Subscribe Place An Ad Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals Foreclosures More Classifieds Hero Complex FOR YOUR INNER FANBOY « Previous Post | Hero Complex Home 'Twin Peaks' revisited: 'Maybe we shouldn't have solved the mystery' August 24, 2010 | 3:15 pm New York writer Michael Giltz takes a long look back at a truly strange sensation -- "Twin Peaks ," the eccentric and eerie murder mystery that took network television down a strange path in 1990.</p><p> The TV series "Twin Peaks" hit network television with the impact of a meteor 20 years ago.</p><p> It changed the landscape forever and can now be seen as the harbinger of numerous trends: the flood of top film directors who now work in television regularly; complex, even enigmatic story lines that lasted for seasons; fan obsession taken to a new level via the Internet; cinematic production valuesbecoming commonplace; and above all the creative risk-taking that everyone from major networks totiny cable channels must take in order to survive. "We're still talking about it 20 years later, and we're not talking about a lot of shows that were on then," says Tim Brooks , TV historian and co-author of "The Complete Directory To Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows." "It reminded us that American television could be experimental." Indeed, the show featured dream- like sequences, surrealism, a giantStay connected: More Times Movies Coverage 24 FRAMES Magnolia picks up Andrew Jarecki's 'All Good Things' » THE BIG PICTURE The Big Vacation: Or how can you miss me when Iwon't go away? » COMPANY TOWN From here to Moorpark: Ex-Marine drills Hollywoodin weapons & tactics » THE ENVELOPE Can Michael C.</p><p> Hall add Emmy to Globe and SAG wins for 'Dexter'? » HERO COMPLEX 'Twin Peaks' revisited: 'Maybe we shouldn't have solved the mystery' » ENTERTAINMENT LOCAL U.S.</p><p> WORLD BUSINESS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT HEALTH LIVING TRAVEL OPINION MORE advertisement MOVIES TELEVISION MUSIC CELEBRITY ARTS & CULTURE COMPANY TOWN CALENDAR THE ENVELOPE HOT LISToffering gnomic utterances and a backward-talking dwarf, amongmany other unexpected touches.Brooks lists "The X-Files" and "Lost" as among the shows that clearly followed in its wake.</p><p> For co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost as well as star Kyle MacLachlan , the show about Special Agent Dale Cooper and his investigation of a murder in a small lumber town still looms large,despite their many successes since then.</p><p> Lynch quotes the Bhagavad Gita ("Man has control of action alone,never the fruits of the action")before expressing his bemused, delighted reaction to the biggest pop cultural hit of his career. "When you make something, you don't know what's going to happen when you release it into the world," says Lynch. "And when something like 'Twin Peaks' goes like it did, you just stand back andyou just can't ... there's no … you did not control and make it happen.</p><p> Something else is going on." For MacLachlan, it was the role of a lifetime."That perhaps is my most favorite character I've ever done," says MacLachlan, who has gone on to success on shows including "Sex and the City" and "Desperate Housewives." Speaking of TV in general, he says, "Creatively, I think there've been very few things that have even come close to touching 'Twin Peaks.'" Frost agrees about its special place for him in a career that also includes his work on "Hill Street Blues," arguably the most acclaimed TV show of all time. "I can remember watching the first day of dailies and thinking, 'This is going to work,'" he says. "There was just something about it.</p><p> It had a sense of gravity that was very real.</p><p> Even the credit sequence. [Lynch] and Angelo [Badalamenti] had written the theme.</p><p> We'd shot a bunch of secondunit stuff for the credit sequence and laying it against that music, your jaw dropped the first time." Still, according to MacLachlan, most of the cast and crew never expected the project to go beyond the pilot. "There was a feeling amongst all of us that what we were doing was going to be strange and wasAbout the Bloggers Geoff Boucher Recent Posts 'Twin Peaks' revisited: 'Maybe we shouldn't have solved the mystery' | August 24, 2010, 3:15 pm » 'Star Wars' producer rolls into horror with 'Panzer 88' | August 23, 2010, 9:43 am » 'Road to Perdition,' the best comic-book moviewithout capes, hits Blu-ray | August 20, 2010, 5:45 pm » Ray Bradbury: Playboy and UCLA gave spark to'Fahrenheit 451' | August 20, 2010, 10:43 am » 'Piranha 3D' director says it's 'Gremlins' foradults | August 19, 2010, 12:40 pm » Recent Comments RE: 'Star Wars' producer rolls into horror with 'Panzer 88' | comment by The Voice Of Doom RE: 'Road to Perdition,' the best comic-book movie without capes, hits Blu-ray | comment by Claudia RE: Listen up, sound geeks! Wilhelm Scream in 'Iron Man 2,' says Favreau | comment by Rob RE: Sweet! The story behind that 'Iron Man 2' doughnut scene | comment by Rob RE: FIRST LOOK: Alex Ross, Mike Kungl and the fine art of 