Caffeinated Clint
You don’t need to be friends with a travel-ready log to know there’s some chatter about a “Twin Peaks” reprise at the moment. Just last week we ran a piece from Total Film in which co-creator Mark Frost suggests, rather excitedly, that the prematurely axed ’90s sensation may get its third season after all these years (the ’25 years later’ thing working in its favour, too). Frost’s quotes, hinting that both the creative’s and network brass may be talking, aren’t the first indication that there’s still life left in the sleepy supernatural-stricken town though. Apparently quite a few cast members, including Catherine E.Coulson (‘The Log Lady’), have been contacted about possibly reprising their roles from the spooky soap, should a revisit happen.
David Lynch, the main stalwart behind the show – and director of the spin-off film, “Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me” – has said a couple of times in recent years that the book mightn’t be closed on the Diary of Laura Palmer. According to Lynch, there’s still a lot of untold stories about the inhabitants of Twin Peaks.
(He, however, has also said he won’t be putting pen to paper until he finds an idea that grabs him. “Well, I always go by ideas. One night maybe I catch an idea and get all fired up about it and maybe call Mark Frost and write something. Who knows? It hasn’t happened yet.”)
Robert Engels, the show’s EP and writer of “Fire Walk With Me”, told Moviehole that he’s taken a couple of calls in recent years from networks interested in possibly reigniting the Fire Walking-flame, bringing the show back in some shape or fashion.
The fans of the show – a very loyal, almost obsessive (I know, I’m one of them) bunch who attend conventions, have all the memorabilia, and pray to the gods of the Red Room that some kind of Cooper jaunt lays ahead – are waiting patiently for these ideas, hints and phone calls to pan out. And though nothing has yet, and there’s still nothing official in terms of a resurrection, one thing’s for sure, the chatter and interest seems to be increasing.
One would think now’s the time to strike if they’re going to bring back the critically acclaimed ’90s classic, what with classics of yesteryear, like “Dallas”, getting a successful new lease on life thanks to cable. Imagine what David Lynch could do with “Twin Peaks” if given a nice Cable stage? A TNT or FX home for the show would quite likely get the visionary director rather damp, he’d be off-the-leash to do whatever he chooses, pleases and wants to. Lots of lingering shots of cream corn and naked flesh, if he should want it.
Talk may be increasing, but there’s been talk of “Twin Peaks” returning for years now. It’s nothing new.
At one stage, a small production outfit named Phoenix Media even tried to snare the rights to the series so they could produce a series of feature films based on the brands. The were denied the rights, so had to scrub plans for “A Thousand Angels”, another prequel on Laura Palmer’s pre-Red Room days, from their white board.
There was even talk of a web-series at one stage, featuring Kyle MacLachlan in his iconic role of Agent Dale Cooper, but the chatter seemed to die before the news could be transferred to blogs.
It was MacLachlan himself who came up with the idea (suggesting he’d be up for anything “Twin Peaks” if it came to fruition). Said the actor, “I have a crazy idea to bring back Twin Peaks on the net as five minute webisodes. ”
MacLachlan was just waxing speculatively, but wouldn’t be surprised if that was a legitimate proposal somewhere, and wouldn’t be shocked to find it still on someone’s ideas pad somewhere. With online streaming all the rage – not to mention responsible for bringing other cancelled series, like “Arrested Development”, back – this makes a heck of a lot of sense.
Should a network, be it original home ABC, or one of the cablers, decide to bring back “Twin Peaks”, where does it begin? Does it, as the Total Film article suggested last week, pick up from that Red Room sequence, set 25 years in the future, with Coop and Laura? Or will it be the once proposed third season Engels once told us about, which would’ve fixed heavily on Doppelgangers’ – and have everyone in Twin Peaks, not just the Red Room-trapped Cooper, had one?
The fan movement to get “Twin Peaks” back on TV has ramped up significantly in recent months, if this email from Joe Powers from BringTwinPeaksBacktoTV is anything to go by.
In the waning days of summer 2012, I decided to re-visit an older TV show from my youth. It had just been added to the instant screening library of Netflix and I was looking for something to pass the time. I hadn’t really watched the entire series since the mid-nineties so I said “what the hell!” Well, I quickly became totally engrossed in this show and could not stop watching. Every day I would come home from work and turn on where I left off the day before. I would watch till I could no longer keep my eyes open in the early morning hours, even on days I had to be up for work. I almost felt as if I was living in this surreal world filled with quirky characters, coffee, cherry pie, dancing dwarves, and one unsolved murder in which everyone and everything had hanging over them. The show had been a pop culture phenomenon when it debuted in 1990 and quickly took the world by storm. The show’s catchphrases and plotlines became engrained in the pop culture’s consciousness. People would have viewing parties as they tuned into it every week and the next day at work would talk about what they had witnessed the night before. Usually though, they were not able to even comprehend exactly what it was they saw on their TV screens. The murder mystery kept people tuning in every week. But it was the characters, the visually surreal film techniques, the suburb acting, and the utterly absurd weirdness of it all that still both confounds and amazes people! Twenty years later we are still talking about this show, how it burst into our lives and then faded out of it just as quickly. It left us stunned and stranded, with the final image being an open-ended cliffhanger which still frustrates people around the world to this day! The show I am referring to is called “Twin Peaks”.
