Take a look what's on file for popular TV series

Gannett News Service

As the end nears for "The X-Files," here are a few random facts. Most are from the show's press material; some are from Brian Lowry's "The Official Guide to The X-Files" (HarperPrism, 1995):

Series starts: Sept. 10, 1993, declaring "The truth is out there." Entertainment Weekly replied, "We know — this show's a goner."

Series ends: 8 tonight, on Fox. It's the 200th episode.

Where else it plays: Fx cable channel. Times vary, and it's syndicated to individual stations on weekends (check local listings). Tapes are at video stores. The first five seasons are on DVD at $149.98 per season. The show has been licensed to 92 countries. They include Slovenia, Tanzania, Croatia, Bangladesh and Kazakstan.

Guest stars: Guest stars have included two famous Lucys (Lawless and Liu) and Lili Taylor and Lily Tomlin. Other guest stars have included Jerry Springer, Alex Trebek, Ed Asner and Burt Reynolds. The sixth season had four former "Saturday Night Live" people — Victoria Jackson, Michael McKean, Charles Rocket and Nora Dunn.

Before they were famous: Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi shared an episode in season three. Luke Wilson was in season five.

Long before "Survivor" and "Fear Factor" (in the second season, in fact) Gillian Anderson put a live cricket in her mouth. She spit it out when the scene ended.

Famous quotes:

• Mulder's first words to Scully, when she found his office in the FBI basement: "Sorry, nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted."
• Mulder, who dislikes paperwork, on why he likes his job: "That's one of the luxuries of hunting down aliens and genetic mutants. You rarely get to press charges."
• A funeral director on why such a small town needs a lot of coffins: "Repeat business."
• Mulder to Scully: "Do you believe in the afterlife?" Scully: "I'd settle for a life in this one."
• When it was determined that a criminal had walked through walls, Scully asked if David Copperfield should be arrested. Mulder: "Yes, but not for this."
• At one point, Mulder fretted that his life's work was a sham: "One more anal-probing gyro pyro levitating ectoplasm alien anti-matter story and I'm gonna take up my gun and shoot someone."

Weather blues: In the fourth season, it rained toads. In the sixth, a cow crashed through the roof of Mulder's hotel room.

Mulder and Scully were never ones to rush into romance. In season seven, they had a New Year's Eve kiss. The year before, he said he loved her. She, figuring he was delirious from his drowning ordeal, replied, "Oh, brother."

Behind the camera:

Before Carter created "X-Files," he wasn't being assigned to distinguished series. He was a producer of "A Brand New Life" (Disney family drama), "Rags to Riches" (musical orphans) and "Palace Guard" (which was a "Moonlighting" wannabe).

Both stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, have directed episodes. Duchovny wrote scripts or stories for eight episodes. His brother was in two episodes; Anderson's teen sister, Zoe, played the teenage Dana Scully in one. Other scripts were written by the prop master and the special-effects producer. There were acting roles for the wives of Robert Patrick (Agent John Doggett) and Mitch Pileggi (who plays Assistant Director Walter Skinner), and Duchovny. The latter's wife, Tea Leoni, played the actress portraying Scully in an episode that had Hollywood making a movie version.

Also, assistant director Tom Braidwood became Melvin Frohike, one of the Lone Gunmen.