2. American Football Will Give The X-Files A Helping Hand
Proving that Fox is serious about making the X-Files revival a hit - something that can't always be claimed for its sci-fi/fantasy offerings - the première of the new series will air immediately after the National Football Conference (NFC) championship game on the 24th of January. Schedulers are hoping this broadcast time will help boost ratings (insert "hail Mary" joke here). In fact, Fox is hoping that the X-Files will be event TV, persuading viewers to - gasp! - watch live. But what happens after that? Will Fox stick with promoting the show to the hilt? When will the other five episodes be broadcast? Television history is full of cases where a new series got a fantastic slot for its first instalment but was then shoved into a deeply unsuitable time and day. Let's pray that doesn't happen to the X-Files. If the new series does wow audiences, expect Mulder to take the credit - it was David Duchovny's idea for the X-Files to return to its roots on TV after the second, not entirely successful, film outing. He "reached out" to Chris Carter, who was equally keen for some kind of continuation and the series' creator got together with Fox. Duchovny, star of shows like Californication and Aquarius, also reputedly helped talk the film-preferring Anderson into returning to the small screen, selling her on the idea that the best stories are being told on TV these days.