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Why'd they stopped making tv shows as good as x-files?

The special efx haven’t gotten more expensive, cameras haven’t risen in price, writers don’t seem to be demanding particular high prices, netflix takes anything that you can pitch without saying the word disney.

So what in the world happened? X-files was an amazing show and watching it you are not only entertained but you care about mulder and scully. The show is genuinely a great time. Why did they stop making them like this?

CurlyWurlies4All ,
@CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net avatar

Lived through peak TV… Why dOn’T x-FiLEs bE tV aS GoOD?

HobbitFoot ,

I’m going to interpret the question more as "why don’t they make shows like “The X-Files” any more than on specific quality.

The 90’s was the last hurrah of quality serialized television. You were seeing a lot of improvements in the quality of writing and willingness to push against norms and standards. You could still make a shallow serialized series and they still do today, but you could make a show back then with a lore tied together from callbacks.

So why did these kinds of shows stop? DVD sets and ubiquitous time-skipping technology meant that writers could shift from good serialized content to longer form and continuous stories. You started seeing shows filled with “previously on…” because it became the expectation that viewers watched all the episodes up to then. Streaming make it the default.

There has been a recent push to go back to a serialized model, but the economics of the industry has changed. Writers rooms able to churn out 26 shows a year have been whittled away. You also have some actors that don’t want the work schedule that comes with it. You also had a time where a show that lasted a year found it easier stay on air to get to the 100 episode minimum to make syndication valuable; there isn’t that profit motive any more.

Alexstarfire ,

I’m in the middle of rewatching X-Files yet again. It’s really hit and miss, even in the good seasons. I think people remember all the good episodes and forget about the bad and average ones.

You looking for a new X-Files type show? I can’t think of any good ones but I don’t really look for that type of show anymore either.

sighofannoyance OP ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

Not neccessarily x-files related, just of the same quality and make. Something that is as entertaining as watching xfiles.

quackers ,

Mr Robot. Rewatching it now and x-files rewatch is next on the list.
Maybe Lost but you gotta kinda vibecheck if it’s your thing. And Stranger Things also has the whole mystery vibe going.

sighofannoyance OP ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

I was interested in Mr Robot but then they had this cringy exchange and i just couldn’t bring myself to continue to watch…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQM5fU7V-MM

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Ak4tZmoa9YU%2FVqzAkC8bjPI%2FAAAAAAAAAzY%2Fzze56dEvQdA%2Fs1600%2Frobot7.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=404616decbbe803514ef67f8e22f509d68849bc5f74383945b35df4571cd4cf8&ipo=images

jwiggler ,
@jwiggler@sh.itjust.works avatar

There are a lot of weird cringey exchanges in this show similar to this that end up being stylized writing to trick or subvert the viewer. You should continue watching

wulrus ,

Travelers

rustyricotta ,

I’ve never seen x-files, but it does get brought up a lot in conversation about Fringe (one of my favorites). Fringe starts off as {insert scifi thing} of the week, and then the plot starts to develop later. I recommend giving it a shot.

FluffyPotato ,

They still make amazing shows, it’s just a matter of taste and preference.

You can try Fringe, it’s obviously inspired by X-Files. I even prefer Fringe but I don’t think it’s a popular opinion.

There’s also From, it’s like the only mystery horror TV show that gets horror right in a series setting. It gave me some similar vibes though it’s a very different show.

FurtiveFugitive ,

Updoots for Fringe. Season 1 is very monster of the week but it’s laying groundwork for everything that’s coming. It’s a fun ride all the way through and it got a decent conclusion. Watch it if you haven’t already.

MrPoopyButthole ,

Shows like that are still happening.

The real issue is that instead of 5-15 channels, there are dozens-hundreds, plus a dozen streaming service, and intellectual property is constantly pinging back and forth between them all.

No media has a reliable “home” you can consistently access it from. And when it does you still run into the discoverability issue. So many shows are made that you can’t reasonably scroll through all of them, so personal recommendations and algorithms ultimately dictate what we find.

