High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "Terms of Endearment" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, and originally aired on the Fox network on January 3, 1999. Written by David Amann and directed by Rob Bowman, "Terms of Endearment" is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series` wider mythology. It earned a Nielsen rating of 10.5 and was watched by 18.7 million people on its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed reviews. While the performance given by guest actor Bruce Campbell attracted positive comments, the plot was criticised.