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The X-Files Episode So Scary FOX Banned It From Re-Airing
During its long original run on FOX, The X-Files was no stranger to pushing content boundaries, but one season 4 episode took things to the limit. While it's main mythology plotline may have revolved alien invasions, government conspiracies, incurable viruses, and other sci-fi trappings, The X-Files was also very much a horror show. For many, the most memorable episodes were the standalone "monster of the week" stories, which featured some of the coolest, creepiest monsters to ever grace the small screen.
Most of these villains were of the supernatural variety, but not all were. Some were just entirely too human monsters, which served to illustrate that people can be just as terrifying as any creature hiding in the shadows. Fitting the theme of the show, these people usually still had some type of extraordinary ability or mutation, but they were still human, with hopes, fears, goals, and in some cases, pure malice. While many of the creatures were motivated only by hunger or their natural programming, the human monsters often possessed much more complex desires, making them all the more dangerous.
Near the head of the pack when it comes to The X-Files' most deadly humanoid antagonist(s) is the Peacock family from the season 4 episode "Home," which premiered in 1996. One of the most intense X-Files installments ever, "Home" was way more than FOX bargained for, and executives weren't happy.
The X-Files Episode So Scary FOX Banned It From Re-Airing
As any X-Files fan will recall, "Home" is an episode full of disturbing content, including graphic violence, harsh murders, shockingly mutated people, rampant inbreeding, and even dead, deformed babies. "Home" was quite unlike any other X-Files story in tone, echoing backwoods freak horror films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes more than the show's usual fare. While FOX agreed to air the episode, it insisted "Home" be preceded by a viewer discretion is advised warning, and carry a TV-MA rating, a first (and last) for the series.
While "Home" received mostly great reviews, and has gone on to be considered one of the best X-Files episodes ever by fans, those in charge of FOX hated it, thinking the subject matter and content was way too dark and upsetting. They banned the episode from ever re-airing on the FOX network, although years later "Home" began to air in reruns on the FX cable channel. What makes the decision not to repeat the episode surprising is that "Home" earned some of the best ratings in series history, as TV spots promoting the controversial effort served to entice many. At the same time, The X-Files was on top of the TV world by 1996, and could seemingly sell anything to a mass audience.
