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Robot, and Donald Glover’sAtlanta.
Especially if you’re a person of a certain age.
Kyle MacLachlan on ‘Twin Peaks’.Credit: Everett Collection
Of course,Twin Peaksdoesn’t completely explain the vibrant state of TV.
There’s probably noX-Fileswithout a web connection like Fox.
There’s certainly noBuffy The Vampire Slayerwithout The WB.
That, kids, is from where TV babies come, in a terribly reductive nutshell.
Twin Peakscontains a version of this creation myth in its DNA, too.
Think ofTwin Peaksas a kinky bridal dress: something old, something new, something borrowed, somethingBlue Velvet.
The relationship didn’t last long.
Yet can’t you seeTwin Peaksthriving in today’s mediaverse?
Maybe, say, on Showtime?
Mark Frost certainly could.
But he couldn’t do it alone.
Wouldn’t dream of it, either.
So Frost called Lynch and put forth a proposal: How about making moreTwin Peaks?
Lynch had convinced himself over the years that there was no interest inTwin Peaks.
Frost presented Lynch with several arguments for revivingTwin Peaksright here, right now.
So that was our admonition to ourselves.
And we had some unfinished business."
We recently asked several leading TV producers to share howTwin Peaksinfluenced them.
Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be sharing with you EW’s conversations with them.
I watched it at my dad’s place.
It was on his radar; he was very excited aboutTwin Peaksbecause of David Lynch.
This evolved into a ritual.
He would do live commentary and we began to formulate theories.
This was my first experience, in the pre-internet era, of theorizing about TV.
So you likedTwin Peaks.I lovedTwin Peaks.
What did you love about it?The mystery.
It was also my first exposure to soap operas.
There was just this complex web of affairs that was delicious.
The sexual intrigue was bonkers!
That was really interesting and felt very fresh at the time.
And then there Agent Cooper.
What an amazing character.
His entrance in that pilot is a classic TV moment.
I loved his quirkiness.
He had these obsessions with coffee and pastry.
The show had this very distinctive sense of humor.
People remember her as weird, but I just thought she was really funny.
One other thing that I loved aboutTwin Peakswas that it was scary.
I slept with the lights on after that episode.
It was the definition of unique.
I had never seen anything like it, before or since.
And then when didWild at Heartcome out?
August of 1990, between the first and second seasons ofTwin Peaks.I lovedWild at Heart.
It was just so gonzo.
Looking back on it, I can’t say I became a fan of David Lynch because ofTwin Peaks.
I was just a fan ofTwin Peaks.
But afterWild at Heart, I was just all the way in on Lynch.
That Angelo Badalamenti score!
I played theTwin Peakssoundtrack all the time when I was a junior in high school.
What did you make of the supernatural aspect?
It became more important to the storytelling as the series progressed.
Did you enjoy that part of the show?That was interesting to watch unfold.
But I didn’t see it coming.
Here, the show is openly declaring that everything is up for grabs.
And I do remember loving that and being very excited by that stuff.
But I experienced it as an escalation.
The show didn’t start supernatural.
It became progressively so.
They wanted a naturalistic explanation.
The novel by Thomas Harris was published in 1988.]
So I can understand why an audience expected a naturalist resolution, because serial killer stories resolve naturalistically.
And then something would happen that would make me fall in love with it all over again.
And I remember not liking that.
Still, I was alternately in and out.
Now, what is the show?
Now, what’s the mystery we’re supposed to solve?
It never quite locked into anything new that was as compelling as Laura Palmer.
The sequence in The Red Room.
Cooper getting possessed by BOB.
Ending on him looking in the mirror and ramming his face into it.
I remember thinking, This is going to be cool!
I’m back in!'
And then the show was canceled.
Did you see the prequel movie?Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me?Yeah.
That was a year later, right?
Still, I only had positive feelings aboutTwin Peaks.
We were the age of Bobby and James, Laura and Donna and Maddy.
Even though they were all clearly played by actors in their 20s, there was an identification with them.
DidTwin Peaksinfluence your storytelling?
And yes, of course, the episode “International Assassin.”
No way does that happen in a world whereTwin Peaksnever aired.
AndLostwould never have happened ifTwin Peakshadn’t occurred, either.
First off, the idea of mystery as the central premise of a television show came fromTwin Peaks.
Every episode, there’s a mystery, it gets solved.
Now, there are downsides with mystery.
You’re playing with fire.
The minute you fix the mystery, the show is over.Twin Peaksbecame a cautionary tale for that.
Which brings me to a story aboutLost.
My memory might be faulty.
I’m sure about some things in this story and less sure about others.
But the main area of concern was the idea that there was this monster on the island.
In that meeting, present were Lloyd Braun and Susan Lyne, who were the co-presidents of ABC.
It was his idea to do a plane crash on an island show, et cetera.
But I don’t think he wanted the monster.
But definitely not in the pilot.
It’s too weird.
We don’t want to do aTwin Peaks."
I remember Lloyd very specifically saying, “I don’t want to do aTwin Peaks.”
This wasn’t good.
We should be so lucky to be compared to Twin Peaks!
We should aspire to Twin Peaks!"
And Lloyd said, “Okay, do your monster.”
At this point in your working relationship with J.J., you had only known him A week!
Did you guys discussTwin Peaksin your brainstorming?I don’t think so.
We talked a lot aboutThe Twilight Zone.
ButTwin Peaksinfluenced a lot ofLost.
Characters having secret motivations.
These were not revolutionary ideas.
Certainly not for soap opera.
But whenLostcame along, there weren’t really any shows on the air that were doing 14 series regulars.
I think that the last time ABC had an hour-long drama with 14 series regulars was probablyTwin Peaks.
Is it possible that Agent Cooper exists in the world ofLost?"
That would have been my greatest favorite thing ever.It would have.
What was thinking behind the idea?
Why even make that joke?It could have been something like Sawyer making a pop culture wisecrack.
We couldn’t be that self-aware without eating a tremendous amount of s. …
But in all seriousness, you are literally playing with fire if you invokeTwin Peakson a show likeLost.
The shows shared similar issues, and in some ways now, similar legacies.
I’ll tell you this much, though.
Frost and Lynch did not get to do that.
Now, they are.
And that’s the other reason I’m super psyched forTwin Peakscoming back.
