@alterego, AKS, etc You guys were right. Twin Peaks is amazing. I watched the entire first season in a night. Something was off about the pilot. It's out of character relative to the rest of the show, like it was filmed at a different time. It quickly becomes clear that you are in fact watching an over the top parody of soap operas, and a really well done one at that. The soap opera stuff is so trashy, it's compelling. It’s a trash masterpiece. It has some great black humor, like where the father jumps on the coffin in a hysterical fit and the lowering mechanism breaks, all set to that damn cornball Casio piano music. And the sort of quirky, cartoonish nature of much of the show makes the dark, horror themed stuff all the more shocking when you do come across it. It really catches you off guard. In fact, this show is smart. So smart that it took a while for me to figure out what Lynch was really doing with it. Network TV was all wrong for this show. I think it would have had a better chance on HBO. Also, I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that Agent Mulder from the X-Files is a straight up rip off of Agent Cooper. Also, I know that people were all over Sherilyn Fenn and Lara Flynn Boyle, but I think Madchen Amick is the real stand out beauty on the show. She also aged really well and turned into an uber MILF.
When you watch the second season, be prepared for the wheels to start wobbling after the conclusion of the Laura Palmer storyline. The show does start to go downhill at that point, although not entirely. Personally, I don't know if cable TV would have made a difference in terms of how long the show ran. I don't think Lynch was interested in helming a long running series, and the other contributors weren't quite up to the task without his influence. And frankly, probably Lynch wasn't really up to it either judging by Fire Walk With Me. Twin Peaks is just one of those "lightning in a bottle" shows.
I think I only have three episodes left to watch in the first series of Space 1999 episodes, but this show really surprised me. It's not going to appeal to everyone, but there's a quality to it that's unlike any other network TV based science fiction series that I've seen. The way that the stories are structured is kind of unusual, and the resolutions are often unexpected vs. the sci-fi stereotypes. A lot of the plots are based on psychological themes or supernatural/horror elements. Plus, when this series was originally produced, it literally had one of the highest budgets ever for a TV show...and it really shows up in the sets and miniatures. Yeah, there's plenty of dated FX, but some of the stuff really does still look good today. I originally was renting the discs on Netflix, but ended up buying the UK DVD set that's based on the remaster done for Blu-Ray. Never expected to enjoy it that much!
Maybe that's true. The BSG remake was also a lightning in a bottle type phenomenon. It was absolutely amazing for the first two seasons. Then it took a long hiatus and when it came back it wasn't the same show. Suddenly the writing was crappy and the budget was much lower.
From what I've read, Lynch and the network executives were not seeing eye to eye at all by the second season, which is not an unusual situation for him. I agree that there is a drop off in quality after the Laura Palmer story is resolved, although it did rise in quality again towards the end of season 2. I think the fact that they were resolving the big mystery of the series mid-season and the fact that season 2 was so much longer caused problems. You really need Lynch there all the time and have fewer episodes like season 1 to keep the quality high, as I know from cast interviews that he would often completely rewrite scenes when necessary, sometimes almost on the spot. Sheryl Lee talked about a scene that was causing her a lot of problems, and Lynch told her that they should both just take a 20 minute break. Sheryl evidently just tried to relax and try to get herself together as Lynch suggested, but during this break Lynch completely rewrote the scene for her. You need that type of personal attention from him to keep the series at the level it was at in season 1. He was reportedly not around as much in the much longer season 2, and he had disputes with the network. The ratings had dropped after the main story with Laura Palmer had wrapped up, and the network was moving around time slots and the typical bullshit they like to do to screw with the few good television shows. Lynch did make sure the final concluding episodes of season 2 were good. He rewrote most of the script of the finale himself. I really wish they had limited seasons to 8-10 episodes, but that's not how it turned out. I often wonder how things could have been different if this was on HBO or Showtime, as the best TV shows are often on the "movie" channels these days. Lynch would have also had more freedom regarding content. But things were different in TV land 20 years ago. I'm thankful that Twin Peaks even happened at all.