'Iron Man' [Updated] | comment by Rob RE: COMIC-CON 2010: First look at 'Avengers Assemble' painting by Alex Ross | comment by Rob Categories 20,000 leagues under the sea 300 a-team adam strange addams family akiva goldsman alan moore alex pham alex ross alice in wonderland alicia lozano alien amy kaufman andi ewington andy diggle anime anne rice anthony hopkins arnold schwarzenegger art spiegelman artist at work asterios polyp astro boy avatar avengers awards back to the future batman battlestar galactica bbc beauty and the beast ben fritz bill willingham black hole blade runner bluewater boom! studios brad meltzer brad pitt brett ratner brian azzarello brian k. vaughan brian michael bendis bride of frankenstein bruce timm bruce willis bryan hitch bryan singer buck rogers buffy the vampire slayer caprica captain america caption contest charles burns chip kidd chris columbus chris evans chris hemsworth chris lee chris pine chris weitz christian bale christopher nolan christopher reeve chronicles of narnia clash of the titans claudia eller collecting comic book store clerks of america comic-probably -- and most people felt absolutely -- that it was not going to go further than the pilot," says the 51-year-old actor, who also worked with Lynch on "Dune" and "Blue Velvet." "I think we all signed up with the idea that David Lynch is bringing his strangeness to a televisionmovie and that was really going to be the end of it.</p><p> So when it was picked up to shoot more episodes, we were all to a person really surprised." After the first season's eight episodes were filmed, the show premiered on Sunday, April 8, 1990, and was a massive success, averaging 33% of the audience and growing every half hour during the two hours of the pilot.</p><p> It moved to Thursdays opposite "Cheers" -- the No. 3 show of the 1989-199 0 season and soon to be No. 1 -- but maintained momentum as a pop culturalphenomenon.</p><p> The first season of "Twin Peaks" garnered 14 Emmy nominations, winning two (costume design, editing in a single-cameraproduction), and Golden Globe wins for drama,drama actor for MacLachlan and supportingactress for Piper Laurie .</p><p> The soundtrack became a hit, recurring bitslike an obsession over coffee and cherry pie were instantly parodied (with MacLachlan soon hosting "Saturday Night Live" ), college students had parties to watch new episodes, and ultimately vacation packages were arranged for overseas tourists who wanted tosee the town where it was filmed. "Honestly, the most annoying and troublesome aspect of making the show was dealing with that entire segment of response to it because it was so unrelated to the actual work itself," says Frost."The kind of feeding frenzy that is kind of routine in pop culture was just sort of starting to cometogether then." While they expected interview requests and perhaps were a bit surprised by "Twin Peaks" merchandise, a new phenomenon also began: online fans obsessing over every line of dialogue, everycasual reference, every bit of symbolism whether intended or not. "The Internet was in its infancy," says Frost, "and I remember someone coming in and plopping down like 500 pages of transcripts from Internet chat rooms and being absolutely stunned that it had hit at that level." Nowadays, networks feed and encourage that passion from fans.</p><p> At the time, it was just one more curious aspect of the show's success.</p><p> Strangely, the initial hit status brought more pressure from thenetwork instead of less.</p><p> Lynch says they always had control because if you don't have control "you'd be a fool." Frost describes a "creative fence" around the show bolstered by the fact that they owned the series themselves, which removed one layer of overview, plus the useful fact that the show was sostrange none of the executives probably knew what to suggest anyway.con conan conferences/panels coraline creature from the black lagoon crime crime comics d.j. caruso daina beth solomon dan nadel danger girl daniel craig daniel radcliffe daredevil dark horse dark shadows darwyn cooke dave stevens david duchovny david lapham david lynch david mazzucchelli david tennant david yates dawn c. chmielewski dc deadpool dean haspiel dexter dick tracy disney district 9 doctor who don cheadle douglas adams dracula drood dwayne johnson e3 ec ed brubaker edward james olmos eli roth emma watson fan costumes fantastic four flash gordon flashforward forbidden planet forrest j. ackerman four franchises at crossroads frank beddor frank frazetta frank miller frankenstein fringe g.i. joe geek gift guide gene roddenberry geoff johns george lucas george reeves george romero gerard way gerrick d. kennedy ghostbusters gina mcintyre godzilla gore verbinski grant morrison greatest american hero green arrow green hornet green lantern greg braxton guillermo del toro guy ritchie harrison ford harry houdini harry potter harvey pekar hayao miyazaki heath ledger hellboy henry selick hero complex film festival heroes (tv show) horror hugh jackman hughes brothers hulk human target i, spy ian mckellen inception