Tuning In

Tuning In reaches its final episode as Mulder and Scully go on a “Field Trip”. We also talk about the series as a whole. But don’t despair about the end of Tuning In–head over to trekaboutshow.com for more of our podcasting. Thanks for listening! iTunes RSS

David Duchovny writes and directs his first episode of the show, and “The Unnatural” brings us maybe the strongest disagreement yet. Then in “Three of a Kind”, the Lone Gunmen try to rescue someone. iTunes RSS

“Trevor” is a complete mess of an episode that almost defeats us. Then in “Milagro”, a pretentious writer defeats himself. iTunes RSS

The X-Files goes all-in on the shipping in “Arcadia”, and then in “Alpha”, a ship brings trouble. iTunes RSS

Mulder and Scully head to Florida to meet with Arthur Dales and get stuck in a bad sitcom in “Agua Mala”, and then the agents get stuck in the same day in “Monday”. iTunes RSS

Somewhat bizarrely, The X-Files has decided to end the mythology storyline in the middle of the sixth season. The two-parter “Two Fathers” and “One Son” is somewhat successful but still leaves us wanting an actual explanation. iTunes RSS

We get another Skinner-centric episode with “S.R. 819” and a Scully-centric episode with “Tithonus”. iTunes RSS

Bruce Campbell appears on The X-Files in “Terms of Endearment”, and weather appears in “The Rain King”. iTunes RSS

On the Tuning In 100th episode spectacular, we wrap up the body-switch two-parter by dunking on “Dreamland II”, then The X-Files gets really, really weird in “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas”. iTunes RSS

Chris Carter must really be obsessed with The Wizard of Oz, as he gives us a riff on it in the remarkable “Triangle”. Then, the show decides to become terrible in “Dreamland”. iTunes RSS

The sixth season of The X-Files kind of ignores the movie as it makes the move to sunny, sunny California, in “The Beginning”. Vince Gilligan gives us a taut thriller with “Drive”. iTunes RSS

We have reached the first X-Files movie, and it’s a very weird and not entirely successful mishmash that attempts to tell a self-contained mythology story to get both fans and people that have never seen an episode into the theaters. iTunes RSS

Vince Gilligan gives us perhaps his best episode yet with “Folie a Deux”, and we reach “The End” of the fifth season. iTunes RSS

It’s John Shiban week on Tuning In! First up, Shiban gives us the simultaneously boring and offensive “All Souls”. Then, he contributes a taut action thriller with “The Pine Bluff Variant”. iTunes RSS

We get another flashback episode, this time to J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and the origin of the x-files, in “Travellers”. Then in “Mind’s Eye”, Lili Taylor does her best to make a mediocre episode something better. iTunes RSS

The mythology makes another appearance and this time, we get some (vague) answers, in the two-parter “Patient X” and “The Red and the Black”. iTunes RSS

Coming on the heels of Stephen King’s “Chinga”, “Kill Switch” is a pretty standard William Gibson story. However, there’s nothing standard about “Bad Blood”. iTunes RSS

Season five gives us the worst episode in quite a while, “Schizogeny”, and Stephen King pens “Chinga”, which is mostly lazy but does feature some solid Mulder and Scully dynamic. iTunes RSS

“Emily” is a mostly-disappointing resolution to last week’s cliffhanger, and “Kitsunegari” is a mostly-disappointing follow-up to season three’s “Pusher”. iTunes RSS

Are you ready for a heady discussion about personal truth and the fallibility of memory? Then get ready for our conversation about “The Post-Modern Prometheus”. Then in “Christmas Carol”, Scully gets involved in an apparent suicide, with very personal consequences. iTunes RSS

We’re still about two months away from The X-Files: Fight the Future,  but it’s already having an effect on the show, as “Unusual Suspects” gives us the Lone Gunmen origin story we didn’t know we needed. Then, “Detour” gives us the singing Scully we didn’t know we needed. iTunes RSS

The fifth season of The X-Files kicks off with a two-parter continuation, as “Redux” and “Redux II” find Mulder and Scully dealing with their most personal connection the conspiracy yet. iTunes RSS

Well, we’ve reached the end of another season, and it’s a very personal end, as “Demons” finds Mulder once again questioning his memories, and “Gethsemane” finds Scully dealing with family matters. iTunes RSS

Skinner goes off on his own for mysterious reasons, in “Zero Sum”, and we get… SIGH…. another John Shiban episode with “Elegy”. Also! Mitch Pileggi in his underwear. We don’t need to say more. iTunes RSS

The X-Files finally does a time travel story in “Synchrony”, and Darin Morgan makes a surprise appearance in “Small Potatoes”. Plus! Tuning In is hungry. iTunes RSS

The mythology returns once again, and this time, it’s a tight two-parter about alien abductions and the return of old characters, in “Tempus Fugit” and “Max”. iTunes RSS

We get another X-Files spin on religious mysticism in “Kaddish”, and then we get an X-Files spin on an invisible assassin in “Unrequited”. iTunes RSS

“Never Again” finds Scully in a rough place emotionally, as “Memento Mori” finds Scully in a rough place physically. iTunes RSS

