When people first heard the pitch for CBS’s freshman hit "C.S.I.," many wondered who would want to watch a bunch of nerds examining evidence through microscopes.
   "C.S.I." avoided the pitfall of being boring by setting the show in Las Vegas, casting it with beautiful people, and pacing it quickly with innovative camera shots and a charged-up soundtrack.
    Fox’s new conspiracy-theory show, "The Lone Gunmen," has none of these advantages. It proves, rather unfortunately, that watching nerds examine evidence can be just as boring as it sounds.
    And sadly, this spinoff from Fox’s "The X-Files" comes across as another death rattle for the waning franchise, instead of the breath of new life that Fox was hoping for.
   Tellingly the premiere episode of the "Lone Gunmen" did about as well as episodes of the "X-Files" have done this season without one of its marquee stars, David Duchovny, who plays Agent Mulder.
   The premiere episode, which aired in the "X-Files’" regular Sunday time-slot, received a 6.6/14, adults 18-49 rating and share. That’s only half a rating point and one share below what "X-Files" episodes without Duchovny have averaged this season. The performance was good enough for Fox to win the night among adults 18-49.
    But "Gunmen’s" numbers are already nearly 25 percent below what the "X-Files" episodes earn with Duchovny.
    Moreover, they are bound to drop now that curiosity- seekers have seen what the show has to offer.
    The spinoff was supposed to be a comedic take on what the "X-Files" makes spooky and scary. 
    But giving these supporting characters--goofy hackers who readily believe in any conspiracy theory that comes their way--their own show takes away most of what makes them funny in the first place.
    In the "X-Files," the lone gunmen are the armchair activists, spewing vitriol at evil forces and organizations while never desiring to do real battle with them. Their clash with Agents Mulder and Scully, who actually get abducted by aliens and followed by black helicopters, is where the humor of the characters lies.
    Occasionally the lone gunmen are right. Most of the time they’re wrong. Nobody—not Mulder and Scully, none of the "thems" that they’re afraid of, and especially not the audience—ever takes them seriously. And that’s what makes them funny.
    But in order to carry their own show, "The Lone Gunmen" have to be taken seriously by someone. And the pilot episode showed how boring these guys become when that happens.
    The "Gunmen" pilot has a serious plot: The gunmen must determine whether the father of one of them was killed in a car accident (the official story) or was murdered. The answer is neither (he faked his own death).
    But that’s beside the point. Most of the episode shows the gunmen dealing with the emotional issues of being regarded as losers outside of the mainstream.
     I’m sorry, but emotional issues? Who cares? 
    These were supposed to be guys who were happy being outsiders, who reveled in their underground status. 
    Any emotional depth was supposed to be provided by their hapless attempts to woo women, not their strained relationships with their fathers.
    And more important, hapless attempts to woo women can be funny. Learning that a father’s love isn't boundless is not.
    Hence the fundamental problem with the show. The lone gunmen are funny on the "X-Files" because of their one-dimensional view of life. On their own show, they prove that their goofy side is their only side worth knowing.

- Elizabeth White is a staff writer for Media Life.

 Send to a Friend| Printer-Friendly Version
Cover Page | Contact Us

© 2001 Media Life