I apologize if this question has already been posted, but as usual, I am late to the party. Picked up the DVDs and watched the whole season in two days. I thought the show was really fun and the characters had a great dynamic. Didn't The X-Files have a slow start as well? I wonder if this aired at the advent of "reality shows" and didn't get the support it would have needed to go onto a second season.
shareI think it also suffered from the Fox curse. Basically, Fox had a habit of firing their President every 2 years. The new guy would come in and cancel all the other guys projects.
X-Files survived because of its demographics. Its ratings weren't good, but they did well with 19-25 year old men. X-Files was also a keystone series for a very very young Fox network that was desperate for programming beyond the Simpsons.
By the time Lone Gunmen came along, Fox had a very fast trigger for shows. Also it was the 3rd series in Chris Carter's development deal, the other two had died very quick deaths. I don't think there was a lot of interest in throwing 'good money after bad' with the Lone Gunmen.
Also remember that a lot of X-Files fans were not kind to the series. Personally, I am with you I thought it was great.
[deleted]
you're telling me fox had a fast trigger. This, Family guy, firefly, the list of good shows cancelled goes on and on while turgid pish like the endless star trek franchises ooze onwards.
I am not a number i am a free man. SpliffHammer
[deleted]
"Its ratings weren't good, but they did well with 19-25 year old men"-kind of sexist. 19-25 year old ladies watched the show too.
24 & Lost-the best shows on tv. No Competition.
The writers said that they were terrified that the terrorists got the idea from that episode.
The article went on to say that the writers were never questioned by the government seeing as the plot to attack the twin towers was developed (and attempted, but failed) long before the airing of the Pilot.
If you listen to the DVD commentary on the episode the writers say they were scared that the idea came from the show. They say that they know it was ridiculous to think but that it definitely crossed their minds.
share[deleted]
It was cancelled because FOX is run by idiots. The ratings were actually slightly better than the early days of the X-Files, but in usual FOX wisdom, it was axed right along with every other decent show they'd ever made and replaced with "Survivor" type crap.
"A pair of feckin' women's knickers!" - Father Jack Hagget
I noticed on Dean Haglunds website (aka Langley), he is selling a comic book true story of why it was cancelled.
From http://www.deanhaglund.com/
"Finally the story can be told. And DRAWN! all by Dean Haglund This is the true story of the events leading up and away from the shooting of the thirteen episodes of the X-files Spin-off THE LONE GUNMEN. 32 page comic book is written and drawn by Dean exactly as he remembers it. Includes all the people who were involved from friends to executives, and everyone in between. Now get all your questions answered when you read the incredibly true story of " WHY THE LONE GUNMEN WAS CANCELLED." DEAN WILL PERSONALLY SIGN EVERY COPY ORDERED HERE!!!"
The reason this good funny show got canned is simple, IT WAS NOT STUPID FUNNY like shows like Family Guy. Mainstream America has no taste in good funny shows, or good clean family shows like most of us grew up watching. The Gunmen was and still is a show ( thanks to dvd ) that my kids and myself can sit down and watch together. Same way with The Andy Griffith Show, The Addams Fam., Munsters. Them were good funny family shows.
share[deleted]
[deleted]
I think is was because all the characters got killed in the X-files, and the dead gunmen probably wouldn't have made it as a series lol
shareActauly they were killed off in the x files after the lone gunmen series was cancelled, they wouldn't have been killed had the series been picked up for a 2nd season
shareI always thought that the X-files paved the way for stuff like Buffy and Angel and once those two became hits the network became more keen on their stuff than Chris Carter. Then after 9/11 the idea of alien bad guys etc and monsters went out the window because the very real evil of terrorists came to the forefront. So then stuff like 24 became the next big thing. Fox has managed to stumble onto some great show shows but they do seem to mess things up alot.
I think with Lost and Heroes being such big hits they wouldnt mind another X-files type show as the interest in paranormal weird stuff is back.
I remember at the time thinking that the cancelling of the show had to do with the post 9/11 atmosphere. We all remember that immediately after 9/11 the country was gripped with a sort of overt "patriotism," and it seemed that any show or story that had painted our government in a bad light quickly disappeared. Suddenly we had a new common enemy again, and certain people (people in charge?) had no patience with anything that even remotely questioned the government. Fortunately this wave of stubborn nationalism has somewhat dissipated since then I think.
This was just an impression that I had at the time, it isn't backed up by anything substantial other than what I noticed.
I think back to the wonderful opening credits that showed the stripes in the flag were actually composed of an infinite number of surveillance cameras (and then I imagine a right-wing hawk laughing and crushing this show under a soiled jackboot). Maybe it's just me. Anyone else? Am I alone in here? Am I alone?
I think you make some pretty good points with this post actually.. Considering the plot of the pilot episode, there's no way in hell that it's mere coincidence that in the post-9/11 atmosphere a show like "The Lone Gunmen" with its rather critical, anti-Govt subtexts gets cancelled...
The credit sequence alone with CCTV cameras superimposed onto the American flag and musically as well, harking back to Jimi Hendrix's anti-establishment take on the "Star Spangled Banner" would get all the right-wingers at the Fox network working up a tizzy...
No, I believe that you were right, this show was a victim of the ultra-conservative Post 9/11 atmosphere... And with the apparent deaths of the characters in X-Files season 9, there's really no hope of even a mini-series or a film coming out of it... These were really great characters, and "The Lone Gunmen" was a great series....
I personally noticed that later in the series the beginning portion of the credits were changed and the surveillance camera section was taken out!
share[deleted]
[deleted]
[deleted]