In addition to cycling another interest is the X-Files. Never let it be said that all sci-fi nuts are hornrimmed geeks who are afraid to go outside. I been hit by cars a few times and would rather dance in traffic than do anything else but hey, The X-Files is one of those things that never gets old, no matter how wierd it is...
The main advantage the show has, to be quite honest, is that it plays into a healthy dose of skepticism that most Americans have of government. Hey, our country was founded by people who rebelled against a king, let's not forget that, so such skepticism is certainly a historical part of our culture. And while the chances of Presidents Clinton or Bush having a UFO hidden out in the middle of nowhere are certainly slim to nil (realistically nil, unless you're looking to explain where Huckabee came from) the past few administrations have made some policy choices that certainly warrant skepticism.
The intelligence of the plots was of course another thing -- as was production quality. The show went through some variations, trying out campy humor as well as a fair run of "freak of the week" episodes featuring monsters, but it had the nearly unerring habit of giving the audience the experience of both concrete issues related to the disquieting side of real life (episodes such as "Home", which dealt with incest, and "Paper hearts" which dealt with a serial killer who preyed on children) as well as illustrations of abstract ideas in concrete exampled, such as in episodes such as "Tempis Fugit" which dealt with determinism, through the artifice of a time travel story. A series that could be at once philosophical and shocking, grotesque and at the same time abstract, that could talk to the audience about everything from the standard sci-fi fare of flying saucers, to the more realistic scary topics such as disease outbreaks and bioterrorism -- this was a show that everyone could appreciate. It was a cop show, a drama, a science fiction theatre of the absurd. Or, as one person put it, The X-Files was like "The Twilight Zone" with a regular cast of characters.
The other thing the show had going for it is the characters. Let's face it, both in terms of villains -- such as the "smoking man", chillingly portrayed by William B. Davis, or the main character of Mulder and Scully, the show offered characters that was both simplistic and complex.
Any fiction breaks down things to their essence to get at the story. Any creative work, be it a TV show or a painting, is a selective portrayal of reality -- even a fictional reality.
Many characters are often accused of being "one-dimensional" because they are *not* flawed. Well, the characters in the X-Files could be considered less than complex by that standard -- they are not flawed. The protagonists are entirely good, the bad guys entirely evil. William B. Davis makes Darth Vader look like a boy scout. There is some wiggle room -- in the shadowy, conspiracy riddled world of the X-Files there has to be, and it takes the better part of the series for viewers to find out who is on what side, but eventually, it is quite clear. There are shades of grey but there is also black and white, and no two ways about that. Part of what makes the series so successful is its villains, whether they are mutant monsters or shadowy conspirators, they are so clearly evil and that's the best sort of villain to have. This doesn't mean the characters are not complex, of course. We see that the sinister Smoking Man hasa connection to Mulder's past -- but this isn't an attempt to humanize poor Smoking Man and make him seem less a villain. Rather, it is to further the story by giving the background of his villainy. Scully is a skeptic -- and a religious person. An internal philosophical conflict, but in no way is there any doubt she is on the same side as Mulder (his references to an agenda in the early episodes notwithstanding, of course)...
Then, of course, there is Scully. Dana Scully is a special thing about the X-Files... So right in so many ways, which is probably why so many critics found so much wrong with her. Social conservatives derided the FBI agent character *and* medical doctor/scientist as unrealistic, perpetuating, perhaps even unintentionally (one can argue this is being more than charitable) the stereotype that attractive females are not smart, or brave, or courageous. Or, contrarywise, it could be argued that they are perpetuating the idea that you can be either smart, or strong, or brave, or attractive, but not all three. Make it a multi-facet false alternative. Reality check: while Agent Scully's role is perhaps more realistic than a sex-symbol actress with a model's physique portraying a physicist in one of Brosnan's more recent James Bond movies, it certainly isn't *that* realistic. But this is not to say it's pie-in-the-sky nonsense either. Compared to the James Bond movie example it is perfectly reasonable.
Alternatively, when the conservatives stop moaning about Scully's nontraditional roles long enough for them to get a word in, the liberals complain of two opposite things: First, that Scully too often ends up in danger, usually at the hands of some nefarious villain. To be fair, Mulder has been "killed off" more times than Scully has been, say, bound and gagged, but then... well, scenes of Scully bound and gagged tend to be a little more memorable, don't they? Seriously, jokes aside, Scully is often as not the rescuer as the rescued; see her saving Mulder's life in the episode where "deep throat" is killer, or the episode titled "end game". Etc. But, the focus of the critics is on Scully. Specifically, captured!Scully, who they see as a bad cliche. Needless to say the leftists of a feminist persuasion take umbrage to this... what a lame old example, they argue. The irony for the leftists is that when Scully shoots a bad guy, they freak out .... really. 
