Millennium (TV series)


Millennium is an American television series created by Chris Carter, which aired on Fox between 1996 and 1999. The series follows the investigations of ex-FBI agent Frank Black, now a consultant, with the ability to see inside the minds of criminals, working for a mysterious organization known as the Millennium Group.
The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, though most episodes were ostensibly set in or around Seattle, Washington. The theme music was composed by Mark Snow, who also created the distinctive theme music for The X-Files. Although the series premiered with impressive ratings, viewership declined throughout its three-season run, and it was canceled by Fox in early 1999. A seventh-season episode of The X-Files, titled "Millennium", featured the Millennium Group and Frank Black, as a way of giving the show some closure.
In 2018, Millennium was ranked #87 in Rotten Tomatoes's 100 Best Sci-Fi TV Shows of All Time. That same year, Millennium After the Millennium, a documentary based on the show was released. It features interviews with Carter, Henriksen and other people who worked on the show.

Series overview

Millennium featured Frank Black, a freelance forensic profiler and former FBI agent with a unique ability to see the world through the eyes of serial killers and murderers, though he says that he is not psychic. Black worked for the mysterious Millennium Group, whose power and sinister agenda were explored throughout the series.
Black lived in Seattle with his wife Catherine and daughter Jordan. Jordan was revealed to have inherited some measure of her father's "gift", suggesting that Frank's abilities might be at least partly psychic, since Jordan's are clearly natural, not learned.
The first season dealt primarily with Black pursuing various serial killers and other murderers, with only occasional references to the Group's true purpose. The second season introduced more supernatural occurrences into the show's mythology, with Frank often coming into conflict with forces that appeared to be apocalyptic or demonic in nature. The final season showed Frank returning to Washington, D.C., to work with the FBI following the death of his wife at the hands of the Group. He was joined by a new partner, Emma Hollis. Despite Frank's warnings and what she herself observed, Emma ultimately joined the Group. Frank was last seen escaping from Washington, having taken Jordan from school.
After the show's cancellation, the crossover episode "Millennium" was made for the television series The X-Files, serving as a de facto series finale for Frank Black's story.

Cast and characters

Main

Development

After Chris Carter's success with The X-Files, the Fox Broadcasting Company asked him if he would produce another series for them. He already had an idea for creating a show based around the coming millennium of the year 2000, and it was this idea that he followed up. The Fox executives gave Carter a budget of nearly $1.5 million per episode, and allowed him to create his own "look" for the show. Carter has said he was influenced by the Holy Bible, Dostoyevsky and Mary Shelley in planning the series. Carter pitched Millennium to Fox as "Seven in Seattle." The setting of a dark, rain-soaked city and a world-weary detective's hunt for a religiously inspired serial killer have clear parallels with the pilot episode. One of the show's working titles was 2000, though Millennium was chosen.
For the second season, Glen Morgan and James Wong took on its management, while Carter focused on the fifth season of The X-Files and The X-Files motion picture. Morgan and Wong were consulting producers for the first season, but took over production, implementing several changes Fox wanted to try to boost ratings, which had declined during the first season. Morgan said that:
For season three, which aired in 1998, Carter took back control of the series; Morgan and Wong left to pursue their own careers. Carter, who had disapproved of the show's shift in tone, said he changed direction and tried to connect with the "roots" of the first season. The show's production team hoped to make "the stories a little more accessible", and moved the action from Seattle to Washington D.C.

Casting

Not convinced that Lance Henriksen was right for the main role, Fox execs considered William Hurt, until learning that he had no interest in acting for television. Chris Carter sent the screenplay for the "Pilot episode" to Henriksen, who thought it was "great". When his manager told him that it was a television script, he backed out for a while until he talked to Carter directly. Carter said about casting Henriksen:
Glen Morgan's and James Wong's changes reduced the emphasis on serial killers and explored government conspiracies and the machinations of the Millennium Group. They tried to provide a "narrative drive" for Frank Black by breaking up his relationship with his wife. Morgan and Wong introduced new characters, such as Lara Means and computer hacker Brian Roedecker, who was introduced for comic effect; some fans were negative about the effects.

