I have a theory that Breaking Bad in part comes out of Vince Gilligan’s desire to get right everything that was wrong with the X-files. The X-files overstayed its welcome, and kept running until everyone was bored with it and the main cast started leaving. Breaking Bad, in contrast, was always designed to have a definite end point in sight, and goes out on a high note. The X-files hit the reset button every episode, and the characters never had any real development in spite of all the weird stuff they experienced. Breaking Bad is hyper-serialized, every action has a consequence, and the characters change in profound and permanent ways. The overarching “mythology” of the X-files (the alien abduction stuff) never really held together, and didn’t go anywhere. The plots on Breaking Bad, on the other hand, are rock solid and meticulously charted out, with clear beginnings, middles and ends, and every single plot thread always connects directly to the main storyline.
Anyway, it’s just a theory, as I have no idea what Vince really thinks about the X-files, beyond the few mentions of it on the podcast, where he just says that it was a great job.