indiana jones iron man isaac asimov j. j. abrams j.k. rowling j.r.r. tolkien jack kirby jake gyllenhaal james bond james cameron james mcteigue jaws jay west jeph loeb jerry bruckheimer jevon phillips jim henson jim mahfood joe johnston joe sacco joe shuster joel silver john barrowman john carpenter john horn john lasseter john milius john noble johnny depp jon favreau jonah hex joseph kosinski joss whedon jurassic park karate kid kenneth branagh kenneth turan kevin smith kick ass king arthur king kong kristen stewart l.a. events last airbender league of extraordinary gentlemen leonard nimoy liesel bradner lobo looney tunes lord of the rings lost louis letterrier luke cage m. night shyamalan mad magazine manga marc guggenheim marc olsen maria elena fernandez mark milian mark waid martin campbell marvel mary mcdonnell mary mcnamara matt damon matt smith matthew vaughan matthew vaughn mcg men in black merch metropolis michael bay michael chabon michael ordo �a mike mignola mike richardson mmorpg motion comics motion comics movies muppets music neal adams neil gaiman neill blomkamp nicolas cage nightmare on elm street ninja assassin no ordinary family noelene clark nosferatu olivia munn original art pan's labyrinth panzer 88 patrick day patrick stewart paul pope percy jackson and the olympians peter facinelli peter jackson philip k. dick pirates of the caribbean pixar planet of the apes pokemon politics power rangers predator prince of persia quentin tarantino quizzam r. crumb rachel abramowitz random silliness ray bradbury reed johnson religion repo men richard donner richard verrier rick riordan ridley scott robert abele robert downey jr. robert pattinson robert rodriguez robert zemeckis robin hood robot chicken rocketeer roger corman ron moore russell crowe ryan reynolds sam mendes sam raimi sam worthington samuel l. jackson sandman saw scarlett johansson scott pilgrim vs the world scott snyder scott timberg scream awards seth rogen sex sgt. rock shazam/captain marvel sherlock holmes shrek sigourney weaver simpsons sin city smallville smith magazine smurfs special effects spider- man stan lee stan winston star trek star wars stargate stephen king stephenie meyer steve ditko steve niles steven spielberg steven zeitchik sucker punch super superman susan carpenter susan king swamp thing sxsw syfy sylvester stallone tarzan taylor lautner teenage mutant ninja turtles television terminator the avengers the cape the dark knight the dark knight returns the day the earth stood still the exorcist theBut a potential long-running hit was quite different from an oddball lark.</p><p> And ABC insisted on one thing and one thing alone: Solve the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer .</p><p> Countless future shows like "The X-Files," "24" and "Lost" would tease out story lines for an entire season and even the entire run of a series.</p><p> They learned what "Twin Peaks" unfortunately had to demonstrate: Not everymystery should be solved.</p><p> Once the killer was revealed in the middle of the second season, interest plummeted. "Twin Peaks" also dealt with being moved around in time slots, numerous delays in airing new episodes because of the launch of the Gulf War and Lynch's lack of day-to-day involvement (he was filming "Wild At Heart" ).</p><p> It petered out after two seasons and 30 episodes. "David was adamant that we shouldn't," says Frostabout solving the central mystery that hovered over the show. "The network was adamant that we should.</p><p> I had to kind of forge a compromise.</p><p> I'm not sure thatDavid wasn't right.</p><p> Maybe we shouldn't have solvedthe mystery.</p><p> Let it drift on into the background and churn up more incidents as you went forward. " Lynch now realizes that a TV series demands your full and complete attention. "It's all-consuming," says Lynch. "If you're going to go in there for a continuing story, now I know that it isall-consuming.</p><p> It's a fast-moving train.</p><p> So if you want to go there, you've got to give it that." Frost was there from beginning to end, working with directors (including accomplished cinematographer Caleb Deschanel ) who were given an unusual amount of freedom. "I said to everyone who came in, ‘Please don't feel obligated to imitate a house style,'" says Frost. "'There are parameters to work with and a vocabulary we'd like to use, but we want you to feel likeyou have the freedom to shoot the episode the way you want to shoot it.'" The show used a small stable of directors including TV talent Todd Holland and Lesli Linka Glattter and film director Tim Hunter ("River's Edge") .</p><p> It's no coincidence you see Holland's success with his own series, "Malcolm In The Middle," and Hunter and Glatter's names among the credits of TV's current big phenomenon, "Mad Men."Nowadays, Frost has no interest in second-guessing whether the show would have been better as a miniseries or on cable with only 12 episodes a season a la "The Sopranos." "It's like a bar game," says Frost, who has written numerous bestselling books, includinga string of acclaimed nonfiction sports titles."It's a little futile to go down that road.