If you want unusual and stand-out sci-fi then I’d recommend Twin Peaks: The Return, assuming you’ve seen Twin Peaks.

Also the show “Dark” on Netflix is incredible.

I still have a cue of newer stuff I haven’t gotten to because there’s so much to try.

I think what we’ve really lost is the social element. When FAR fewer things were on, and everyone had to “tune in” to see new episodes, it meant a ton more people would be watching the same thing at the same time.

Now the default has become everything on demand, and released in full seasons at a time. “Dark” is actually from several years ago, but became big in the US just a few years ago, and I just found it last year.

The viewing and Fandom experiences are just more fragmented and scattered now.

adespoton ,

I’d just like to point out that the Stone Angels episode of Doctor Who came out after X-Files.

Alexstarfire ,

You mean the Weeping Angels?

WalrusDragonOnABike ,

Are you a fan of ratchet and clank btw? Are 3rd person platformers the only good genre and are games since PS2 all trash?

driving_crooner ,
@driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br avatar

I understand this reference.

OpenStars , (edited )
@OpenStars@kbin.social avatar

I think a lot of shows are AWESOME, but then late-stage capitalistic enshittification happens and they become... far less so, and often quite TERRIBLE even, though ostensibly still have the same title, even though nowhere near being an identical show.

One super-good example is Stranger Things, where the first season was really quite good! So many homages to nerd culture like E.T. and D&D - it was fantastic!:-) As I read though, the pair of creators had 2 rules: never use CGI, and absolutely do not "sell out", i.e. a story should want to be told, not sold merely for the sake of cash. So after the first season where they made it b/c of their love for the craft, you can guess how the subsequent seasons played out (I believe one of the pair even quit over it).

Arguably a better example is The Walking Dead - it started off REALLY good, but then... well... it too "sold out". Actually I keep trying to force myself to get through it, I even started watching it over again from the start (a couple times now) thinking that would help, but have yet to accomplish this feat.

Another is Designated Survivor. It had some big-name actors, most of whom quit (I think the show was sold to a different network... or something?), and the last season was just terrible, limping along before they finally put it out of its misery and ended it.

The really fantastic shows - like Star Trek - had to prove themselves, then the creators were given leeway to subsequently make great sequels and spin-offs and even entirely unrelated titles. Fun story: Gene Roddenberry even created shows after his death, as his wife took his unfinished notes and lead their creation under his vision, like Earth: Final Conflict.

TLDR: why offer you a good show when they can offer you a crappy show that they made for a tenth of the price, yet charge you the full amount?

(though stupidly enough, they also seem to be trying to offer us even more terrible shows that cost 50x the price to make, and yet somehow suck all the more for that!? anyway it all seems to be based on greed + arrogance - they want to make money, but they do not want to put in the effort to actually earn it, e.g. by paying the actors a decent wage)

JohnDClay ,

Less money in tv nowadays, the whole medium is dying. Plus they figured out they don’t need to put in nearly as much effort for reality tv stuff. Streaming wars might have been able to drive quality stuff, but most places did a scatter shot approach instead.

Skavau ,

What? There's tons of TV shows, many high budget, released in the last year

Granixo ,
@Granixo@feddit.cl avatar

I think TV will still last for some years.

In my country (Chile 🇨🇱) we still aren’t giving up Analog TV until April 2024.

BarbecueCowboy ,

Have you seen Fringe? It's a tv show from about a decade ago, very similar vibe to the X-files.

If you don't like that and combined with all the other stuff in this thread, then I think you might just not like TV as a medium anymore.

anonionfinelyminced ,
@anonionfinelyminced@kbin.social avatar

Fringe ended weird though. I chalk it up to JJ Abrams getting bored (yet again) with his wildly successful project and letting it sputter to an end instead of letting it go out with a bang.

can ,

Blame the network for rushing the ending.

