TV Flashback: 'Twin Peaks'

Technically it's still TV hiatus time, so I decided to watch a series that I'd never seen before. I have an extensive list of shows that I'm planning on watching sometime in the future, but no matter how diligently I add them to my Netflix Instant queue, they never get viewed. There's just too much new television to watch and talk about.

That being said, I occasionally make time in my schedule to watch shows that are no longer on the air ('My Boys'!). This almost always results in a ridiculous time commitment as I realize, "yes, this show is good. Now I have to watch all 4 seasons".

'Twin Peaks' gets mentioned every so often in Television Studies classes, or by popular culture/entertainment publications (it's cited in 506 'Entertainment Weekly' articles), so of course it's been on my "must watch this soon" list for the past five years.


I started watching it last week. Even though I haven't finished all the episodes yet, I like it so much that I feel the need to recommend it right now. Especially since it's currently available on Netflix Instant.



Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, 'Twin Peaks' is set in a small town where everyone has a secret. These secrets begin to come to light as the local sheriff and an oddball FBI agent investigate the rape and murder of a teenage girl.

If you've seen Lynch's 'Eraserhead' (which is assigned to Film students everywhere) you know that he has a specific film style, which tends to be surrealist and dream-like, with great attention paid to sound. 'Twin Peaks' is more mainstream than 'Eraserhead', but it does still have aspects of the Lynchian style. It takes a little bit to adjust to, but by the end of the pilot the style of editing and sound that is used becomes less jarring.

'Twin Peaks' was popular with many critics, but was not wildly successful while on the air. The show only lasted two seasons. But, if we're learned anything in the last ten years from 'Freaks and Geeks' and 'Arrested Development', it's that canceled shows are sometimes better than those that are renewed.