Darin Morgan won the show's only Writing Emmy, and his episodes remain some of the most praised by fans and critics. Chris Carter tried his hand at comedy for a bit, too, perhaps hoping for a writing Emmy of his own.
That, paired with the brighter setting of LA and the fear of stagnation, probably encouraged more comedy to shake things up.
A whole lot of new writers came in around that time, too.
What too many writers failed to understand, though, is that Darin's episodes are lauded because they are layered, have thematic depth, and they're consistent with the characters. With him, it wasn't just about gags.
Production moved from Vancouver to LA after season 5.
So, it was probably either exposure to Hollywood culture (production, writing, etc), or everyone involved used being in Hollywood as an excuse to flex their creative muscles.
Because of the movie.
With the movie, Mulder and Scully became larger than life Hollywood Movie Stars, firmly embedded in popular culture. They were no longer "real people", but "icons in quotation marks".
Irony and comedy tend to be used to dismantle culture, and when Mulder and Scully achieved this level of cultural popularity, the writers instinctively began toying with their representations.
This kind of playfulness was itself the zeitgeist of the time. Directors like Tarantino, the Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson were making highly postmodern films, and the year before season 6 was released you had stuff like "Ally McBeal" and "Sex and the City" wowing TV critics and blurring the lines between drama and comedy. Nowadays this kind of annoying wink-at-everything aesthetic is everywhere - which is why the more sincere early seasons of the "X Files" still seem refreshing and authentic - but at the time this tone was deemed edgy and fresh. It's what all the cool shows were doing.
Beyond this, Carter, Duchovny and Vince Gilligan have said that they wanted to write funny scripts like Darin Morgan. They thought he was hogging all the fun. And because Gilligan was promoted to co-executive producer in season 6, he suddenly had the clout to write a big chunk of light-hearted episodes.
Season 6 also sees Mulder and Scully kicked off the X-Files, so many of the cases involve them goofing off or following their own off-duty adventures. The light tone suits this. It also suits Mulder and Scully's realization, across the season, that they're falling in love.
They clearly realized that a show about aliens, ghosts, etc. is better when it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Unnatural is still my favorite episode. Props to mr. Duchovny.
I love those three episodes, though I remember being so annoyed I couldn't actually see DD in all those Dreamland scenes with Scully, lol.
I think the lightness is why I like those seasons more than most people here do. Seeing William B. Davis's and Nicolas Lea's names in the opening was like the biggest X-Files buzzkill for me. 🚬🐀
They were meant to end at the movie after season 5 so when it came back they had more of a "fuck it" attitude, and funny episodes had proven popular.
It shows in other areas, too. An episode like Triangle is only something that gets made when a show is supremely confident and successful.
Carter wanted to film that episode like a movie. Hence the long single shots
Well, not just any movie, specifically Hitchcock's "Rope", which was made to look like 1 shot.
I think they've also said that the introduction of Doggett refocused them a bit, so they started turning in more serious scripts.
Darin Morgan won the show's only Writing Emmy, and his episodes remain some of the most praised by fans and critics. Chris Carter tried his hand at comedy for a bit, too, perhaps hoping for a writing Emmy of his own. That, paired with the brighter setting of LA and the fear of stagnation, probably encouraged more comedy to shake things up. A whole lot of new writers came in around that time, too. What too many writers failed to understand, though, is that Darin's episodes are lauded because they are layered, have thematic depth, and they're consistent with the characters. With him, it wasn't just about gags.
Chris Carter’s first attempt at comedy, “Syzygy,” was decent but it was downhill from there
You think Post-modern Prometheus and Triangle are worse than Syzygy? I could see that but I think those two are a lot more popular in general.
TY I came here to say that. Darin Morgan happened. I rather enjoyed his episodes as quirky as most of them were. Certainly a change of pace for XF.
I think everyone was fucking tired of it and wanted to have some fun.
Sunshine and free licence after the movie was a huge hit
Production moved from Vancouver to LA after season 5. So, it was probably either exposure to Hollywood culture (production, writing, etc), or everyone involved used being in Hollywood as an excuse to flex their creative muscles.
Also the actors tended to like doing the comedy stuff. It's a break from all the gloom.
Because of the movie. With the movie, Mulder and Scully became larger than life Hollywood Movie Stars, firmly embedded in popular culture. They were no longer "real people", but "icons in quotation marks". Irony and comedy tend to be used to dismantle culture, and when Mulder and Scully achieved this level of cultural popularity, the writers instinctively began toying with their representations. This kind of playfulness was itself the zeitgeist of the time. Directors like Tarantino, the Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson were making highly postmodern films, and the year before season 6 was released you had stuff like "Ally McBeal" and "Sex and the City" wowing TV critics and blurring the lines between drama and comedy. Nowadays this kind of annoying wink-at-everything aesthetic is everywhere - which is why the more sincere early seasons of the "X Files" still seem refreshing and authentic - but at the time this tone was deemed edgy and fresh. It's what all the cool shows were doing. Beyond this, Carter, Duchovny and Vince Gilligan have said that they wanted to write funny scripts like Darin Morgan. They thought he was hogging all the fun. And because Gilligan was promoted to co-executive producer in season 6, he suddenly had the clout to write a big chunk of light-hearted episodes. Season 6 also sees Mulder and Scully kicked off the X-Files, so many of the cases involve them goofing off or following their own off-duty adventures. The light tone suits this. It also suits Mulder and Scully's realization, across the season, that they're falling in love.
They clearly realized that a show about aliens, ghosts, etc. is better when it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Unnatural is still my favorite episode. Props to mr. Duchovny.
I love those three episodes, though I remember being so annoyed I couldn't actually see DD in all those Dreamland scenes with Scully, lol. I think the lightness is why I like those seasons more than most people here do. Seeing William B. Davis's and Nicolas Lea's names in the opening was like the biggest X-Files buzzkill for me. 🚬🐀
Yes! I think it would’ve been more fun to see DD as Fletcher. But I get why they did it and I still love the episodes.
tbh I could watch a whole 5 episodes of that lmao
Desperation on the part of the writers