The X-Files Best Episode Was So Disturbing, It Got Banned
The episode caused a great deal of controversy at first, but it has since gained a cult status.
Screenwriters Glen Morgan and James Wong are among the people who have worked on The X-Files since the series began. They were responsible for six of the twenty-four episodes of the first season – only Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files, did more.
When the third season had just been released, the show was getting consistently good ratings, and the writers had slightly more creative freedom. So the duo, who were in charge of the second episode of the fourth season, decided to do something experimental.
They set out to create an episode that would push the genre boundaries not only of the show, but of television industry as a whole. They wanted the episode to be scary, provocative, uncomfortable, and for some, even distasteful.
At one point, the producers said that Morgan and Wong had gone too far and crossed all boundaries, but Chris Carter's approval of the script put an end to the dispute.
The episode, called Home, was released in October 1996. And judging by the response from the press and the public, Morgan and Wong achieved what they set out to do: shock the audience, take them out of their comfort zone, and make them take a fresh look at The X-Files.
Home made history immediately upon its release – it became the first episode of The X-Files to receive a disclaimer about the presence of scenes of brutal violence, as well as the first episode of the series in the history of the US television to receive a TV-MA rating, meaning it was not intended for viewing by people under the age of 17.
The episode caused much controversy among fans of the series. Viewers complained about the excessive violence and disturbing themes of infanticide and incest, and management eventually decided to ban it. Home was the only episode that was never repeated in the X-Files marathon on Fox.
Only three years later, another network, FX, finally brought Home back to TV screens. They did it on Halloween, with big publicity and ads in magazines.
The advertising was based on the fact that FX would finally show the episode so controversial that it was banned from airing for three years.
Over time, Home has acquired the cult status, largely due to its difficult TV journey. It almost always appears on lists of the best episodes of The X-Files and all sorts of top lists of the scariest TV episodes of all time.