Although it was now over 20 years later, I sat there in front of my TV frustrated and upset as ever! How could a show this great be taken from the world so abruptly, and end on so many unresolved storylines? I did some research and found out that ABC Television Network had been moving its time slot around, which frustrated viewers and co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost to no end. This led to declining ratings which further led to ABC insisting that the creators reveal the identity of the killer of the show’s main (albeit dead) protagonist, Laura Palmer. When this mystery was revealed early in the second season, people pretty much stopped tuning in. The writers scrambled to find ideas to capture the audience back, but it was to no avail. The final nail had been put in the coffin, not allowing this masterpiece of television a chance to find a core and stable audience.
About a week had passed since I finished watching the show and I was still bothered by how such a great show could just end and fade away the way it did, leaving so much unfinished business. I knew I had to do something, but obviously could not think of what to do, or even if there was anything I could do to fix this. Then, it came to me! I decided to start an online Facebook page & hopefully a petition. I did not know if there were many others who felt the way I did about this show and how it ended. But, I figured I’d give it a shot. I went online with it and hoped for the best! The first few weeks were slow. But I started to realize something even though the numbers weren’t coming. People all over the world felt really passionate about this show and how it ended! That struck me right away. I saw it on Facebook, blogs, message boards, and online articles. All of these people wanted the same thing, a proper resolution or return of some kind! I realized that I did in fact have a global audience I could count on to join on board my movement and be just as passionate as I was about it.
At the time of the writing of this article, the Facebook page is also joined by a Twitter account and a VK account (popular European social network). The total reach of our Facebook page on October 15, 2012 was 154,547 people! I know in terms of Internet popularity that doesn’t seem like much bearing in mind over 300 million people sees a Tweet by Justin Bieber on a daily basis. But considering this movement started only really at the beginning of September, and the fact that it is promoting the return of a show which was cancelled 20 years ago, I feel that is an amazing thing! About 3-4 weeks ago, Kyle MacLachlan expressed his love for the character of Agent Cooper and how much he would love the opportunity to play the role again on a Podcast with Andy Greenwald of Grantland.com. He also re-stated that desire in three or four separate interviews! In one of the interviews, he mentioned seeing many recent Tweets to him on Twitter begging him and David Lynch for a return to the show. He was talking about our movement. We have been Tweeting every day since early September to Kyle, David Lynch, and Mark Frost. Some former cast members and writers have also joined on the cause and expressed their hope that David Lynch would return to Twin Peaks somehow. I have spoken personally on Facebook with some of them myself.
There is a real momentum growing for this idea recently. Many shows imitating or using the show as a backdrop have been popping up all over the world. There is a young performance artist in New York who is performing a show which revolves around the Agent Cooper character being missing.
Twin Peaks inspired art is being exhibited at distinguished art galleries. Creator David Lynch recently appeared on the season finale of FX Network show “Louie”. Also, many other cancelled shows are now being resurrected by way of Netflix or the Internet such as “Arrested Development”. Why not Twin Peaks? I feel the timing is right for a return to become a reality. There seems to be something in the air and public consciousness that is willing this to happen.The Bring Back Twin Peaks movement is now gaining over a hundred followers a day! We are being heard and we are continuing to grow. I am representing all the fans that I have met/and or interacted with on the Facebook page, at the Twin Peaks Festivals, Twitter, and chat groups. I will continue to promote this cause to the best of my ability till I hear creator David Lynch himself come out and say that it will never ever happen! And if that day does come (and I hope it doesn’t) I will appreciate the original series for all its beauty and brilliance, help myself to a slice of cherry pie, and finish it all off with a nice cup of coffee as “black as midnight on a moonless night”.
Author – Joe Powers (Creator/Admin) of Bring Back Twin Peaks to TV
*Bring Back Twin Peaks*
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BringBackTwinPeaks
Twitter tag: @TwinPeaksRedux
Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bring-back-twin-peaks/
While we sit and patiently wait for the next rumour to hold us fanatics over, here’s a few classic clips to go with the cup of Joe you’re about to boil.
