Millennium

My favorite, and in my opinion the best, tv show of all time. While I enjoy Chris Carter's previous outing, the insanely successful X-Files, it never held me. I'm not here to debate merits with anyone, nor go favorite vs favorite. I have my opinion, and you have yours. And my opinion is that this was perhaps the most well-written, intriguing premise for a television show. While the previously-mentioned X-Files was always very enjoyable for me, Millennium had the lasting get-under-your-skin quality that the X-Files didn't. The X-Files was intriguing with interesting story lines, partly serious and partly funny with David Duchovney's Mulder the comic foil to Gilian Anderson's Skully. Millennium has none of that. Granted, there were humorous moments, but they were brief, and served mainly to break the spell of sinister dread imprinted within each episode. Achieving a cult following in the decade-plus since the show was canceled by Fox, the show is scripture to those who love it, and largely ignored in the canon of television history. For those unfamiliar, the show (in brief) follows retired FBI profiler Frank Black, played flawlessly by Lance Henriksen, as he moves his family back to Seattle after his tenure as the bureau's foremost expert on forensic profiling pushed him to complete mental breakdown, costing him his sanity and very nearly his life. Settling in, Frank is looking for work and is invited to join the Millennium Group, a cadre of retired law enforcement officers who consult with active law enforcement on the worst of the worst, serial offender crimes, usually those law enforcement is unable to crack. Long before even CSI was a staple of television, Millennium blazed a trail as the first network series about FBI profiling, and the dark world these men and women inhabit everyday. Unlike all its progeny, however, Millennium is not glossy or neat. Explanations are just as often left out as given, and most unlike all the followers that came later, Henriksen's portrayal of Black is never simply "all in a day's work". Each and every case takes its toll on Frank in very clear and unambiguous terms. He cares for the victims deeply, and sees the madness he is surrounded by as a portend of the evil chasm yawning ever-wider at our feet. Arguments can (and are) made in favor of, or against, the second and third seasons, which add a more expansive story arc threaded throughout. But that's really beside the point. As must be obvious by now, I could go on and on about my love of this show and every aspect of it. For my money, there has never been a more well-written or interesting television than this one.