On April 8, 1990, the pilot episode of “Twin Peaks,” “Northern Passage,” aired on ABC. Now, 36 years later the series is still adored by fans.
“Twin Peaks” is a surreal mystery drama set in the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington. It follows Special Agent Dale Cooper, played by Kyle MacLachlan, as he investigates the murder of local teenager Laura Palmer, played by Sheryl Lee. The bulk of the original series unravels the strange and twisted web of lies that plagued the small town.
“Twin Peaks” was a rather bold and unique series for its time, and its pilot episode amassed over 34 million viewers. However, the viewership of the show steadily began to drop as the series went on. After having to rush the conclusion of Laura Palmer’s murder, the ratings of the show dropped even more, and it was eventually cancelled in 1992 after just 2 seasons.
After the cancelation of the show, David Lynch went on to create “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” in 1992. This film was a controversial psychological horror prequal to the original show. It showed a lot more of director David Lynch’s personal style. This is the only part of the series that was done solely by Lynch, without any writing help from Mark Frost, and it shows in its strong Lynchian style.
In 2017, “Twin Peaks: The Return” premiered on Showtime, a third season of the show that takes place 25 years after the original story. Though this season did not get as many viewers as the original, many fans were excited to get more Twin Peaks content after the original cancelation.
The show was cowritten and partially directed by David Lynch and Mark Frost. They had worked together on a few unreleased projects before they wrote what would become “Twin Peaks”. Though they both contributed a lot to the series, many find Lynch’s style to be one of the most memorable parts. Another vital part of his style is his use of music in his works. Angelo Badalamenti composed the score for the whole series. This was the second project Lynch and Badalamenti worked on together, the first being “Blue Velvet” (1986). Badalamenti also did the score for some of Lynch’s other popular films “The Straight Story” (1999) and “Mulholland Drive” (2001). The last project they worked on together was “Twin Peaks: The Return” (2017).
“Twin Peaks: The Return” also marks the end of new content to the franchise from the original writers, as Frost does not want to continue the series after the passing of David Lynch in 2025.
