David Lynch is delighted to transport viewers back to the mesmerizing world of Twin Peaks. He's just not going to provide directions or offer guidance once they get there.
Lynch, who first brought Peaks’ quirky, funny, dangerous denizens to life 27 years ago in a TV-transforming ABC drama, isn't giving much of anything away about his highly anticipated return to the fir-lined Washington hamlet, arriving Sunday with a 2-hour premiere on Showtime (9 ET/PT).
After Peaks ended its short, dazzling ride, becoming a pop-cultural phenomenon in its first season but fading in audience in a second and final one, Lynch didn't think he, let alone fans, would ever go back. But he never forgot FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) and dozens of other characters whose lives were affected after the body of teenager Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) was discovered in the small logging town.
"I would think about Twin Peaks. I would think about characters, the town and the mood," he says of a show and experiences he refers to as "a magical thing." Then, more recently, he and co-creator Mark Frost "started talking, and one thing led to another and we started writing."
Showtime programming president Gary Levine, an ABC executive involved in developing the original series, says Peaks beautifully melded TV conventions with Lynch's revolutionary vision. "Its bones were the bones of a TV soap opera — small-town murder, relationships, intrigue, betrayal, love, sex — but the prism of David Lynch was unique. He really was the first filmmaker to come to TV. There were great writers doing TV, but David brought a whole new palette."
Levine says viewers can come back to Peaks with encyclopedic knowledge of the original, or none at all. Watching the 1990 pilot episode wouldn't hurt, he says.
Lynch, cryptic as ever, makes no such recommendation: The new series "has to work on its own. It doesn't hurt to know the past, but it's not a prerequisite," he says. "And if (viewers) feel lost, there’s plenty of people to help them out" on social media, which effectively didn't exist in 1990.
I'll have to check it out. My late boyfriend and I really liked the original. There was one scene that remains one of the most disturbing and scary that I've ever seen on tv where Laura's cousin gets it.
I'll have to check it out. My late boyfriend and I really liked the original. There was one scene that remains one of the most disturbing and scary that I've ever seen on tv where Laura's cousin gets it.
Yeah, I remember watching that scene in law school when it first aired. Every girl in the dorm was freaking the fuck out, including ones that would go on to be rape prosecutors and things like that. Truly wild stuff.
So what did you think? I started it but it was to hard to watch without my late boyfriend. This was the show I would go over to watch with him at his parent's house while he was in collage. I made it through the first episode but it just didn't seem right without him. I liked the original though and glad fans got another round.
