`MILLENNIUM' IS GLOOMIER, DARKER SERIES.Byline: Keith Marder Daily News Television Writer Cloning the Fox network hit ``The X-Files'' is considered very cool for this upcoming television season. The dark drama - airing in reruns at 9 p.m. Fridays before moving to Sunday nights in the fall - has launched a half-dozen fall series filled with overtones of paranoia and cynicism. Even Chris Carter Chris Carter may refer to:
His new series, ``Millennium,'' will debut on Fox (Channel 11) in late October, with an even darker, scarier and more paranoid outlook than ``X-Files.'' ``People ask me all the time if I'm responsible for this stuff,'' Carter said of the deluge of shows dealing with paranoia, visions and higher powers. ``I think I'm responsible, in a very small way, for reintroducing the genre. It's a genre that's been around for a long time. Beyond that, all I've tried to do for the last three years is to do really good work on a good show, and it has paid off. ``I never thought of it, by the way, as science fiction. I resisted the title and the label at first, but I realized that what we are doing can be considered on one end of the of the spectrum of science fiction. I'm happy to get the label because I think it brings a certain hard-core, very important, audience to the show.'' There is no doubt that other networks and Carter himself have been influenced by the success of ``The X-Files,'' the story of FBI agents Fox Mulder Special Agent Fox William Mulder (born October 13, 1961), nicknamed "Spooky" Mulder, is a fictional character played by David Duchovny on the 1993-2002 television series, The X-Files. and Dana Scully Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. (born February 23, 1964) is a fictional character on the FOX television series The X-Files (1993-2002), played by Gillian Anderson. She is an FBI Special Agent, partnered on the X-Files with Special Agent Fox Mulder. (David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson Gillian Leigh Anderson (born August 9, 1968) is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning American actress, best known for her roles as FBI Agent Dana Scully in the American TV series The X-Files and Lady Dedlock in the BBC TV series Bleak House. ), who pursue evidence of an alien presence amid a government cover-up. Even ``Baywatch Nights'' is exploring the paranormal paranormal, adj 1. outside the realm of normal experience or scientific explanation. n 2. collective term for anomalous phenomena. . ``Have I unleashed something?'' Carter said. ``I mean, it's inadvertent.'' Carter also is looking to expand the horizons of ``X-Files'' when it makes its fourth-season debut in October, after the World Series. ``We have some surprises in store in terms of the mythology of the show, character-wise,'' Carter said. ``And, I think that, like all good `X-Files' episodes, this one poses many more questions than it answers.'' Carter's latest creation has as many dark and gloomy elements as the ``X-Files.'' However, ``The X-Files'' has more of an undercurrent of humor and is not quite as gruesome as ``Millennium,'' which is filled with graphic scenes that are inappropriate for children and the squeamish squea·mish adj. 1. a. Easily nauseated or sickened. b. Nauseated. 2. Easily shocked or disgusted. 3. Excessively fastidious or scrupulous. . ``I think there will be room for humor, but not the kind of `X-Files' humor that we've become used to,'' Carter said at the Television Critics Association The Television Critics Association (or TCA) is a group of approximately 200 United States and Canadian journalists and columnists who cover television programming. They meet in the Los Angeles area twice a year, in January and July, in conferences known as Winter and Summer Summer Press Tour. ``It just didn't seem appropriate to the story and the show that I was working on. I think it will be more sardonic, maybe trench-combat kind of humor. ``I know the show has some disturbing images in it,'' he said of ``Millennium.'' ``But, I think if you look at what the show is, and the reason I wanted to do this show, you'll see that those images are actually in there for a purpose. They're not gratuitous. They're not just to shock.'' ``Millennium'' focuses on Frank Black (Lance Henriksen Lance Henriksen (born May 5 1940) is an American actor, painter, and potter. A versatile and prolific performer, his trademarks as an actor are his deep, gravelly voice, piercing stare, and chiseled, weathered features. ), a retired FBI agent with a special ability to see violent crimes from the criminal's point of view. Black is a crime fighter who got out of the game for the safety of his families, only to be pulled back in for the good of humanity. Carter says that his goal is to show the evil juxtaposed jux·ta·pose tr.v. jux·ta·posed, jux·ta·pos·ing, jux·ta·pos·es To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. against the basic goodness Basic goodness is the belief that human beings are essentially good, and that the experience of this is available to all. This idea is at the core of the Shambhala Vision of Chögyam Trungpa, and experiencing it is the main topic of Level One of the Shambhala Training curriculum of his hero. He admits that it would be an easy stunt to bring ``Millennium'' and ``The X-Files'' together in a cross-over episode. There's no doubt that it would be mega-hyped and create a lot of buzz, but right now that's not in Carter's plans. ``I'm going to resist the temptation for a while,'' he said. ``It's a natural cross-over. It's easy to do. I always resist the obvious, and so that's just one of those things that I won't be doing for a while.'' Carter, already known as a workaholic work·a·hol·ic n. One who has a compulsive and unrelenting need to work. from ``The X-Files,'' wrote the ``Millennium'' pilot as well as the season opener for ``X-Files.'' ``I'm sure I'll be writing constantly until May,'' he said. ``Rod Serling Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling (December 25, 1924–June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, best known for his live television dramas of the early 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. once said that if he dropped his pencil, he was two weeks behind. I know what he means - or meant.'' When asked how he will find time for a new series, Carter joked, ``Parallel universe.'' The X-Files When: 9 p.m. Fridays Network: Fox Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1--Cover--Color) `X-Files' creator gets for thethe new `MILLENNIUM' (2) Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny of ``X-Files'' may find some competition from ``Millennium,'' another science fiction series from Chris Carter. |
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