Nerds need to stop clamoring for their favorite shows from last year to come back.
Written by Chris Snellgrove | Updated
It’s no secret X-Files It debuted at the perfect time. Even as the show built on the public’s growing fascination with conspiracies and cover-ups, it became a sensation on the emerging World Wide Web, where an early online fanbase helped shape the show’s direction. I was part of that early fanbase, and no one was more excited than when I was there X-Files It was brought back for a TV revival in 2016. However, the awful quality of these two new seasons taught me an invaluable lesson: nerds need to stop clamoring for their favorite shows from last year to return.
alive X-Files It didn’t happen in a vacuum; it was part of a plethora of television revivals that included everything from Full house to Freezer. For another thing, it was part of a frustrating trend of the entertainment industry where it seems like every new show or movie has to be a sequel, prequel, spin-off, or revival. This trend is here to stay because audiences generally enjoy returning to their favorite IPs (think of it as comfort food and entertainment), but the average X-Files The revival is proof that some of our favorites need to remain in the past, untouchable ideals preserved in the ark of nostalgia.
in the beginning, X-Files The revival seemed like a return to form. After all, for fans who remembered how Mulder was completely absent for the last season and a half of the show, it would have been nice to see David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson back on screen in something other than a lackluster series finale or a weird sequel movie The X-Files: I Want to Believe. But it didn’t take long for a revival to bring back dead characters, undo classic stories, and generally turn the franchise into something Flukeman could swim on his way out of the toilet.
The result was the worst of both worlds… a revival that rendered much of what came before meaningless even as it introduced new stories that quickly became an all-time low. Did we really need it? more The drama of Scully’s pregnancy or the strange revelation that her son William was secretly Mulder’s half-brother? Instead of reigniting fans’ passion for previous seasons, the revival only reminds us of a mixed bag X-Files He was right when it came to consistency and quality.
Once I came to terms with the failures of this renaissance, I began to realize this X-Files It was not a unique failure. In fact, its failure was as inevitable as change itself. The cast, creators, and fans have changed quite a bit since the series’ original run ended, but our collective need for nostalgia ensured that Chris Carter would try to replicate those earlier episodes, effectively trying to do ’90s storytelling in 2016. The show refused to change for the sake of a changed fanbase; And its revival has done nothing but highlight all the narrative warts of our favorite weird conspiracy show.
The same need to promote yesterday’s ideas to today’s very different audiences has doomed many other revivals, including… That ’90s Show and Freezer. Both shows attempted to recreate their old formulas despite losing key cast members. Freezer It’s especially egregious because Kelsey Grammer is the only one of the original cast to return in a meaningful way. For me personally, there was no appeal in watching this talented actor pull off the stunts without the support of the best comedy cast of the ’90s (screw you, Seinfeld).
However, thanks to failure X-Files Renaissance, I already knew what to do about my hatred of Freezer Revival: Ignored in favor of simply airing the original show. Classic episodes of all your favorite series are still available, and they’re bound to be even better any The tired reboot or revival that the network launches into when it runs out of ideas.
Moreover, by ignoring this tepid renaissance, we can send a powerful message to those same networks that we demand new ideas, not tired old ones. You don’t have to meet a mysterious government informant or encounter alien monsters to send this message effectively. All you have to do is the last thing the networks expect: turn off the TV until there’s something worth watching.