</p><p> We kicked open some doors.</p><p> We didn't get the full benefit of then bursting into the room.</p><p> A lot ofother shows benefited from those doors beingopened.</p><p> That's the way things happen.</p><p> The fact that you kicked those doors open is not a cause for regret." But there remains the eternal question: Will they ever return to "Twin Peaks?" MacLachlanexpendables the flash the green hornet the green lantern the hobbit the hunger games the lone ranger the losers the matrix films the phantom the prisoner the spirit the wolf man theme parks thor tim burton tintin todd martens tokyo pop tony diterlizzi torchwood toy story toys trailers transformers tron true blood twilight twilight zone umbrella academy underworld up v v for vendetta vampires vertigo video games vincent price vintage ads virgin comics wall-e wally wood wanted watchmen web comics webisodes werewolves wes craven where the wild things are will eisner will smith william shatner wind int the willows wizards of hollywood wolverine wonder woman wondercon x-files x-men xerxes y: the last man yvonne villarreal zack snyder zombieland zombies Archives Our personality quiz uses images to understand who you are and giveyou feedback and news matched to you.</p><p> Over 20 million people have taken thequiz so far.</p><p> Take the quiz now and discover your personality type.Try Our Personality Quiz » All L.A.</p><p> Times Blogs 24 Frames Afterword All The Rage Babylon & Beyond Big Picture Booster Shots Brand X Comments Blog Company Town Culture Monster D.C.</p><p> Now Daily Dish Daily Mirror Daily Travel & Deal Blog Dodgers Blog Fabulous Forum Framework Gold Derby Greenspace Hero Complex Homicide Report Jacket Copy L.A. at Home L.A.</p><p> Now L.A.</p><p> Unleashed La Plaza Lakers Ministry of Gossip Money & Co.</p><p> Opinion L.A.</p><p> Outposts PolitiCal Pop & Hiss Readers' Representative Show Tracker Technology Top of the Ticket Varsity Times InsiderRead Later Comments ( 0) ShareThis 25 retweet Like 29 people like this.</p><p> Twitter: @LATherocomplex Facebook: latimesentMore in: David Lynchcertainly wouldn't mind. "I made the mistake a couple of years ago saying, ‘Wouldn't it be greatif they had webisodes?'" McLachlan recalls witha laugh of thinking out loud at a TV convention. "I was just shooting from the hip and not really thinking anything and suddenly it got picked up by some of the digital media and spread like wildfire.</p><p> I thought, ‘ Oh jeez, what have I done? '" Frost has a TV project in the works after years of focusing on his writing career, which includes turning his book "The Greatest Game Ever Played" into the successful Disney film starring Shia LaBeouf , as well as the Fantastic Four franchise.</p><p> He says they've discussed the possibility of reviving "Twin Peaks" over the years but says, "at this point, it feels best to let bygones be bygones." Lynch also tried to return to TV.</p><p> He developed a script for ABC about Hollywood and shot the pilot.</p><p> But the the network hated it, so Lynch got funding to shoot additional scenes and turned it into afeature film.</p><p> The result was "Mulholland Drive," widely touted in critics' polls as one of the best films of the last decade, or more specifically the best, according to surveys by indiewire.com , Film Comment and the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn .</p><p> But perhaps he's too open to the random and unexpected to dismiss the question out of hand. "I don't think it's going to happen," says Lynch in his flat, direct manner of speaking.</p><p> Because it wouldn't interest him? Lynch paused for the longest point in the interview. "Well, I always go by ideas.</p><p> One night maybe I catch an idea and get all fired up about it and maybe call Mark Frost and writesomething.</p><p> Who knows? It hasn't happened yet." -- Michael Giltz RECENT AND RELATED Lucas asked Lynch to direct "Return of the Jedi" GALLERY: TV shows that left us hanging 'Max Headroom' and the digital future of the past Hero Complex visits "Fringe" set in Vancouver 'Lost' producers vow all 'will be answered' Stephen King comes to Syfy with 'Haven' 'Doctor Who' hits home video with tantalizing extra 'Dark Shadows' comes to ...</p><p> Burbank Airport Marriott? Photos: Top, Michael Ontkean and Kyle MacLachlan in "Twin Peaks" (ABC).</p><p> Second, David Lynch in April 2010 (Pascal Rossignol / Reuters).</p><p> Third, the women of "Twin Peaks" (Rolling Stone).</p><p> Fourth, the young faces of "Twin Peaks" (ABC).</p><p> Fifth, the show's autopsy photo of Laura Palmer, played by Sheryl Lee (ABC).</p><p> Bottom, David Lynch portrait by Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times.</p><p> Post a comment If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate.</p><p> Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.</p><p> Comments are moderated, and will not appear until they've been approved.</p><p> Name: E-mail Address:URL: Remember personal info? 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