FurtiveFugitive ,

I watched Fringe when it came out and loved it but for whatever reason never saw the final season. Last year I finally went back and finished it. I will concede the ending was a bit rushed but also I’m grateful it did get an ending. A lot of great shows get axed and don’t get to wrap up anything. So while not perfect, I’m going to say it was decent enough and does wrap everything up.

It’s a great ride along the way too.

SwearingRobin ,

There’s been plenty good shows since X files came out, maybe it’s more of a problem that you’re in a different head space than you were and not as open to like new shows anymore. Happens to me with video games, I keep going back to the ones I played in my early twenties when I had more time over the summer to invest into games. Now I have much less time to start a new game and get over the boring introductory bits before getting to the good parts.

Skavau ,

What TV shows do you like, OP?

sighofannoyance OP ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

xfiles, star trek (kirk, picard), twilight zone from the 1960s, twin peaks (first season), honey mooners, I did like the first season of true detective with mathew maccaughnahey and woody harrelson. I watched the first season of apple invasion before giving up after season 2 started (I just couldn’t do it anymore). I am a big fan of broad city though, a show that is very underrated, also workaholics was fun.

Skavau ,

So you mostly like episodic formats.

citrusface ,

This a fair point - black mirror then.

citrusface ,

Reading through all your comments, you have tastes like my dad. He didnt like thrones or breaking bad, but he does like the expanse.

I’m gonna throw some things out here for you.

Mighty Boosh (comedy)

Lexx (absurd sci-fi)

Voyager (give it another shot you might like it this time)

Severance (low sci-fi)

Barry (dramedy)

Faulty Towers (comedy)

Farscape (sci-fi)

The OA (if you watch this, you need to just Believe everything you are being told, question nothing and accept it)

Dark

American Crime Story (season 1 and 2)

Granixo ,
@Granixo@feddit.cl avatar

Dark is so good.

abbadon420 ,

Dark is so good

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Episodic vs Serial.

Everything is a serial now. They’re not bad, but you can’t just pick any random episode and have a good time. I prefer episodic stuff for that very reason.

0x4E4F ,
@0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works avatar

The idea is to have you itching for the next fix. More money that way, you don’t cancel subscriptions, etc.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Sure… If they did 1 episode a week. But when they dump the entire season in one day, I can just watch the whole thing over a weekend and cancel my subscription until the next season.

0x4E4F ,
@0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works avatar

Oh, wow… I’m really out of touch with how shows are “aired” nowadays.

Whelp, better go back to the cave, have no intention of getting back on that saddle.

Skavau ,

It's mostly Netflix that dumps it all at once.

HBO, Apple TV and Prime still usually do staggered releases.

Granixo ,
@Granixo@feddit.cl avatar

Disney+ does it too

vzq ,

Because they have started making better ones.

In TV there is a watershed moment. Before sopranos and after sopranos.

The shows that came before were specced to the particularities of broadcast television. Season length, episode lengths, budget, guest appearances, were all determined by the details of how broadcast television was organized in the late twentieth century, with seasons and sweep weeks and all that crap.

HBO was the first TV producer to bin all of that, and enable TV to reach its creative potential.

X files was a very cool show, but its late 20th century broadcast pedigree is on full display.

sighofannoyance OP ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

I haven’t watched sopranos, but after all the mafia/gangster movies, i felt the genre was done with, the god fater 1 to 3, once upon a time in america, good fellers, casino, scarface, the list goes on and on. I’ll give sopranos a shot but i am not holding my breath…

vzq ,

You have not understood anything I wrote.

sighofannoyance OP ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

I’ll do better

FoundTheVegan , (edited )
@FoundTheVegan@kbin.social avatar

That's.... not what the poster was saying. Prestige TV extends much farther than the mafia genre, sopranos was just the turning point when higher budget dramatic things were more commonly greenlit.

The Wire, Breaking Bad, Watchmen, The Expanse Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Mad Men etc all absolutely blow X files out of the water. And while I do love X files, the monster of the week format is not even in the same ballpark as those long form character dramas.

I think you might be letting nostalgia blind you to how great television has become.

