While recent years have brought Gillian Anderson acclaim for the thrillers Hannibal and The Fall, 2016 ushered the illustrious Dana Scully back into our primetime lives, and while The X-Files return may not have lived up to our every expectation storywise, Anderson and David Duchovny were as enjoyable as ever. Just not, I guess, the Emmy-worthy kind of enjoyable, as evidenced by the sci-fi revival's glaring absence in today's Emmy nomination announcement. Luckily, Anderson isn't as serious as Scully, and had a bit of fun with the snub on social media.
The year was 1995. Die Hard with a Vengeance would end up the most successful film around the world. The WB, WCW Monday Nitro, Mad TV were all new things on TV, while The Jon Stewart Show and Batman: The Animated Series were ending. Kendall Jenner was born, while Eva Gabor died. And on September 10, several different people thought that the clothes David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were wearing could and should be seen by both in-house and TV audiences. Thank goodness the actress used Twitter to bring it back to the forefront of everyone's minds, if largely to deflect the disappointment over X-Files getting the snub.
On a particular kind of sliding scale, that image is just about as frightening as anything The X-Files ever laid out on viewers' imaginations, as if those outfits came directly from the back of Flukeman's closet, with the stuff that even he won't put over his gross body. But really, who among us can say that we haven't at some point in our past done something that would haunt us later in life? Even if we all didn't wear a dress with a collar big enough to picnic on, or a jacket that looks like it was created for Las Vegas' Cirque de Funeral Director.
This post brings up not just how much clothing has changed over the years, but also how much TV itself has changed. Anderson was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama from 1996-1999, and though she never won, it stood to reason that she might find a place when the show returned. But there is just entirely too much top-quality TV out there right now, especially when you throw streaming services into it. The six actresses nominated this year are Claire Danes, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson, Tatiana Maslany, Keri Russell and Robin Wright, and it's impossible to make a clear choice as to who would need to leave in order to put Anderson in the mix. Cookie Lyon would not let that shit slide.
For those who are anxiously wanting to see the above image in live-action, look no further.
Perhaps aliens will come down and show us that they have their own version of the Emmys, in which Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny and The X-Files are nominated for all the awards. Tune in to see that (not) happen on Sunday, September 18, on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
