but was kind of a breath of fresh air in the early '90s. >> the '90s was a time of conspiracies. and the internet was starting to spread beyond just like hard-core computer users. so you could have message boards and use net news groups. and everybody wanted to talk about the black oil and the bees and mulder's sister and what the cigarette smoking man was up to. go to alt.tv and people were so nuts for this show. >> it's just pure science fiction. that's probably what i like most about it. >> the "x files" changed the way people watched television. >> you could sense the successful creators trying to see how they could do things different five or ten years ago. sometimes that led to really challenging network television that was cool and fun to watch. and sometimes it seemed to fall off the edge a little bit. ♪ let's be careful out there ♪ >> at the time, steven bochco was a very successful producer