Showtime gambles with Twin Peaks revival


Good news, Twin Peaks fans. That show you like is going to come back in style.

Last week, co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost announced their intention to bring back their beautiful, bizarre and endlessly influential series for a nine-episode limited run on Showtime in 2016. Even more exciting: Lynch, the visionary filmmaker who cornered the market on American surrealism with ethereal masterpieces such as Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, is attached to direct every episode. The revival, which begins production sometime next year, will pick up 25 years after the events of the first series in order to resolve certain plotlines that were left dangling after the show’s cancellation.

Strange Brew · Coffee-loving Special Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan, left) is called in to investigate the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in David Lynch and Mark Frost’s 1990 television series Twin Peaks. Showtime will begin airing nine new episodes in 2016. — Photo courtesy of CBS Television

Strange Brew · Coffee-loving Special Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan, left) is called in to investigate the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in David Lynch and Mark Frost’s 1990 television series Twin Peaks. Showtime will begin airing nine new episodes in 2016. — Photo courtesy of CBS Television

The original Twin Peaks, which ran for two seasons between 1990 and 1991, has taken up permanent residence in our cultural dreamscape like no other show of its kind. The idea of a soap opera with shades of existential horror practically screams limited appeal, but Lynch and Frost’s grand experiment — injecting art house aesthetics and cinematic nerve and verve into the sterile confines of primetime network television — garnered mainstream popularity and widespread critical acclaim, at least during its first season, by relying on two age-old hooks: engaging characters and an engrossing, highly addictive mystery.

Millions of viewers tuned in every week to watch Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), the chipper, sharp-dressed FBI man whose enthusiasm for justice is matched only by his appetite for “damn fine” coffee and cherry pie, and the stalwart Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) investigate the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), the small town homecoming queen with a well of poisonous secrets. Fans obsessively poured over the now-iconic dream sequences — especially the ones with the dancing, backwards-talking dwarf (Michael J. Anderson, better known as The Man from Another Place) — and developed an encyclopedic knowledge of the seemingly idyllic community and the legion of eccentrics, from the harmless kooks to the hell-spawned killers, who call it home.

Everything was “peachy keen” — one of Lynch’s favorite descriptors — until CBS network executives forced the writers to reveal the identity of Laura’s killer, and the show’s second season suffered from a marked lack of focus as a result (both Lynch and Frost were busy attending to other projects by this time, leaving the series in far less capable hands), which in turn led to plummeting ratings, a punishingly severe season finale that wound up doubling as a series finale and, in a fortunate turn of events, an eventful afterlife as a pop cultural touchstone.

Lynch attempted to give fans a degree of closure with 1992’s temporally twisted sequel-prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, but the film, a graphic, unnerving depiction of Laura Palmer’s last week on Earth, was simply too radical a departure from the show and died a quick death at the box office after being torched by critics and irate fans. Today, however, Fire Walk with Me has been reevaluated as a flawed but powerful work of minor-key brilliance, partially because of the newly released “The Missing Pieces,” a bevy of deleted scenes from the movie that shed some much-needed light on the whereabouts of characters from the series who weren’t present in the theatrical cut.

The Showtime revival is just the latest proof of the enduring legacy of Twin Peaks. If we’re truly living in the Golden Age of Television, this is the show that provided the era with its alchemical spark. Its time on the air might have been short-lived, but it casts a long shadow over the entire medium. From True Detective and The Killing to less obvious examples such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men, every long-form narrative with cinematic production values, multi-episode story arcs and a strong authorial voice owes Lynch and Frost an immeasurable debt of gratitude.

A pressing question remains, however: Will the Twin Peaks revival reach the emotional and technical heights of the original series, specifically the first season? Television history is littered with the carcasses of ill-advised continuations. For every Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek: The Next Generation, there’s a Return to Mayberry and I Still Dream of Jeannie. Some shows were just meant to stay dead, especially when the years start turning into decades.

Also, with so many other programs either paying homage or stealing wholesale from its stylistic playbook, will a modern Twin Peaks be able to stand out in the small-screen landscape it helped create? That remains to be seen, but there are plenty of reasons to remain optimistic. In addition to directing all the episodes, Lynch is teaming up with Frost to write and produce the show, meaning both creators will be giving the project their undivided attention. Incidentally, with the exception of a few music videos, commercials and concert films, this will be Lynch’s first time in the director’s chair since the release of Inland Empire back in 2006. Showtime, for its part, is a premium cable channel known for trusting their showrunners and giving them a great deal of creative freedom. That means Twin Peaks will be virtually unencumbered by the two factors that hastened its decline in the ’90s: network censors and meddling executives.

There’s also the issue of casting to consider. MacLachlan, a Lynch veteran who’s easily the most recognizable character in the series, is widely assumed to be reprising his role as Cooper, while Ontkean has already expressed an interest in donning his sheriff hat again. And it’s next to impossible to envision Twin Peaks without Catherine E. Coulson as the Log Lady, the inscrutable fan favorite who carries around a large chunk of wood said to possess the power of prophecy. But what about the characters whose actors have died? The show’s primary villain for example, a malevolent spirit named BOB, was played by set dresser-turned-actor Frank Silva, who passed away in 1995. It’s difficult to imagine anyone else skulking around bedposts and laughing maniacally in the strobe-lit Red Room with such rabid, unhinged glee. The late character actor Don S. Davis, who portrayed Major Garland Briggs with a tenor of gentle authority, will also be sorely missed in the new series.

So what does the future hold for Twin Peaks and its devoted fan base now that nearly a quarter-century’s worth of patience has finally paid off? I think Special Agent Cooper himself said it best: “I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.”

 

Landon McDonald is a graduate student studying public relations. His column, “Screen Break,” runs Fridays.

 

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