Twin Peaks Anniversary

If you're a soap fan and also like mysteries or supernatural stories, and were old enough in 1990 you probably watched Twin Peaks. The show created by David Lynch was a cultural phenomenon and premiered as a special on a Sunday night. Twin Peaks had a style all of its own due to its unique location and characters, and is the very definition of cult series.

The reason for this post is that during the finale episodes which aired on June 10, 1991 a line was uttered by Laura Palmer "I'll see you in twenty-five years." In the program, that episode took place on March 26, 1989. Since the show was so important the Paley Center in both LA and NYC is hosting an screening on March 29 to celebrate the program. To learn more about the event visit the Paley Center site. If you want to learn more about Twin Peaks visit "Welcome to Twin Peaks", who is co-presenting the event.

Twin Peaks original run of eight episodes was outstanding and I was absolutely obsessed by it. The specialness of a weekly miniseries was lost when it returned that autumn as a 22 episode program. The first episode aired as a movie on a Sunday night, and then moved to Thursdays at 9 pm against Cheers, which was in the top five for the 1989-1990 season. Surprisingly it held its own against Cheers, that Spring in what was seen at the time as a "death slot". For the 1990-1991 season, ABC moved Twin Peaks to Saturday from 10-11 pm ET, which could have worked, but the ratings started to go down as it had been a television fad.  Eventually ABC moved it back to Thursday against Cheers, but the magic was lost. Yes people had VCRs in 90s, but the popularity of the show waned and people weren't lured back though its finale that aired on a Monday night in June had a bit of a rebound.

Twin Peaks ironically is exactly the type of show one should binge watch. At times it was dark and disturbing, though now I bet it would seem a lot more "normal" as it influenced later programs. I doubt there will ever be another show like it as it captured the nation's imagination, though some may argue that it was more talked about then viewed. The first two episodes had a rating of over 30, so while the 22-episode second season wasn't a popular, people did sample the show. If someone is a current soap opera watcher, two actors in the cast should look very familiar as Ian Buchanan and Ray Wise were both regulars.

Twin Peaks is on my list of programs I plan to watch again some day as I have copies of most of the episodes on VHS (someone gave them to me along with their daytime tape collection, which is rather awesome.) You can buy the DVDs, but they are incomplete in region one. I'm waiting for a blu-ray edition to finally come to pass with all of the episodes plus the movie that took place in the Twin Peaks universe. Happy 25th Twin Peaks.