“El Mundo Gira” is a much less competent riff on “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”, whereas “Leonard Betts” is a much more competent riff on “Squeeze”. Also! Scully has cancer, apparently. iTunes RSS

The latest mythology two-parter second part, “Terma”, is just another mythology episode. However, “Paper Hearts” is very much a heretical questioning of one of the central mysteries of The X-Files. iTunes RSS

Glen Morgan’s first solo script for The X-Files, “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man”, raises a lot of questions about the titular characters but doesn’t provide any concrete answers. “Tunguska” is another mythology episode that doesn’t provide any answers. We’re starting to see how you got your reputation, The X-Files. iTunes RSS

Glen Morgan and James Wong continue to get experimental with “The Field Where I Died”, and in “Sanguinarium” a pair of sisters, Vivian and Valerie Mayhew, (who sadly never wrote for The X-Files again) gives us the ur-X-Files episode. Plus! Is Game of Thrones a good TV show? (Spoiler alert: no.) iTunes RSS

We get an unsatisfying riff on Eugene Tooms, in “Teliko”, and in “Unruhe”, Vince Gilligan finally writes an episode that makes us notice him. iTunes RSS

Tuning In returns to The X-Files at an interesting point, as the fourth season of the show was the first one that aired on Sunday nights. “Herrenvolk” is basically a reintroduction to all the mythology backstory, and “Home” feels like a gauntlet-throwing episode. iTunes RSS

We reach the end of In the Flesh as the show reveals more about Simon, and dramatic events at the end of the series will change things forever. Plus! Is the cliffhanger annoying? iTunes RSS

We continue our In the Flesh coverage with the middle two episodes of series 2. Watch as Kieran gets his dander up! Marvel at Maxine’s continued villainy! Join us as we ship Philip and Amy! iTunes RSS

It’s been about two years since the events of the first series of In the Flesh, so surely things must be better in Roarton, right? You’ll just have to listen to find out. Also! Kieran’s father is still really obsessed with Blu-rays. iTunes RSS

We take a short hiatus from The X-Files to talk about the best queer zombie drama ever made (and maybe the only queer zombie drama ever made), In the Flesh. In the three episodes of series 1 we get a modern take on a kitchen sink drama, that takes the rural English countryside’s penchant for voting ...

We’ve reached the end of another season of The X-Files! “Wetwired” is a stealth mythology episode, and “Talitha Cumi” is a straightforward mythology episode, but they both contain more emotion than plot. Plus! What’s next for Tuning In–make sure you listen to the end! iTunes RSS

The X-Files gives us its first Skinner episode, with “Avatar”, and it’s one of Eric’s favorite episodes of the show. Then, in “Quagmire”, the writer of “Revelations”, Kim Newton, does her spin on a Darin Morgan episode. Also! Eric really wants a red raincoat. Too bad he no longer lives in Portland. iTunes RSS

We visit the Chinatown of Vancouv–we mean, San Francisco, in “Hell Money”. Then, Darin Morgan gives us his last episode (well, until 2015) with “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”. Plus! Eric really wants a piece of sweet potato pie. iTunes RSS

Vince Gilligan pens his second X-FIles episode, “Pusher”, and it’s… okay? Then, in “Teso Dos Bichos”, the show falls down a well. Plus! Richard is very excited for “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”. iTunes RSS

We get another mythology two-parter, but this one is less about shocking revelations and more about emotional growth, as Mulder and Scully work to figure out the events of “Piper Maru” and “Apocrypha.” iTunes RSS

Chris Carter does his own version of a Darin Morgan episode with “Sygyzy”, and Howard Gordon does his own version of a season one episode with “Grotesque”. iTunes RSS

“Revelations” is a spiritual successor (literally) to season one’s “Beyond the Sea”, as Mulder and Scully swap places. Then, Darin Morgan returns with “War of the Coprophages”, a delightfully deep and goofy episode about killer cockroaches. Yes, you read that right. iTunes RSS

The X-Files gives us the rapidly-becoming traditional midseason mythology two-parter with “Nisei” and “731”, and it also doesn’t give us much new information or answer any questions, but it’s certainly gripping! iTunes RSS

The X-Files gets postmodern this week in “The Walk” and “Oubliette”, two episode of the show that are more interested in being about The X-Files than about their plot. But hey, we’re extremely okay with this! iTunes RSS

The X-Files gets somewhat political this week in “The List”, and in “2Shy”, you whippersnappers that listen to this podcast get to experience the internet circa 1996. iTunes RSS

A young Jack Black and a young Giovanni Ribisi guest star in “D.P.O.”, and a older Peter Boyle guest stars in “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”. Also! What is the best pie? iTunes RSS

We kick off season three of The X-Files by talking about the two (three?) parter “The Blessing Way” and “Paper Clip”. It’s exciting, dramatic, a little cheesy, but leaves us really excited for this season. iTunes RSS

We reach the end of season two of The X-Files with “Anasazi”, an alien conspiracy episode that quickly spirals out of control in the most fun way possible. Plus! Who is Skinner, anyway? iTunes RSS