CTP Episode of the Day - 05.15.06

Today's Cherished Episode: Theef (7x14)
Original Air Date: March 12, 2000
Written By: Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz
Directed By: Kim Manners

Mulder and Scully suspect that hexcraft is the source of threats against a doctor's family.

(Thanks to chrisnu for today's episode pics.)

"You see that, Scully, you always keep me guessing."

Some "Theef" Tidbits & Musings:

-- At the beginning of Season 7, the episode that would become "Theef" was not planned. But things changed as cast and crew got ready for the Christmas hiatus. Originally, another script was scheduled for the first episode after the Christmas break, but that script fell through just before they broke for the holidays. More than ready for a vacation, the writers were now faced with having to create a new story concept and script literally overnight. They wracked their brains, and the original premise of the episode that would become "Theef" was going to be "how do you get rid of something you can't get rid of." But the writers couldn't make that work; so they kept at it and the story started to evolve into a Cape Fear type of situation which pitted a modern doctor again a man with the power of Appalachian voodoo. Shiban and Spotnitz finished the script over the Christmas holiday break.

-- This episode was memorable for Kim Manners for one unpleasant reason: It was the first time he ever got sick while directing an episode. They were shooting late one night and ordered fast food hamburgers. The burgers arrived at 11 p.m., but Manners was too busy to eat and had one reheated later. By four the next morning he was "making love to the porcelain bowl," and then he couldn't get out of bed. So he called Rob Bowman at six in the morning and Bowman filled in as director for one day while Manners recovered.

-- This was Mulder and Scully's fifth straight episode set in California.

-- John Shiban was surprised to learn that Leah Sanders, who plays Reporter #1, was a childhood friend he hadn't seen in 20 years. She also played a reporter (#3) in Season 9's "Underneath."

-- Billy Drago, who plays Oral Peattie, appeared in a trio of Chuck Norris movies (Delta Force 2: Operation Stranglehold; Hero and the Terror; and Invasion USA); and he's also the father of Darren Burrows, who played Bernard in "Monday."

-- James Morrison who played Dr. Robert Wieder, might be more familiar as the man who helps out Jack Bauer day after day on "24." He plays the head of CTU, Bill Buchanan.

-- The character of Dr. Robert Wieder was named for Frank Spotnitz's assistant's doctor (Sandra Tripicchio's doctor).

-- The name of the reporter covering the flesh-eating disease story is John Gillnitz, marking the 5th appearance of the name in an X-Files episode. This long-running in-joke is a combination of the names of the writers John Shiban, Vince Gilligan, and Frank Spotnitz. John's previous four appearances were in "Wetwired," "Leonard Betts," "Christmas Carol," and "Dreamland II."

-- Mulder mentions his grandpa slurping his soup. Was this the same grandpa he mentioned in "The Calusari"? Grandpa Mulder or Grandpa Kiupers?

-- The phrase "Stinky's good," went on to become a commonly-used phrase among the XF crew members.

-- The In Memoriam at the end is for Rick Jacobson, president of 20th Century Fox Television, who died of cancer in March 2000 at the age of 48.

Please share your first impressions, favorite (or cringe-worthy!) moments, classic lines, favorite fanfic, nagging questions, repeated viewing observations, etc., as today we celebrate "Theef"!

Polly