Apr-??-1994
Kevin and Bean
Interview with Chris Carter
KROQ
This is a transcript of the interview that Chris Carter did on the L.A. radio station KROQ. The morning show hosts are Kevin and Bean… It’s much more entertaining to listen to than to read, but anyway here it goes…
K: 8:27…Our favorite TV show,(x-files theme in the background) as you know is the X-files. It’s on tonight on FOX, uhhh…9 o’clock, channel 11?
B: Correct..
K: Our friend Chris Carter on the telephone now…producer, creator director…behind the scenes pulling the strings guy, writer…Chris, good morning.
CC: Good morning.
K: You know Chris, we were…Geez, what are you the voice of God?
B: ‘Good morning'(mocking Chris’ deep voice)
K: We ahhh, were much more impressed with you Chris, when ya’ know we met you up there, in ahhh…Canada.
CC: Uhn huh…
K: We were much more impressed with you until we were reading through your biography, and…It says here that you wrote “The Nanny.”
CC: It wasn’t _that_ ‘Nanny,’ it was uhh, it was a previous and less successful ‘Nanny.’
B: You mean, it wasn’t even the successful ‘Nanny?’
K: (laughing) What did you write, ahh the pilot or something for a show called “The Nanny?”
CC: Yeah, it was a long time ago…and somehow, it ended up on my uhhh (laughing) my biography.
K: Ohhh, see you gotta fire some people, Chris…Anyone who’s putting “The Nanny” on your…especially if it’s not even the one that they might like.
B: (laughing) It was the bad ‘Nanny.’
K: That’s embarrassing.
CC: (laughing) It was the paranormal ‘Nanny.’
B: Yeah, right.
K: Now, you wrote other pilots for other TV shows before the “X-files,” it’s not like this is your first foray into TV, right?
CC: Nah, I’ve been doing tv for about, uhh I guess 10 years.
K: How does a guy, uhh, and we may have asked you this before, but I’ve forgotten the answer if you gave it to us…When you have an idea like you did for the “X-files…”
CC: Yeah…
K: Do you take it to a network? Or who do you take it to and say, here’s my plan for a tv show…How does that work?
CC: It, it’s kinda like that, uhh…You have a reputation, so they, uhh… as a person who can possibly create a tv show, so a studio enlists you, and you come up with the idea…and then you pitch it to the network and they uhhh, they either buy or they don’t.
B: Now, did you pitch the “X-files” to other networks before FOX?
CC: No, FOX was the first choice, uhh…
B: Uhh, were they your first choice?
CC: Uhh, they were.
B: Hey, we heard the other day, and maybe you know if this is true or not, this is what one of our friends in the ‘biz’ told us… That FOX turned down the “Friends” pilot…That it was offered to FOX first, they turned it down.
CC: That happens all the time, NBC turned down “Roseanne.”
B: That’s amazing … And it’s so easy now to look back, and go ‘Wow, what a dumb move,’ but I guess at the time, you never know, there are so many shows pitched, you have no idea which one’s are gonna be hits.
CC: Exactly…
K: Now, when you walked into FOX, and you said ‘okay, here’s what I wanna do…I wanna have these two agents, and they look for UFO’s.’ They didn’t go, ‘okay Chris, thank you…next?’
CC: Actually, they did do that…
K: Oh, did they?
CC: They turned it down at first. They didn’t know what it was, and then I went back with uhh, a guy named Peter Roth and we went back and were able to sell it to them.
K: Wow, that’s cool, now the episode that’s on tonight is a brand new show, I think…Uhh, of course we’re in sweeps now, and so we get new “X-files,” what, for like the next three weeks I would imagine.
CC: Yeah, yep.
K: We were up in Vancouver when y’all were filming this, and I am telling you that you would expect…because the show, the “X-files,” and many of our listeners are watching it…because it’s, uhh.. It’s a dark, moody, smoke-filled show…You would expect that that’s what it’s like to be there, but you people just party up there…
CC: (laughing)
K: There’s…I mean, it’s just a terrific set…
B: Also, when we were in your office Chris, you were sitting there on your laptop computer, and you were writing the final episode…
CC: That’s right.
B: And if I remember correctly, I sat down in your chair and added a scene to the final episode…I trust that’s still in?
CC: It changed everything…
B: I trust it’s still in.
CC: It is, that…Now that cliffhanger…
B: …Involves nudity…Okay, very good.
K: (laughing)Which is not a uhh, not a bad thing. But, I mean your uhh, your director and your camera people are all fun people, and we were just so surprised…and I think we told ya about Dave and Gillian, the stars of the show…Now I know that they’re really good actors because they couldn’t be any more different than they are on the show…
CC: I know it.
K: They’re just goofy and silly…Ya’ know?…Hey, there’s one more thing I wanted to tell you about, and I know you’re probably now uh, with the popularity of the program, you’re probably keeping your eyes open for like copyright infringements and stuff like that?…
CC: (laughing) Yes…
K: Ya know, people selling like t-shirts outta the back of a station wagon down on Hollywood Boulevard? We talked to a guy yesterday who just wrapped a major porno movie called “The Triple X-files.”
CC: (laughing) Uhhh, yes we’ve already been uhh, celebrated with “The Breast Files,” so this is, uhh…
B: (laughing) Oh really?…(laughing)”The Breast Files” and “The Triple X-files,” I like it.
K: Well, you guys got something to watch at the cast party at the end of the season then (laughing). Now this is always funny…for the people who have not yet discovered the “X-files,” try and describe the plot for tonight’s show.
CC: Uhhh, it’s a tough one…It’s uhh, a possible contagion that uhh, affects the prison, or infects the prison…and uhh, two of the prisoners uhh, possibly are infected with it and escape…And, Mulder and Scully are uhm sort of put on a, sort of uhh, an abnormal assignment to track them down…And uhh, they are used as uhm, stalking horses, I think they call it, for the uhh, for the government.
K: I have bad news for ya, as I read my TV guide, that’s the same plot of Suzanne Sommers’ “Step By Step” for tonight…
CC: (laughing)
K: So, there’s gonna be some confusion.
CC: Yikes!
K: Chris by the way, you have the voice of God…I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet.
B: (Imitating Chris, again) ‘Yes, tonight on the “X-files,” they’re going to track them down…’
K: (laughing) Alright, so it’s three more new episodes and then uhh, what we’re.. you’re off for the summer? At least…
CC: Uhhh, yeah, let me see…Uhhh, I think actually there are four episodes, counting the one tonight…
K: Cool. Hey, did you see that you were number 6 in L.A. last week?
CC: Seriously?
K: Number 6 in L.A.
CC: That’s amazing, ’cause last week was rerun.
K: Yeah, no joke…It was just crazy, we couldn’t believe it…Alright Chris, terrific, we hope you’ll stay in touch with us.
CC: Thanks, you guys.
K: Give uhh, our best to the cast.
CC: Come back to Vancouver.
K: Ya know, we still wanna die on an episode of the “X-files.”…I mean, the next time you’ve got some sort of like mass slaughter thing happening…seriously, we want to be there for it.
CC: (laughing)You’re there.
B: We’ll fly up if you’ll let us do it…
CC: (laughing) Okay…
B: We want to be on the screen for like a half a second, then get hit by a truck.
CC: (laughing) Okay…
B: Alright, thanks a lot.
CC: Thanks, you guys.