This X-Files Episode Was So Extreme, a Fox Executive Phoned The Writers
The X-Files included a lot of monster-of-the-week episodes, basically unconnected to its overarching plot.
But it was one of those episodes which happened to be a strong candidate for the title of the most infamous episode of the series: Home (Episode 2, Season 4).
It was first broadcast in October 1996, two months before the TV Parental Guidelines system went into effect – and after that system went into effct, Fox withheld from airing Home again during re-runs for three years, until October 1990.
And when that episode finally got on air again, it carried the only TV-MA rating in the entirety of The X-Files.
"Only on Halloween ... would we dare air an episode so controversial," read the accompanying TV Guide ad, reprinted in 2015 by The New York Times.
But what earned Home such a reputation, doubly remarkable for an episode, which did not involve anything in the way of paranormal?
Well, by including subjects like infanticide, birth defects, home invasion, an incestuous mutant family, and good old graphic violence.
The episode opens with a grotesque birthing scene where a trio of genetic monstrosities deliver the baby, then bury it alive in the rain.
And they happen to choose for that a neighboring sandlot where kids gather to play baseball, so blood comes bubbling up from the ground, right under home plate. And it is not even the most revolting thing in the episode.
As James Wong, one of the episode's screenwriters, said in the interview, printed in the above-mentioned NY Times article:
"The people who responded first were the executives. I remember getting a call from a producer. He goes, "You guys are sick!" I thought, 'What is he talking about?' I thought we had done more extreme stuff."
As it happened, Wong misread reaction of an average person to his plot. To this day the mere mention of the Peacock family can invoke involuntary shudders of revulsion in the more faint-hearted fans of The X-Files.
Not to say that the episode is not popular, its viewership and ratings were high – but it is better not to talk about it at the dinner table!