The Lone Gunmen (TV series)

Series overview

Whereas The X-Files deals mainly with paranormal events and conspiracies to cover up extraterrestrial contact, The Lone Gunmen draws on secret activity of other kinds, such as government-sponsored terrorism, the development of a surveillance society, corporate crime, and escaped Nazis. The show has a light mood and elements of slapstick comedy. The trio are alternately aided and hindered by a mysterious thief named Yves Adele Harlow.

Characters

Main article: The Lone Gunmen

• John Fitzgerald Byers (Portrayed by Bruce Harwood): Byers was born in Sterling, Virginia on November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and was named after the fallen president – his parents were originally planning to name him Bertram after his father. Byers idolized his namesake, but he always had suspicions about the real cause of his death. Byers worked as a public affairs officer for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Baltimore until May 1989. Byers appears to have some working knowledge of medicine, genetics, and chemistry.
• Melvin Frohike (Portrayed by Tom Braidwood): Frohike was born circa 1945 in Pontiac, Michigan. Prior to joining the Lone Gunmen, he was an acclaimed tango dancer in Miami. On giving up the tango, he toured the country with hippies before founding Frohike Electronics Corp., specializing in cable intrusion hardware.
• Richard "Ringo" Langly (Portrayed by Dean Haglund): Langly was born 1965 in Saltville, Nebraska. He showed an aptitude for computers from an early age, which was frowned upon by his parents. Langly is The Lone Gunmen's expert in computers, hacking and programming. He is possibly the most paranoid of the Gunmen, taping all incoming phone calls, including those from Fox Mulder.
• Yves Adele Harlow (Portrayed by Zuleikha Robinson): Harlow is a femme fatale thief who sometimes works with the Lone Gunmen trio (although sometimes she is their rival). The alias Yves Adele Harlow is an anagram for Lee Harvey Oswald. It was later revealed in The X-Files episode "Jump the Shark" that Yves' real name is Lois Runtz.
• Jimmy Bond (Portrayed by Stephen Snedden): Though Bond shares the bravery and physicality of his namesake, he initially appears to be rich but not very bright, and is fascinated with the Lone Gunmen, who often consider him a nuisance but appreciate his financial backing to support The Lone Gunman magazine. His saving grace is his boundless optimism, coupled with an idealistic view that the jaded Gunmen wish they still held.

Production

The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and in New York City, New York, United States.

Episodes

"Jump the Shark" (''The X-Files'' episode)

Main article: Jump the Shark (The X-Files)

Home video release

Fox Home Entertainment officially released the series on a three-disc Region 1 DVD set, including the ninth-season episode of The X-Files titled "Jump the Shark" (which finishes the cliffhanger that ended The Lone Gunmen) as an additional episode. It was released in the United States on March 29, 2005, and in the UK on January 31, 2006.

Reception

Reviews

The Lone Gunmen received generally favorable reviews from critics. Julie Salamon of The New York Times gave it a favorable review, stating it is "well done: shrewdly filmed, edited and written". Los Angeles Times writer Howard Rosenberg gave the series a moderately positive review, saying a "bit of it is pretty funny". Aaron Beierle, writing for DVD Talk, awarded the show 4 stars out of 5. Beierle considered the stories "enjoyable, intelligent and well-written" and described the characters as "terrifically memorable". Eric Profancik, writing for DVD Verdict, stated the material is "pretty good" and described the plots as "strong and unusual stories".

About the show's reception, Vince Gilligan, the co-creator of the show, said: "I have such fondness for The Lone Gunmen. I think it ended way too soon. I was crushed when The Lone Gunmen got canceled after its first season. The Lone Gunmen to this day is a show I’m still proud of, and I will always be proud of. It sort of points to an interesting phenomenon about television – you can’t really tell in advance whether a show is going to work for an audience. I would hold The Lone Gunmen up against anything that I have done before or since. For some reason, timing I guess, being the best thing to point to, it just didn’t click with an audience. If The Lone Gunmen had come on maybe a couple of years earlier, or a couple of years later, maybe it would have clicked." He also said: "my absolute belief is that we learn from failure, we don’t learn from success. And that show was in strict terms a failure. Certainly it only lasted 13 episodes and then was out. But I am still proud of that show and we had a lot of fun making it. But the 'failure' of that show–and I use semi finger quotes around the word failure because I enjoyed what we did with it—it doesn't really tell me much going forward. Because so much of television I really believe comes down to timing."

Chris Carter was also very proud of the show: "I think that’s really some of the best work that all of us have done. I don’t know if it was ahead of its time but it was certainly one of the best shows that we did."

Nielsen ratings

Although the debut episode garnered 13.23 million viewers, its ratings began to steadily drop.

Awards

The pilot episode earned a Canadian Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography – TV Drama by Robert McLachlan.

References

References

1. "The Lone Gunmen: Season 1".
2. "The Lone Gunmen". [[20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
3. Perenson, Melissa J.. "Chris Carter taught us to trust no one, but wants us to trust The Lone Gunmen". [[Syfy]].
4. [http://lonegunmen.furvect.com/lgmrate.htm The Warehouse – Ratings for the Lone Gunmen tv show] {{webarchive. link. (April 14, 2001)
5. "Unusual Suspects".
6. "One Breath (X-Files Episode)".
7. "Tango de los Pistoleros".
8. "The Cap'n Toby Show".
9. (7 March 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 26–March 4, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
10. (14 March 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (March 5–11, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
11. (21 March 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (March 12–18, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
12. (28 March 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (March 19–25, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
13. (4 April 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (March 26–April 1, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
14. (11 April 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (April 2–8, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
15. (18 April 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (April 9–15, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
16. (25 April 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (April 16–22, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
17. (2 May 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (April 23–29, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
18. (9 May 2001). "National Nielsen Viewership (April 30-May 6, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
19. (2001-06-06). "National Nielsen Viewership (May 28–June 3, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
20. (2001-05-16). "National Nielsen Viewership (May 7–13, 2001)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
21. (2002-04-24). "National Nielsen Viewership (April 15–21, 2002)". [[Los Angeles Times]].
22. Salamon, Julie. (March 3, 2001). "Television Review; Even More Truth Is Out There". [[The New York Times]].
23. Rosenberg, Howard. (March 3, 2001). "Lone Gunmen Is a Microchip Off the Old Files". [[Los Angeles Times]].
24. Beierle, Aaron. (March 29, 2005). "Lone Gunmen: Complete Series". [[Internet Brands]].
25. Profancik, Eric. (May 25, 2005). "The Lone Gunmen: The Complete Series". [[DVD Verdict]].
26. ""Another Protégé" The X-Files Lexicon's exclusive interview with Vince Gilligan, conducted by Matt Allair 2/20/2015.".
27. "Q&A: Vince Gilligan on Reviving Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul".
28. (October 22, 2017). "Chris Carter".
29. (June 1, 2001). "The Bitter End".
30. "The Lone Gunmen – Series – Episode List". TV Tango.