I'll be curious to hear your thoughts about some of the events that have not yet unfolded. The episodes leading to the conclusion of the Laura Palmer mystery were fantastic. I had a massive crush on Mädchen Amick for years. I that she was by far the most attractive, although Fenn is a stunner as well. I thought Joan Chen was gorgeous. There's also a very attractive actress you will immediately recognize in season 2 that has not yet appeared. When you're finished with the series (avoid interviews that could have spoilers; you don't want to take any chances when you're so close to the conclusion of the Laura Palmer arc), I'd recommend watching 2010 interviews with Sherilyn Fenn and Sheryl Lee on youtube. They are both incredibly charming and genuine, the antitheses of the one member of the TP cast often hinted as being the source of conflicts, Lara Flynn Boyle, who seemed to be very much the stereotypical bratty Hollywood social climber type. Fenn and Lee both come across as people you'd want to know personally as friends rather than the fake public personas you often see put forth from actors.
I agree that Mädchen Amick is for some reason the most attractive of the cast for me also. Sherilyn Fenn is also amazing of course but I also like Peggy Lipton even though she's a tad older. Anyhow just finished Season 1 last week and about to get into season 2 probably tonight. I'm glad you changed your mind monkey, I was afraid I turned you off with how blunt I was. I actually remember that I watched the pilot around a month before I picked it up at the second episode again, but this was mainly because I couldn't get codecs to behave so streaming to the projector was all corrupted for the Season 1 files I had. Anyway I wasn't sure if it was watching it on my 24" PC monitor that turned me off or the pilot itself, but I remember now I wasn't too compelled to watch more in a hurry... watching it on my housemates projector on the 80" screen with the home theater setup is obviously going to help.
Started watching Son's of Anarchy. I saw a few episodes when my Sister was watching so got it into it.
Maybe I should give Twin peaks another shot. I saw 2 episodes last years when it hit Netflix, but thought it was boring with reaaaallly bad acting.
It takes a few episodes to get going. And the bad acting is intentional. It's an over the top spoof of cheesy soap operas. You may not realize that though until you see the soap opera within the soap opera "Invitation to Love," or some of the really over the top moments that come a few episodes in. It actually has some really good acting too, but that comes later. And you'll start to see the roots of a lot of dramatic shows that have multiple, intertwining, long-running story arcs, like the Sopranos, or even your favorite, Justified. The idea of doing a dramatic TV show that way pretty much all goes back to Twin Peaks. And it's not a just a spoof of soap operas. It has a lot of dark, horror themed stuff that comes later. Alan Wake was a poor attempt to turn these horror elements into a video game, but it gives you a vague idea of what to expect. I'm a few episodes into season 2, and I would say Twin Peaks is equal parts soap opera spoof, serious drama, and surreal, nightmarish horror show.
@cmdrmonkey You'll recognize an actor midway into the second season that may make you chuckle a bit. It relates to one of your previous comments. I won't spoil the surprise; you'll know who I'm talking about when you see him.
I thought you were a fan of the X-Files. Anyway, I already know who it is because I did a bit of reading about the show, but was careful to avoid spoilers.
@cmdrmonkey You cheater. @Phisix It's not that his character is a transvestite. Twin Peaks' lead character Special Agent Cooper, played by Kyle McLaughlin, is the blueprint for Fox Mulder character. cmdrmonkey made a comment about the Mulder character being a ripoff of Special Agent Cooper, and I thought he'd be entertained to learn that Duchovny was actually a cast member of Twin Peaks.
I finished the Laura Palmer plot in Twin Peaks, but I'm not sure if it's worth continuing on. I've heard the show jumps the shark pretty badly in the second half of season 2, and this is a good jumping off point. --spoilers--- I would like to know more about the demonic entity. If the show goes into more detail on that, I'll definitely keep watching. The big reveal of Leland/Bob being the killer was quite intense. Maddy's murder seemed like a bit much for early 90s network TV. I'm surprised something so graphic and dark was shown on ABC.