![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And when HBO did pick up Sopranos at the last minute, Chase immediately began delving deep into the Twin Peaks back catalog. It was created by David Chase, a man with Northern Exposure roots who had been offered a job on The X-Files should HBO decide to pass. When HBO was carefully choosing which series it would go forward with to follow up its initial drama series, Oz, one of its candidates was this mob drama that was really more of a drama about psychology. At its height, it was one of the most experimental shows in TV history, deeply indebted to Lynch's weird art film for TV. Some were standalones, and that gave the show license to spread its Peaks-y vibe in every direction. The stroke of genius that made X-Files run for nine seasons, however, was that not every episode was about the central mystery (which involved aliens visiting the Earth). Twin Peaks had David Duchovny for a while? The X-Files would pick that up as well. Twin Peaks was filled with suggestions of the weird, terrifying corners of the American imagination? The X-Files would have that in spades. Twin Peaks was built around one central mystery? Well, The X-Files was, too. If there was a show that "mainstreamed" the Twin Peaks sensibility, it was the ‘90s mega-hit The X-Files, without which Peaks might have become a curious footnote in television history. The two were compared so often while both on the air that Northern Exposure actually filmed this weird tribute to its competitor/cousin. But by leaning more toward overt comedy, Northern Exposure managed a six-season run and won the Emmy that eluded Twin Peaks. Both shows were filmed in Washington state (among the earliest TV shows not to film in Los Angeles, New York, or Hawaii), and both shows were fond of long digressions that had nothing to do with the main plot. Where the odd center of Peaks was often terrifying and threatening, Northern Exposure subsumed its own literary weirdness under bundles of quirk. Though largely forgotten today, this contemporary of Twin Peaks made that show's weirdness more palatable to a large audience. Elsewhere, thirtysomething, and Moonlighting.) But rather than list every show that's come since Peaks left the air, we thought we'd focus on these 11, which all point to specific ways Peaks has influenced television. (Should you want to see its own ancestors, look no further than The Twilight Zone, The Prisoner, Hill Street Blues, St. The identity of Laura's killer was revealed in the 14th episode (which turned out to be almost exactly the midpoint of the show), Lynch left to make another film, and the show's ratings continued their downward trend.īut if the audiences of 1991 weren't quite sure what to make of the show - cue Homer Simpson: "Brilliant! I have no idea what's going on" - those who wrote, directed, and produced television were paying lots of attention, and now, the show's influence can be felt in damn near every show on the air. Lynch (best known for dark, surreal films like Blue Velvet) and Frost initially intended to only reveal the answer in the series finale, but finally bent to public pressure. And as the Laura Palmer mystery entered its second season, many wondered just when the show would resolve its central case. And the media went a little bit nuts.īut here's the thing about being a legitimately groundbreaking work of art: sometimes, people don't know what to make of you. The show received awards nomination after awards nomination. It became a sensation, with viewers trying to unravel the show's central mystery: who had killed homecoming queen Laura Palmer? Spinoff merchandise was spun off. The show debuted in the spring of 1990 to a wave of critical acclaim. That we would be saying this in 2014 is something that just wouldn't have occurred to viewers of the program in 1991, when it was canceled in the midst of its famously troubled second season. There are maybe a handful of dramas that can be pointed to as dividing lines for TV, where it's easy to recognize shows that came before the series' time on the air and shows that came after. The Blu-Ray release of David Lynch and Mark Frost's ingenious, seminal mystery series Twin Peaks on Tuesday and the attendant hoopla (deleted scenes! a new take on the famously enigmatic series finale!) reconfirm something many TV fans have known for a long time: Twin Peaks is one of the most influential shows in the medium's history. ![]()
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