I got the best birthday gift I could have possibly asked for this year (and even a day early), when on March 24th, 2015 FOX confirmed rumors that The X-Files will be returning as a six episode miniseries in early 2016. I really can’t explain how excited this news made me (I have a copy of Mulder’s iconic “I Want To Believe” poster next to my desk as I’m typing this, if you want a glimpse into my level of devotion to this show). Personally, I think that there’s way too many potential investigations for Mulder and Scully to have been absent this long, and six episodes are simply not enough, but I understand that the world isn’t perfect.
This was not the only recent TV revival news that I’m freaking out about, however. In the last year, a Twin Peaks revival was also announced, and will be airing on Showtime in 2016 or 2017. One of the biggest disappointments in TV is that Twin Peaks did not receive the proper ending that it deserved, and the questions that it left viewers with are truly maddening. With show creators David Lynch and Mark Frost, as well as star Kyle MacLachlan and others all returning to this new series, my excitement could not be higher.
Why Now?
Twin Peaks was canceled in 1991 after only two seasons, and was followed by a poorly received film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me in 1992. The X-Files ended in 2002 and had a much more successful run of nine seasons and two movies. The first film, cleverly titled The X-Files, was released in 1998 between the fifth and sixth seasons of the show and was moderately well-received by critics and performed very well commercially. The second film, The X-Files: I Want To Believe, came out in 2008 and did not do as well on either front.
It has been over seven years since we last saw Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, and twenty-three years since we saw Agent Dale Cooper on the screen. So why is now the right time for these revivals to happen, especially considering both of the final entries in these series were disappointing? The answer is simple: Netflix.
I grew up watching The X-Files with my brother, so I have a deep and lasting love for the show, regardless of the last movie (which I pretend doesn’t exist), or some very disappointing seasons after the first movie. I wasn’t aware of Twin Peaks until college, however (which I will forgive myself for since I was two weeks old when the show first premiered and still a baby when it was canceled). It was because of Netflix that I had the chance to watch Twin Peaks and fall in love with it.
Netflix and the variety of streaming services have brought new viewers to many shows, whether it is people who were too young to watch a show when it aired, didn’t have access to it, or simply did not know about it. For American TV networks, this increased fandom is crucial to the idea of reviving existing shows. If a show potentially has a built-in audience base, then it is less of a ratings gamble. Instead of fighting Netflix’s growing power over traditional TV, they are cashing in on the resurgence in popularity and audience base that these existing franchises have gained through streaming.
The potential audience that Netflix brings networks is becoming increasingly worldwide, as well. Netflix is currently available in twenty-one countries, and will be in twenty-eight by the end of 2016. This, combined with the rapidly expanding global smartphone market, means that Netflix’s power over TV content and development will only continue to grow. FOX and Showtime seem to have embraced this and decided to use it to their advantage.
It will be interesting to see how these revivals perform, and will likely help shape the future of TV programming. If they succeed, then networks will most certainly continue to develop more revivals, reboots, and reimaginings of existing shows and franchises, and use the popularity of streaming content as a guide.
What other long-dead franchises might be revived if these shows are successful? We won’t know until it happens, but it’s safe to say that people across many fandoms are now saying the same thing.
I want to believe.
Words by Zachary Evans