here are some of the large scale issues which were centered around "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense," and how they effected the whole of the Millennium series.  

(I'll start big and work in.  This episode just so happens to contains enough minor trivia to fill a warehouse.  To tell the entire story of "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" would take up more space than we have.  Come to think of it, a fairly thick book could be written concerning Darin Morgan's unique contributions to this series alone!)

Bringing back one of The X-Files' most popular guest stars and guest characters seemed like a surefire way to boost Millennium's chronically low ratings numbers.  Glen Morgan and James Wong felt certain that "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense," thanks to the involvement of Darin Morgan and Charles Nelson Reilly, would come to be one of the second season's highest rated episodes.  An appropriate scheduling choice made on the part of the Fox network only increased those odds.  Some of you might recall that on the night "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" first aired (Friday, November 21, 1997) it was preceeded by a showing of The X-Files' "Jose Chung's From Outer Space"; Fox prepared a Jose Chung double feature for the fans, primarily in an effort to draw a larger audience to Millennium in its difficult Friday night timeslot.  

Unfortunately, the event didn't work out as planned.  While Fox registered a significant number of viewers for The X-Files Chung rerun, Glen Morgan was stunned to discover that those numbers utterly disappeared the instant that episode of The X-Files came to an end.  An outrageously low percentage of the audience carried over, as intended, into the regular Millennium timeslot.  Folks were just turning off their televisions, or changing the channel, once Mulder and Scully were gone; they were more interested in a rerun of The X-Files guest starring Charles Nelson Reilly than they were in an all-new episode of Millennium guest starring Charles Nelson Reilly!  

In fact, Glen Morgan later noted that "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" became one of the second season's lowest rated episodes.  If nothing else, these circumstances proved that The X-Files fan base could not be relied upon to save Millennium.  The interest, the expected connection, was simply not there.

The controversial "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" is also noteworthy for legal reasons.  In an outright comical turn of events, considering the episode's subject matter, the Church of Scientology was utterly outraged by this episode of Millennium, and understandably so.  How did they express this outrage?  By taking legal action against both the Fox network and Ten-Thirteen Productions, naturally.  The Church of Scientology, essentially, agreed that the production staff of Millennium was just asking for it.  The litigation was eventually dropped, after much controversy.  This is one story which, unfortunately, I don't have very many details regarding.  I'll have to investigate further and try to find some relevant news articles from this period.  If anyone else has more specific information regarding the lawsuits, please feel free to share.

[Guest]

"DIX"-The controversial "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense" is also noteworthy for legal reasons.  In an outright comical turn of events, considering the episode's subject matter, the Church of Scientology was utterly outraged by this episode of Millennium, and understandably so.  

"UNDERSTANDABLY SO"??? yeah,i'd say so;and i'm glad! the more this cult is maligned and crapped on the better! in the name of the father,the son,and the holy "xenu".

                   

               

                                       ~se7en

[Guest Second Coming]

Thanks Dixon,

I too would be curious about the lawsuit. A lot of cases are public record. If anyone is in the area where the lawsuit was filed, maybe you could go to the courthouse and do a little investigative research. And I'm shocked that people didn't watch "Doomsday Defense" the same night "From Outer Space" was on. Really strange. I guess a lot of people watch the X-files just for "Mulder and Scully". Sad.

[Guest]

I am working on finding out more information on the legal action The Church of Scientology took against Fox Network, etc.  I searched the net far and wide and came up empty.  I have contacted 2 of my sources on this.  I will let you know when they get back to me.  I definitely want to find out more info on this.  Will keep you posted.

Cheers,

Scott