This Skeet Ulrich Series Was Meant To Be A 'Spiritual' Version Of The X-Files

"The X-Files" is widely hailed as one of the greatest sci-fi TV shows ever, as creator Chris Carter cracked a perfect formula for episodic television storytelling. Two charismatic leads, FBI Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson), travel the country investigating a new paranormal case per episode. The legacy of "The X-Files" is wide, even outside its own genre. For instance, Vince Gilligan got his start in television writing on "The X-Files." Without "The X-Files," there is likely no "Breaking Bad."

There are also many shows that more directly attempted to copy the formula of "The X-Files," rarely to much success. For example, "Miracles." This Skeet Ulrich-led fantasy series follows Paul Callan (Ulrich), who works for the Catholic Church investigating claims of supposed miracles. Inevitably, Paul disproves them until he meets Tommy Ferguson (Jacob Smith), a young boy who can heal people at the cost of his own vitality. Tommy dies healing Paul and a message forms from Paul's blood: "God is here now." Paul is then recruited into the miracle-tracking organization Sodalitas Quaerito, working alongside Professor Alva Keel (Angus Macfadyen) and former police officer Evelyn Santos (Marisa Ramirez). 

"Miracles" began as a screenplay written by series co-creator Michael Petroni, as his co-creator partner Richard Hatem explained in a behind-the-scenes interview included on the "Miracles" DVD set. Production company Spyglass Entertainment explicitly wanted to make a one-hour series out of the script, pitching it to Hatem and his agent as a "spiritual 'X-Files.'" Digging into Catholic priest Herbert Thurston's 1952 book "The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism" about investigation into spiritual phenomena, Hatem unlocked the series. Aside from having a movie star lead like Ulrich, the show also attracted David Greenwalt of "Angel" (someone experienced in modern-set fantasy TV) as an executive producer.

So why didn't "Miracles" take off?

In that aforementioned interview, Richard Hatem said one of the compelling ideas behind the show was to take a character "who was sort of raised to believe that if anything strange ever happens on Earth, it is either a sign from God or a sign from the Devil," and put them in an environment where all sorts of strange things are happening. However, he also claimed the "Miracles" creative team decided something early on: "This can't be a show about the Catholic Church." Hence the premise of Paul leaving employment at the Church. Even so, by explicitly making such a "spiritual" show (at a time when the Catholic Church had been scandalized by revelations of sexual abuse), was the show courting religious controversy? Did that sink it out the gate? On the contrary, Hatem claimed that: "We weren't on the air long enough to generate controversy."

Indeed, only the first six "Miracles" episodes ran January through March on ABC, which then canceled the show. The remaining seven episodes didn't air until November that year on Canadian network VisionTV. Even earlier than that, scheduling issues hit "Miracles." After the first three episodes aired in January-February, the fourth was preempted until March. Then, again, after the fifth episode aired on March 10, 2023, the sixth one was preempted three weeks due to ABC's dedicated coverage of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which understandably sucked up all the attention. 

"Miracles" simply arrived at a poor time for a network TV show to try and build up an audience; ABC canceled several other freshman shows around the same time, like "Veritas: The Quest" and "Push, Nevada." Hatem claimed "Miracles" did build up a small fanbase (hence it even getting a DVD release), but not enough for a second season.