Broadcast and release

Syndication and cancellation

Millennium's pilot episode earned a total of 17.72 million viewers in the United States. The second season premiere, "The Beginning and the End", gathered a total viewership of 7.75 million in the United States. Fox decided to rebuild their primetime schedules in 1997 during the second season, airing Millennium at 9:00 pm EST on Fridays.
Fox renewed Millennium for a third season on May 20, 1998. During that season, the series faced problems with a declining viewership and pessimistic forecasts from industry insiders. Fox benched Millennium during its summer run, airing reruns of Mad TV in its time slot, without giving any official word on whether it would be renewed for a fourth season. The series was canceled, ending on a cliffhanger.
Frank Black returned in The X-Files season seven episode "Millennium", which featured the final appearances of both Frank Black and his daughter, Jordan.
The FX cable network picked up the off-network rights for Millennium after its cancellation for $20–$25 million dollars. NBC Universal's horror channel, Chiller, began airing Millennium weeknights at 7 pm Eastern on Monday, February 4, 2008.

Home video release

was released on DVD in the United States on July 20, 2004, season two on January 4, 2005, and season three on September 6, 2005. Millennium: The Complete Series was released on DVD on October 28, 2008. On October 4, 2006 the first, second, and third seasons were released in Region 4. The Complete Series was released on October 24, 2006 in Region 4.

Future

The release of Millennium on DVD prompted Lance Henriksen to propose a continuation of the series. Henriksen speculated that the numbers behind the box set sales might be the key to reviving Frank Black. "I wonder if the sales of these will tell us how many people loved the show and whether or not the movie ought to be made," Henriksen told the Sci-Fi Wire. "I mean, still is alive. Maybe it's a good thing there was no closure for Millennium because now, if we did a movie, it would be good closure for me." Henriksen has gone on to support the Back to Frank Black campaign, a movement dedicated to the return of the character, explaining, "I really think it is a possibility."
Creator Chris Carter has joined Henriksen in expressing an interest in a film based on Millennium. While promoting , Carter commented that he and Henriksen have "talked about that over the years" and that the cast and crew who would need to be involved are interested, adding, "I have ideas about how to do it." To date, 20th Century Fox has expressed no interest in such a project, even to the extent of publicly commenting on it.
Publishing house Fourth Horseman Press has released Back to Frank Black, a book offering in-depth insight into the production of the series. The book features Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, Lance Henriksen, Brittany Tiplady and John Kenneth Muir among its writers.

Impact

Critical reception

Keith Uhlich from Slant Magazine was positive to both season one and three of Millennium, giving them both four out of five stars and calling season one: "We are racing toward an apocalypse of our own creation. This is who we are." Mike Drucker from IGN called the second season a combination of the "X-Files and the violent paranoia of Se7en." Variety reviewer Jeremy Gerard compared the show to Twin Peaks and was overall positive to the series, but said "I just wish it were a little more fun, that I didn't have this nagging feeling that it wants to hurt me the next time I come around." Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly gave the show a B and said it had "great visuals and a commanding performance by Henriksen." Justine Elias from The New York Times was mostly positive to the series and said "If The X-Files, with its offbeat humor and conspiracy theories, wonders about those things that go bump in the night, Millennium explores the darkness – and embraces it." Daily Nebraskan said in their review that the show had "a lot of potential: a good lead actor, a solid premise and a feel that will keep audiences glued to their televisions."

Awards and nominations

Millennium was nominated for a variety of different awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, four American Society of Cinematographers Awards, 1 Bram Stoker Awards, three Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, one People's Choice Awards and five Young Artist Awards. The most nominated episode is Matryoshka, Robert McLachlan became the most nominated crew member and Brittany Tiplady became the most nominated actor in the show's history. While Lance Henriksen became the only actor from the show to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Novelizations

Novelizations of five episodes from the first season of Millennium were published by Harper Collins between 1997 and 1998.
  1. The Frenchman by Elizabeth Hand
  2. Gehenna by Lewis Gannett
  3. Weeds by Victor Koman
  4. Force Majeure by Lewis Gannett
  5. The Wild and the Innocent by Elizabeth Massie

    Comic books

In October 2014 it was announced that official series of comic books would be released by IDW Publishing.