Twin Peaks Turns 20

On April 8, 1990, Twin Peaks debuted on ABC. Damn, I feel old.

• They''re doing a Twin Peaks reunion improv thing at Upright Citizens Brigade in LA tonight.

• Best TV Show ever

• I still cannot believe that this show was on a major network.

• God, that makes me feel old too. I remember Twin Peaks and all the media hype around it like it happened yesterday.

• Who''s up for some pie and coffee?

• The show started out great, but by the end it was just a wreck.

• Maddy''s death scene was so disturbing.

• "She''s dead! Wrapped in plastic!"

• Years ago there was a Twin Peaks afficiando or two that posted here. I remember there was a thread where they deconstructed the whole second season. It was really interesting what all the imagery represented.\ \ \ I guess those guys have long fled DL now.

• I always hope that Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Ontkean would hook up on the show.

• First Malcolm McLaren, and now this. Old doesn''t even begin to describe it.

• James: When did you start smoking?\ \ Donna: It helps relieve tension.\ \ James: When did you get so tense?\ \ Donna: When I started smoking.

• 20?! That doesn''t even seem possible. Wow.

  Feeling really old

• I think Twin Peaks started Fox''s trend of canceling good shows with strong fan following.

• Twin Peaks was on ABC, not FOX. Also, it was originally intended to be a miniseries, and if it had ended when it was supposed to, it would''ve been much better for the story. \ \ I remember being at a David Bowie concert and in the middle of a song, some guy came out and whispered something in his ear. He stopped playing, the music stopped, and the Bowie whispered into the mic, "I know who killed Laura Palmer." \ \ I''m old now, I guess.

• Ha - I actually thought it was older than that, OP.

• My bad. I could have SWORN it was on FOX. Oops\ \ Anyone here seen "Fire Walk with Me?" Now that was a weird movie...

• This was appointment tv for me back then, the whole thing was weird, the characters, the town, the music, the way David Lynch would just shoot trees or stoplights blowing in the wind and have it seem eerie. Great show. But I do feel old now.

• I love Fire Walk With Me.

• Twin Peaks started off my senior year in high school. My first period class was AP French. There were 5 of us in it. We''d walk in Monday morning, announce to our teacher that we were going to go get coffee and bagels and be right back. We''d then discuss Twin Peaks. He''d make us do it in french. He loved the show too. He made it a point to discuss the art direction of David Lynch. Seriously, one of my favorite high school memories. Unfortunately I didn''t pass the French AP exams. I blame it on Laura Palmer.

• Upping the original thread.

  Not the OP

• The music from the show still haunts

• This is my favorite scene from the show. God, the dancing dwarf freaked me out so much.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guwl1w0yFGk

• WEHT Dana Ashbrook? I had a huge crush on him

• Bumping for a show I loved.

• My log says it should have aired as the mini-series.

  Log Lady

• Why did Lara Flynn Boyle, Sherilyn Fenn, and Madchen Amick never became big stars?

• Boyle had a decent run in movies and TV. But she butchered her face and her anorexia took a heavy toll. And the years of heavy smoking have left her sounding like Harvey Fierstein. She''s really unrecognizable now, which is tragic because she was so pretty during "Twin Peaks."\ \ Fenn took on the disastrous "Boxing Helena" with disastrous career results. She''s worked steadily but seems to pick doomed projects. She was great on an episode of "Friends." I think she should have tried more comedic roles but Hollywood saw her as a sexpot.\ \ I seem to recall on a thread here someone saying Amick was a diva who burned some bridges but I have a hard time believing it. She''s worked steadily since the show as well, again on doomed projects. ("Joey" anyone?)\ \ But the real reason is they were just ''okay'' actresses who were more interesting as part of the "Twin Peaks" mystique. Sheryl Lee never became a star either. Even Kyle MacLachlan didn''t become the star he expected to once the show ended.

• I loved James Marshall and Dana Ashbrook

• James Marshall was the worst actor on the show.

