‘Twin Peaks’ Returns As Showtime Limited Series

Not much of Lynch's work is comprehensible on first viewing.

 

... Or second or third

 

Or perhaps ever.

 

That's why the partnership with Mark Frost was/is so inspired.

“I had never written with a partner before and neither had David. And what you quickly realize is that it’s quite a bit like a marriage: you gotta have a formula for compromise that will get you out of those corners that you sometimes paint yourself into. And I think we managed to do that fairly well.”
—Mark Frost

 

I wonder if Mark Frost's Twin Peaks book will still be out this year...?

 

They're now reporting that we're getting 18 new episodes, not 9: http://www.avclub.com/article/new-twin-peaks-will-be-18-episodes-long-and-origin-219865

I'm a huge fan of the world of Twin Peaks. However, I must admit that this news gives me a bit of pause. Considering what we know about Lynch's completed scripts, a 9 episode run sounded like the ideal way to revisit the story and bring it to a fitting conclusion. Without filler. After the online drama of alleged budget negotiations and Lynch's initial departure and subsequent return, it makes me wonder what the hell that was all about. Because if money was the issue, then 18 episodes just doubled the cost... and at what price the story?

I just hope that Lynch, et al, know what they're doing. I would hate to see anything close to resembling the meandering second half of Season 2 - post-BOB/Killer reveal.

 

But Twin Peaks was never supposed to be a single story. The Laura Palmer murder was meant to be an introduction to the characters and the setting--the first arc. There were other arcs planned and then abandoned because the show fell in popularity. There was supposed to be a Doppleganger story, for example.

Twin Peaks should never have appealed to the broad audience it reached. Once people realized how far "out there" it was they stopped watching. Twin Peaks was always meant to be a style similar to David Lynch's other works and the fact that that was not compromised is what makes it a work whose quality has not really diminished with time.

 

I understand that TP was never supposed to be a single story. In fact, anything, the flaw with the Windom Earle plotline was the need to tie it back into Laura's story (the black lodge, return of BOB, etc.) instead of letting it stand on its own.

And, in general, it seems like the shows that stayed strong up until the end (Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Mad Men, for example) tend to be the ones with shorter seasons.

With that in mind, and given the doppelganger arc was started (and never finished), I think an argument can be made that a shorter season to wrap up that plot and reintroduce the characters made more sense. Subsequent seasons could do what should have happened with the original series: new arcs begun and concluded with each season.

(Note: None of this means I'm not still excited, just that I hope they learned a few lessons from the few missteps made the first time around).

 

Not really. Costs aren't linear; there are economies of scale. Assuming it's popular, it's more bang for the buck - like milking a franchise with two or three movies when one or two would do. There are startup and production costs than can be spread across more episodes than fewer. So it looks like there's some faith in the series. There will be more ad time to support Lynch's asking price. But that probably doesn't help you feel better.

 

Showtime doesn't run ads.

You make a good point about some of the startup costs being amortized over a longer season. However, I think there's some precedence (the Walking Dead, season 2, for example) of how a last minute decision to expand the number of episodes can hurt the narrative of the show, especially if the budget doesn't expand with the increased episodes.

 

Except that this isn't a last minute decision. It seems likely that Lynch felt he had 18 episodes worth of a stories to tell, and Showtime agreeing to that was probably part of the deal that got him to commit.

 

I agree with G-Man. I really like shows with shorter seasons. But that wasn't a thing twenty five years ago in the U.S. It started with HBO and The Sopranos/Six Feet Under.

That said, if it is Lynch's creative decision for 18 episodes then that would be great. It is my hope that that season is successful enough and the Lynch feels good enough about it to allow the show to keep running beyond that.

 

Some good points have been made and they make me feel a bit better.

If Lynch thinks he needs 18 episodes to tell a cohesive story (and it isn't just his belief a show "needs" more episodes because that's how they did it in the 90s) and if Showtime is going to support that decision with an appropriate budget, I'm all for it. As I said before, the news gave me a bit of a pause, but that may have been my preference for shows that have 13 episode seasons.

 

From what I've read around the web, I was under the impression his decision to walk was because Showtime wouldn't initially commit to 18 episodes. For whatever reason he was able to get them to commit so now he's back.

That could be way off base though, but it's as likely as anything else at this time.

 

I would expect that the 18 episodes will be separated into two groups of 9. I could be wrong, but that's my guess as to how Showtime will handle it.

 

Ouch, no ads? Well, there goes that theory. Shows you how much I watch cable. Do they put a stupid logo on top of the show? Those things alone were enough to drive me away from cable and go purely DVD. But I agree with the others that it appears Lynch wanted more episodes to properly tell the story he wants to tell. So that's a good thing.

 

I am going to pay for Showtime next year, because of Twin Peaks. I will pay for it longer because it is 18 episodes instead of 9.

It's also looking like we finally have a definitive answer for whether Audrey died in the bank vault, if the press releases are any indication.

 

I'm also looking forward to The Knick if it returns

 

Great news! Denise is coming back to Twin Peaks! Here's the link to the article.

Source: technologytell.com

 

I kind of left this hanging, mostly because when I read your reply to me I was on my phone and hate writing long replies using it.

I do want to clarify, because I agree that the tone of the movie is in many ways at odds with the tone of the show. But I think that was done on purpose because the movie tackled such dark subject matter. I'm not suggesting I want the show to be this dark. What I do want though is for the show to experiment a bit more with things, without having network interference Lynch is a bit more free to take things in directions that he never would have been able to back in the 90s.

Couldn't agree more with you here That's exactly what I'm hoping, that this feels like 'Twin Peaks' Season 3 and not just a new show with the name.