I Believe Fox Has Cut Ties With Chris Carter Which Means We Will Never See X-files Or Millennium Again

[Guest casshern]

This seems to be circular logic. If FOX is earning a lot of money from DVD sales (I'm assuming you mean from MillenniuM), a show that Chris Carter created, then why would they not be interested in trying to bring it back to make more money? I should really pay more attention to the Nielson ratings nowadays, but FOX has aired countless new series in that 8:00 timeslot and nothing ever holds up because they cancel shows usually after just 1 season! Perhaps they're worried that Bush's FCC wouldn't allow them to air half the stuff that went on over the course of the series, who knows?

Why is it Bush's FCC? As far as I know the executive branch of government does not have a hand in placing people who make these ridiculous decisions on what we should watch. I think they're just ridiculous all on their own without any help from Bush.

In any case I don't know what power, if any, Carter still has with FOX but He did drop the ball on Harsh Realm and the Lone Gunmen before killing the X-FILES and unceremoniously killing off the Gunmen which still pissing me off. I'm sure Carter is a bad word at FOX. The ironic thing here is that shows like LOST and INVASION and many of these new crime shows are in Carter territory so it's kinda sad to not get to see what he could come up with now in a TV World that seems to be Genre friendly at the moment. OH well...

[Guest ZeusFaber]

In any case I don't know what power, if any, Carter still has with FOX but He did drop the ball on Harsh Realm and the Lone Gunmen before killing the X-FILES

How exactly did he "drop the ball" on Harsh Realm? He had comparatively little to do with The Lone Gunmen, and certainly didn't "kill" The X-Files.

Unjust words, IMO.

[Lutheran122]

Why is it Bush's FCC? As far as I know the executive branch of government does not have a hand in placing people who make these ridiculous decisions on what we should watch. I think they're just ridiculous all on their own without any help from Bush.

Bush appoints the chairman position of the fcc , trust me all this god stuff and censorship starts at the top of this administration...GEORGE BUSH. I don't agree with it at all , but otherwise to me GB hasn't done a bad job in office.

How exactly did he "drop the ball" on Harsh Realm? He had comparatively little to do with The Lone Gunmen, and certainly didn't "kill" The X-Files.

Unjust words, IMO.

I think he dropped the ball on Millennium when he made the agreement with Fox to cancel this show and start on Harsh Realm which sucked hardcore..the lone gunmen show was also mostly horrible.

[Guest ZeusFaber]

I think he dropped the ball on Millennium when he made the agreement with Fox to cancel this show and start on Harsh Realm...

As far as I'm aware, there was never any such "agreement" to cancel Millennium. Do you have any evidence to back up this claim?

which sucked hardcore..the lone gunmen show was also mostly horrible.

That's one opinion, but I and many others would disagree with you about Harsh Realm. Also, TLG wasn't all that bad, but CC only had nominal involvement with that show anyway.

[ENGINECOMICS]

It's explained on the DVD's that Fox wanted to take a chance on a new show during Millenniums timeslot, rather than have a show that was doing okay but whose viewing figures had levelled off. Whatever show it was, it wasn't Harsh Realm. Also it appears that creatively they had painted themselves in the corner after the group turned evil.

From IMDB:

"James D. Hudnall and Andrew Paquette, the creators of the original "Harsh Realm" comic-book sued Chris Carter and the Fox Network for credit (they got no credit on the show) and won. Many wrongly speculated that this widely-publicized lawsuit brought about the series' sudden cancellation. It was actually a struggle between Carter and Fox that got the series cancelled."

If I remember from the press at the time correctly, it was reported Harsh Realm was cancelled as it was not a property that Carter owned outright. This was the 'struggle' mentioned above.

A lot of new shows got cancelled, altered or put on hiatus after sept 11th. since lone gunmen had a pilot episode, which first aired on March 4, 2001, concerning a terrorist plot to fly a hijacked airplane into the World Trade Center towers, it didn't seem to be too popular.

Another instance of stillborn shows, was WORLD ON FIRE, which J. Michael Strazynski was writing, pitched it to Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, who would also exec produce it via Ten Thirteen with Fox in 1999/2000. It never got picked up due to the delays caused by the HR situation, and then sept 11th. The concept?

"World on Fire is not doable anymore because the events of the world caught up with the story. (Essentially, it was about the events leading up and following America getting into its next war, starting with an attack on New York. Very eerily, nearly everything that was in the script and the planned

series has now happened, so the show is now a moot issue.)" - jms (https://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-16934&query=world%20on%20fire).

Theres always the x-files sequel....

[Lutheran122]

It's explained on the DVD's that Fox wanted to take a chance on a new show during Millenniums timeslot, rather than have a show that was doing okay but whose viewing figures had levelled off. Whatever show it was, it wasn't Harsh Realm.

Well that was the show he put on tv in the millennium timeslot and was his last show that has been on tv as far as I know so it got the blame from me :( Also today it seems chris carter is suing fox over money issues so who knows if we will still be seeing that x-files sequel in the theaters anytime soon. ( I hope so , I cant wait to see it but I hope fox can't hold it up )

[Libby]

It's explained on the DVD's that Fox wanted to take a chance on a new show during Millenniums timeslot, rather than have a show that was doing okay but whose viewing figures had levelled off.

I can't find this on the DVD commentary. Did you mean the Harsh Realm DVD or something else?

From IMDB:

"James D. Hudnall and Andrew Paquette, the creators of the original "Harsh Realm" comic-book sued Chris Carter and the Fox Network for credit (they got no credit on the show) and won. Many wrongly speculated that this widely-publicized lawsuit brought about the series' sudden cancellation. It was actually a struggle between Carter and Fox that got the series cancelled."