• Nice soundtrack by Julee Cruise

• "James Marshall was the worst actor on the show."\ \ \ \ \ True, but he was hot!

• The last 20 minutes of FIRE WALK WITH ME are among the most disturbing of any film I''ve ever seen.\ \ And the Bob-behind-the-dresser scene still scares the shit out of me. Every. Single. Time.\ \ There are over an hour of deleted scenes from the film version depicting many of the characters who did not make the final cut in FWWM. The missing parts of the film were intended to be included in the sequel, titled A CHOIR OF ANGELS. The complete script of FWWM with the A CHOIR OF ANGELS scenes included is online, or was at one time.

  Log Lady

• Thanks, r28.

• Amick had a multi-episode guest role on "Gossip Girl" last season, so she''s still getting some work.

• Where did you see these missing scenes, r33?

• I had a big crush on David Duchovny in full drag. She was GORGEOUS!\ \ And that was before I even had a van.

  Eddie Murphy

• The dad killed her, right?\ \ Why?

• I started watching this with my family the summer before 8th grade. I remained obsessed with it until it went off the air. I used to have BOB nightmares (just the thought of his face can freak me out... in fact I''m freaked out right now). I had the Laura Palmer diary and everything!\ \ Anybody catch reruns on Chill?

• I disagree r30, Dana Ashbrook (Bobby Briggs) is who I hate. The TV remake of Bonnie & Clyde he was in is horribly embarrassing. He was a really lightweight actor who thought he could get by on his sex appeal, which he had clearly overrated in his mind.\ \ He''s continued to work but nothing of note. And now he''s lost his looks so we''ll surely never hear from him again.

• The dad killed her, right?\ \ Why?

• R41, because he was possessed by a demon named BOB. \ \ In the diary, he sexually abused Laura as a girl.

• Who was Bob? Were they able to exorcise him out?\ \ Fuck! Gotta buy the DVDs now.

• Bob always gave me the creeps too, with that mad Charles Manson stare and grimace. But if you think Bob''s bad, R43, you need to watch the last episode of the series. Wait until you see what he does then!

• Oh by the way, R43, for further Bob exploits, check out the episodes with the death of Maddie and the final one of the first season. The latter is the conclusion of the "Laura Palmer" arc, will answer your question about a type of "exorcism." Outstanding episodes -- I was alternating goosebumps and tears during both.

• Boo!

  http://www.culch.ie/images/TwinPeaks001.jpg

• Oh my GOD, r46 that just made my eyes go crossed. What makes BOB so terrifying? Truly - more than any other demon or character ever.\ \ Is it true that the guy who played BOB was a member of the crew? And that he died of AIDS in real life?

  too lazy to google

• Not Kyle!

  http://ferocity.typepad.com/files/twin_peaks_cooper_and_bob.jpg

• I don''t know if he died from AIDS but he did die a few years ago and he was originally just a crew member. The story goes he was setting up a scene in Laura Palmer''s bedroom and Lynch saw him in the space near her dresser (where she hid her diary) and realized he had to be a part of the show. I don''t think he had acted before that. \ \ Another cool trivia: in the final scene of the pilot where Laura''s mother is sitting and smoking you can see "Bob" reflected in the mirror behind her. He was crouching there handing her cigarettes and got caught. While it''s technically a blooper it actually works perfectly because that''s the moment Mrs. Palmer has her vision of the man who killed Laura.

  Peaks Geek

• if you wanna feel really old, consider that david cassidy turned 60 the other day.

• r. 37\ \ I think David Duchovny looks better as a woman than he does as a man.

• Back then I thought Sheryl Lee would become a big star. Never happened for her. Why?

• I thought Sherilyn Fenn would be a big star - she was really getting the PR push in those days.\ \ Do you remember the craptastic Elizabeth Taylor miniseries she did? Camp for days.

