X files factor

Illuminati wants my mind soul and my body,
secret society tryin' to keep their eye on me
Prodigy - I shot ya remix

I've noticed that since the success of the X-files in the 90s many TV shows in this decade have reverted to a formula where every mystery has to be somehow deeper, some part of a greater conspiracy complete with some shadowy Illuminati type group running the whole show. Of course this occurs all unbeknownst to the protagonists of the show at least when the show starts and then its all slowly revealed.

And you know what. That plot is getting tired and played out.

I wont argue that television writing at least in drama/thriller type series is pretty amazing compared to 10 years ago but what happened to the simpler times when a bad guy was just a bad guy, his motives were simple and he didn't think he was working for the good guys and he wasn't looking for some link to a mythical fountain of youth, or the holy grail, or in this week's case with my new show Vanished, the Apocalypse. What happened to simple greed and money as a motive .... as opposed now to complicated greed I guess.

Its like in making TV smarter they have also made it dumber because they always revert to these Da Vinci code, Tomb Raider style references to solve complicated plotlines. They always fall back on some storyline where some ancient designer or engineer or civilization who it was rumored discovered the fountain of youth or came down from the stars or developed a device to do something truly wondrous or dangerous is the reason for whatever plot concept they think up. And of course there is always some secret group of fanatics trying to find this device or scroll or potion that the ancients developed to use it for dubious cause.

And yes the ancient designer or civilization is/was obviously way ahead of his/their time even way ahead of our time and somehow whatever they developed or discovered got lost, buried, stolen, submerged or thrown down a medieval well. The scriptwriters then throw in some dialogue which is supposed to awe you talking about secret scrolls or mind altering earth shattering devices and relating them back to the Aztecs or Plato or Leonardo Da Vinci or some biblical or historical figure and you're supposed to sit there with your mouth open in awe saying "whoa thats deep!" as they use this to explain away some of the implausible crap when they've written themselves into a box.

Its like me writing a book, having the protagonist shot and stabbed to death and then bringing in aliens to whisk him away and save his life.

Please!

I mean ok to be honest the script writers are just preying on a society that is now more skeptical and jdid than probably any other previous societies. We've lost faith in our leaders and we've heard rumors of back room cabals running governments and we keep hearing or reading of secret deals and backroom secret plots etc. We've been subjected to CIA rumors, 9/11 conspiracies, conspiracy theories over why Iraq was really invaded and of course the James Carter (Chris Tucker in Rush Hour 2) theory of criminal investigation; "Behind every big crime there's a rich white man waiting for his cut". With the amount of conspiracy theories floating around in real life no wonder the Hollywood script writers take liberties with this line in their dramas.

Still that plot concept is getting played. I'm not saying that secret societies or backroom cabals don't exist or may not be the reason for certain world changing events I'm just saying you can ruin some really good dramas with those plot twists that tend to be mythical and absurd. Every drama doesn't need Illuminati behind the scenes controlling the bad guys. Cut that out.