Skavau ,

It sounds like the OP wants 'monster of the week' stuff

sighofannoyance OP ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

bro you are seriously telling me walking dead is better than x files? I had to stop walking dead after 5 episodes because i couldn’t bare it anymore. Xfiles you get excited about every episode you watch. Don’t get me wrong i love zombies, but walking dead just aint it…

FoundTheVegan , (edited )
@FoundTheVegan@kbin.social avatar

I mean, I am not a huge fan of the show and didn't finish it. But the first season was stellar. But that aside, reading your other comments it seems like you don't like a lot of modern shows. Which is fine, but personally I find older stuff I watched when I was a girl just sorta meaningless. X files had so many skipable episodes without serving the overarching plot. I'm honestly kinda baffled that you would prefer monster of the week instead of expanse and breaking bad, but you are allowed to think as you please. Just seems at odd with two of the most higely praised shows of recent history.

And I don't super appreciate being called bro... >_>

sighofannoyance OP ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t think it’s the monster of the week part. I definitely understood your opinion though.

magnetosphere ,
@magnetosphere@kbin.social avatar

Watchmen - holy shit. I decided almost on a whim that I’d give it a try and I was totally unprepared for the awesomeness. It took a few episodes to kick in, but once it did, I was like OH MY GOD THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SHOWS I’VE EVER SEEN WHY DID IT ONLY GET ONE SEASON THIS IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

Zorque ,

Yup! Now we get cheap crap shoveled out six episodes at a time once every couple of years! If we're lucky.

Skavau ,

That's mostly Disney content. Most series are 8-10 episodes long still, and there's more series made than there was in the 90s and 00s.

rynzcycle ,

Agree so much on HBO. We just moved to the US and got the "Max" subscription and we're finding gem after gem, some of it a decade old. Like TV that rivals any great movie, amazing storytelling/directing/music/concepts. Still plenty of filler to sort through, but some genuine art in there.

heatiskillingme ,

Too bad their mobile app is the worst thing I've ever seen in my life regarding streaming services. I know people like to rag on Netflix, at least their app is top notch. How can a big company like HBO have such a piece of crap software when dozens of better examples to copy from already exist is beyond me.

Hyperreality , (edited )

The BBC did it first, in part thanks to a lack of ad breaks and shorter seasons.

Eg. the UK version of House of Cards is genuinely excellent and arguably better than the US version, even before Spacey.

were all determined by the details of how broadcast television was organized in the late twentieth century, with seasons and sweep weeks and all that crap.

Another thing is the production schedule on some of these shows. They'd be doing 12 hour days, 6 or even 7 days a week, sometimes writing shows that were going to be released within days. Far harder to create a coherent arc or plan stuff, when you have to write and direct far more episodes in a limited time frame.

Poggervania , (edited )
@Poggervania@kbin.social avatar

OP, are you sure you’re not conflating the X-Files being your favorite show with it being good? Because Breaking Bad exists and that came out after X-Files. Also is arguably better than the X-Files lol

sighofannoyance OP ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

I hate breaking bad. Take that for what it’s worth. I hate it even more after people recommended it to me specifically praising how good of a show it was.

Poggervania ,
@Poggervania@kbin.social avatar

Fair enough - everybody’s tastes are different. Fwiw I didn’t really enjoy the X-Files that much when I watched it, but I have heard the same thing that it’s a really good show.

RightHandOfIkaros ,

Only the first like 4 seasons were good.

sighofannoyance OP ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

Maybe you don’t want to believe… and there is nothing wrong with that. Just know the truth is out there…

😂 🤣 😜

ExLisper ,

IMHO Breaking Bad is exactly like modern day X-Files. That’s why I hated it. BB happens in TV reality. It all feels incredibly fake, artificial and manufactured. In the 90s that’s all we had: fairly small and disjointed TV shows built on common tropes and similarly produced. Breaking Bad is a modern show that pretends to be more complex but in reality just regurgitates all the same tropes. That’s why it was so popular: it was same old stuff in shiny new packaging.

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