• I''ve never seen the Liz Taylor miniseries. But I do remember the scene from Twin Peaks when Audrey tied the cherry stem into a knot with her tongue.

  i had such a crush on her

• Watched FWWM earlier today for the first time. Pretty good film, easy to follow along with. Why did Bob want to be Laura so badly?\ \ I loved all the screaming.

• gv

• My Gold Box Definitive DVD Set of TP just shipped out from Amazon today. Can''t wait!

• You''re in for a treat, R57! If you have the original DVD sets of the show you may want to hold onto them: for while the Gold Box is great in its own way - and the remaster is crystal-clear - it does not include the cast/crew commentaries from the first editions, nor the DTS option on the soundtrack. The GOLD BOX is short of definitive for this reason, and also because it does not contain the A CHOIR OF ANGELS deleted scenes from the FWWM film, though it is rumored that they will be included in the next Lynch box set to come after the current Lime Green Set (which contains almost an hour of deleted scenes from WILD AT HEART). Otherwise, it''s incredible! The reunion interview at the diner is so weird, wacky and wonderful!

  Nikki

• Thanks for that info, Nikki. Can you tell me if there''s any reason to hang on to the import DVD of the pilot that wasn''t included in the original season 1 boxset? Now that I have the Gold Box I was going to sell this, but it still goes for a lot of money on ebay and amazon.

  http://www.amazon.com/Twin-Peaks-Pilot-Episode-IMPORT/dp/B00005V54S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1272072611&sr=1-2

• R59, since the Gold Box contains both the original ABC pilot and the extended European film version, I''d say there''s no reason to hang on to it. If it''s in DTS, there''s that, though the Dolby Digital remaster on the Gold Box has cleaner, if slightly less-immersing sound. I''m still unclear as to why the commentaries from the first release aren''t on the Gold Box, but I would assume it has something to do with rights'' issues. I''ve heard they''re not very good, anyway.\ \ As I tell all TWIN PEAKS fans, if you have not seen Lynch''s newest masterpiece INLAND EMPIRE, run, don''t walk, to pick it up! It''s a total mind-fuck and a fascinating experiment with digital video.

  Nikki

• You people who think this was a good show are mental. It was terrible. Unwatchable, really. I recently tried watching it on DVD and had to force myself to keep going. I finally gave up after I got through the first season. It''s just terrible acting, editing, storytelling...everything. You all were either 12 when this aired and haven''t taken the time to re-watch it or you have really bad taste.

• Thanks for setting us all straight, r61. I''ll be sure to switch to "Murder She Wrote" reruns instead.

• "It''s just terrible acting, editing, storytelling...everything."\ \ \ \ SOME of the actors were bad, but the storytelling and editing were brilliant.

• David Lynch is nonsensical and his fanbois are sycophants. And I say this as a film nerd.

  R61

• R61, please stick to reruns of Friends and Family Matters. They are much more your speed and mentality.

• I bought the boxed set.

• Even the weird episodes are good.

• Madchen Amick has aged very nicely.

• R20 Qui a tué Laura Palmer ? L'épisode pilote de la série existe dans deux versions différentes : une version télévisée de 90 minutes diffusée aux États-Unis et en France et après lequel s'enchaîne parfaitement le premier épisode de la saison 1, et une autre version dite « européenne », sortie en vidéo en France sous le titre « Qui a tué Laura Palmer ? ». Cette version contient vingt minutes supplémentaires tournées par David Lynch, qui donnent une fin à l'histoire.

• English R69

• I loved the series so much that in 1992 I sold my home in Burbank and move to Roslyn, sight unseen. I was shocked to find that the town was nothing like the one in the series. i bought an old victorian, 2900 square feet for the grand sum of 229k. I bought at the top of the market and had to sell in the late 90's at a lost. I decided to return to so Cal and was shocked to find I could no longer afford real estate where I truly wanted to be. I ended up buying a cottage in Elysian Heights. I loved it to this day. ....so I'm thankful for Twin Peaks.