Some argue that Scully carrying a gun and badge is a worse example than Scully being laid out by some villain. Of course the irony is that as plot points both have their uses -- just like a seemingly dead Agent Mulder. And, to be honest, they work for those uses. First, Scully is an FBI agent -- for her *not* to carry a gun would be odd, even in the X-Files' world. (Leave aside the technical goofs like one episode where the cip in her gun was visibly empty! which would also be odd).
Second, Scully is so emotionally in control most of the time -- logic before feelings and all that -- the only way the audience can get to see the other, more "human" side of her is to put her in a perilous situation. Sometimes this takes the form of mental peril, as when her sister was killed, or in "beyond the sea", an episode where a serial killer on death row tried to play on her feelings for her recently dead father to get a stay of execution, claimign he had some special connection to him. or, it could be Scully at the hands of some villain, such as the cannibals in "our town". Some critics are totally against the X-Files, not surprising, but maybe that's because they don't like sci fi stuff, or cop shows, or simply have no interest in it. One objection is the often ambiguous endings the episodes sometimes have, not entirely resovled. Chris Carter, the shows creator, fought about that with the network early on; network execs claimed viewers would want such spooky unresolved endings. They wanted a guy behind bars and a case closed. Well, some times they got that, but more often then not a closed case ended with open questions ... part of the X-Files experience. It makes you think, which is the intended goal. Maybe the critics don't like to think? But the ire heaped upon poor Scully is beyond the pale. One critic in the Star-Ledger, a major New Jersey newspaper, opined after the end of the X-files' run that oh, good, now Gillian Anderson can get away from playing that aweful Agent Scully role. For the love of pete, what's aweful about it? Scully's character was intelligent, attractive, brave. Oh, that's right, it's "one sided" and unrealistic. Actually, what's unrealistic is the alternative they would rather have her portray, namely the air-head...
As one reads the critic's word's in the article it becmes apparent she (so ironic it's a she) feels Scully's flaws are that she's too intelligent, too brave... not realistic. Oh, silly me, I guess all female characters are supoosed to be nincompoops? As a guy i have to say that'd be a major turnoff for me as a viewer. If I wanted stupidity I'd look out my window. They'll never say it that way but I guess that's what they mean... maybe they'd like Scully better if she ignored the Alien conspiracy and spent an episode or three talking to some trashy girlfriends about some guy she saw on a subway... you know, something that really matters, compared to, let's say, the impending invasion of the planet. Por la amor de dios!
Scully's reception by a hostile media establishment of course is mirrored by the reaction to the show at large.
The irony of course is that fans sometimes know more than critics. In the case of the X-Files, this much-derided program with its much-criticised two main characters spawned a whole new science fiction revival. Except for various reincarnations of "Star trek", the X-Files was the only recent sci-fi entry to make it big. And it made sci-fi cool again. This led to a revival in shows that used sci-fi or supernatural themes, from Dark Skies, to Space above and beyond, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A second rebirth of sci-fi followed after the X-Files left the air, shows like CSI and Bones, where science ws used to solve crimes and mysteries, took off like jets.
[above: "Dark Skies", a well-done sci-fi program with a historic twist, that launched after the X-Files became successful.]
"Dark skies" was a short-lived (and in my opinion well done) TV series set against the backdrop of the 1960's, that involved aliens; "Buffy the vampire slayer" and it's various offshoots, though more a marriage of humor and horror than sci-fi, did take off after the X-Files went from a little known program to a "hit" show. "Millennium" was a mixture of sci-fi and horror.
And who can forget "Space: Above and beyond"? An excellent show, was what amounted to a World War II movie set in outer space, involved a war between a somewhat futuristic Earth and a hostile alien civilization on a military scale.
But part of the reason for the X-Files' success is that it was a smaller sclae story. It was "The thirteenth floor" as opposed to "The matrix trilogy". Just two people against a conspiracy fo evil.
In the meantime, for the rest of us, let's have good TV, in whatever form it's Post-X-Files life offers. and, of course, there are always the X-Files episodes themselves. Enjoy them, complete with slimy monsters, abstract ideas, vile villains, Mulder, and Scully.
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