Imdb.com is not necessarily a reliable source. The basic information will come from the show owners, but everything else is contributed by individuals. For instance, the extract that's quoted comes from the trivia page and so is an individual's comment. Unfortunately those trivia items don't reveal the screen name of the individual that posted them. It's important to bear in mind that the comments and reviews are an individual's take on the show. Trivia can only be regarded as accurate if it's official trivia - the X-Files is one of the few shows that provided its own trivia.

All of Ten Thirteen's shows were cancelled mainly because of money, as is usually the case for TV shows (there might be a few where the show couldn't have carried on if they lose the lead cast). Harsh Realm got cancelled because of viewing figures and also because of a change at top management in Fox. Doug Herzog, the new guy, wasn't supportive of the show - quite possibly he had his own vision of what the network should be doing and Harsh Realm didn't fit with that. And as much as I resented that Harsh Realm didn't get a longer run, I have to acknowledge that Herzog's responsibility was to steer the network in the direction he felt it should be going in and so he had the right to make the decisions he did.

The Harsh Realm law suit wouldn't have had much effect on the show's support from Fox - the business is quite used to lawsuits. I don't suppose we'll ever know the full reasons why Fox pulled out from supporting the talks between Ten Thirteen and JMS, but the reason given (that Fox only wanted to support a show solely created by Chris Carter) is probably just part of the story.

There's a lot of misinformation and speculation out there - and the industry itself is well known for spinning things (on every show or movie, everyone loves everyone else?!). It's important to remember that whereas we focus on the "entertainment" bit, the network suits focus on the "industry" bit, and for them it's not much different from the car manufacturing industry - if the public ain't buying, then they cut their losses and go for something else that they hope will bring in the money. There may well be personality clashes and lawsuits but people in the industry don't usually let that get in the way of putting money in their bank accounts. The bottom line is: don't rely absolutely on what anyone says about a show/movie, even insiders. And especially not imdb.com on anything other than the basics (you can trust the information that Lance played Frank, though!).

As for the new lawsuit: I speculate that the timing of this possibly relates to any time clause in the contract between CC and Fox as it relates to the X Files. Although Fox owns the show, CC would have rights in the characters he's created. It may be that a speculated time clause has run out, or that CC has got fed up waiting for Fox to decide on a second X Files movie and wants to wrap up the whole deal, or that CC is using this as a negotiating tool for a second X Files movie. But don't rely anything I or anyone else says about anything in the business - there will be very few people who know the real story.

Link to the lawsuit story: https://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....&archived=False

[Guest ZeusFaber]

It's explained on the DVD's that Fox wanted to take a chance on a new show during Millenniums timeslot, rather than have a show that was doing okay but whose viewing figures had levelled off. Whatever show it was, it wasn't Harsh Realm. Also it appears that creatively they had painted themselves in the corner after the group turned evil.

A thousand thanks to Libby for getting in here first and explaining the various key issues far more succinctly and eloquently than I could have hoped to.

The main point I was going to emphasis was that there was never any such deal between CC and FOX to cancel MM in favour of HR as speculated a few posts above. MM was cancelled because of ratings, not because CC wanted to do something different. It is fortunate for us viewers that it was another attempt from CC that was chosen to fill the vacant time slot, which was HR. Likewise, that was unjustly cancelled because of low ratings (largely through a combination of poor scheduling and lack of promotion) after the first couple of episodes.

As for the Hudnall lawsuit, that was resolved fairly simply with an acknowledgement in the opening credits, and Hudnall himself has since said that he was entirely satistfied with this and bares no ill feeling toward CC or 1013.

As for World on Fire, I've long since imagined how fantastic this partnership between two of my favourite TV writers/producers might have been. So unfortunate that real world events overtook it. JMS was also full of compliments toward 1013 with regard to the development process, by the way.

[ethsnafu]

It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness

I wanted to add my twopenneth to this thread but hasten to add that I have nothing to add on the subject of who did what, when or why. My knowledge of such matters is sketchy at best and I simply couldn't hold a candle to either Zeus or Libby who are a veritable wealth of production knowledge and fascinating facts and figures but I wanted to say something in defense of Lone Gunmen and Harsh Realm. 'One man's meat is another man's poison' is an age old adage that should need no enlightenment. For every avid fan that exists there will exist a detractor and the size of each faction often bears no resemblance to the quality of the show in question, there is many a shining example of a show with soaring ratings that the discerning, informed mind knows is composed mainly of rubbish and many a show of exquisite taste that never ventures beyond its first season - what matters in either instance is the pleasure it brings to those who enjoy it, detractors simply need not watch it. In my mind The Lone Gunmen is second best only to Millennium though I know I am in a minority and Harsh Realm was never around long enough for any real opinion to be formed though I enjoyed, immensely, what bit I saw. In our haste to bash Chris Carter with whatever stick comes to hand these two shows, and their subsequent cancellations and ratings, are used joyously by those who glean some pathological pleasure from such things as if they speak for a unified mankind on the subject of their success. I still have a stinker of a cold and Sunday for me has been a Lone Gunmen marathon - nothing else could have made the day more bearable. It is worth remembering that a ratings success does not a good show make nor does one man's opinion of a show reflect every expressed opinion everywhere.

That said, that's my stand for the Lone Gunmen fans of the world. All aboard the clown car say I.

Eth.

[Guest ZeusFaber]

Well said, eth.

TLG is probably my least favourite of the 1013 shows, but that's nothing against it as I think it was well worth doing and I am proud to have it in my DVD collection (even if the NTSC frame is a bit off on my PAL TV).

My favourite quote of the series has to be from Mitch Pileggi's appearance: "this is Walter FREAKIN' Skinner..."