Twin Peaks

[Rowland]

Well, I do think that the heightened melodrama and absurdity and silliness of the first season does alchemize the cliches into something more interesting than your average prime time soap. The first season had this ability to show you an action or emotion normally devoid of substantial human feeling per overexposure on television melodrama (ie, grief, fear, apprehension, abuse, murder) and inject it with a tangible feeling. I loved watching for the cliches, so I could see how they related it back to real human experience.

The use of the show isn't "clever" in the way you suggest, because you imply that its use is limited to a gag. It is a gag, but it also is transformative. Showing us a lover shot in Invitation to Love is funny, but when the same instance happens in the show, its slightly more than just a narrative blip. And the mirroring there is what the show's all about.

Ahh, well I don't watch average prime time soaps, so I don't have a frame of reference. In fact, my frame of reference is the best of modern television, which I understand is all an evolution of Twin Peaks' revolution. Nevertheless, most of Twin Peaks doesn't do much for me anymore when I could just watch the first season of Carnivale again.

[Sven]

Ahh, well I don't watch average prime time soaps, so I don't have a frame of reference. In fact, my frame of reference is the best of modern television, which I understand is all an evolution of Twin Peaks' revolution. Nevertheless, most of Twin Peaks doesn't do much for me anymore when I could just watch the first season of Carnivale again.

This seems to me an awfully limited way of engaging the show. I will not call your perception incorrect, however, I will say that it doesn't seem that you are attempting to view the show within the context of its own creation. But not only that, because sure it has something to say about television in the late 80s-early 90s, but it also appears that by likening it to Carnivale, you're looking at it solely for its "weird" factor (or maybe "fantastical"), when Twin Peaks is much much more than that.

And while it's true that television may have gotten weirder (I have not seen Carnivale, but I'm curious), I'm unconvinced of the evolution in quality. What I've seen of Lost, Heroes, 24, Alias, Sex and the City, pretty much every sitcom ever, etc, demonstrates a relatively paltry understanding of human experience.

[Milky Joe]

And while it's true that television may have gotten weirder (I have not seen Carnivale, but I'm curious), I'm unconvinced of the evolution in quality. What I've seen of Lost, Heroes, 24, Alias, Sex and the City, pretty much every sitcom ever, etc, demonstrates a relatively paltry understanding of human experience.

You're right about television in general, but Carnivale is more than just a progression of weird. It represents a brief moment in history when television strove to be something much more than what it has become since Twin Peaks went off the air. You should really give it a look, iosos.

[Rowland]

You're right about television in general, but Carnivale is more than just a progression of weird. It represents a brief moment in history when television strove to be something much more than what it has become since Twin Peaks went off the air. You should really give it a look, iosos.

That show really was amazing. I suppose I should be grateful that two seasons even exist, but I wish desperately that it had been allowed its full six-season arc.

[Rowland]

This seems to me an awfully limited way of engaging the show. I will not call your perception incorrect, however, I will say that it doesn't seem that you are attempting to view the show within the context of its own creation. But not only that, because sure it has something to say about television in the late 80s-early 90s, but it also appears that by likening it to Carnivale, you're looking at it solely for its "weird" factor (or maybe "fantastical"), when Twin Peaks is much much more than that.

I likened it to Carnivale because it is considered in direct lineage to Twin Peaks (which is misleading, but that's the common perception), but more importantly, I just like it more. This is an off-the-cuff dismissal of Twin Peaks, I know, especially since I'm not even dismissing it. I've just never been blown away by the show, which is a bit frustrating, given its reputation. Some of it is wonderful, but I'd say that about 75% of it just washes over me -- not bad, but not really inspiring either. After the phenomenal pilot episode, the rest of the first season was just... pretty good, with reasonably consistent peaks.