I may have lost the plot (is there one?). As in, I count the first two seasons broadcast 1990-91 as "the first series", and the one started last year as "the second series".
That is certainly not how the showrunners present it, Series 1 was an 8-episode run in 1990, Series 2 was 22 episodes in 90-91 and Series 3 18 episodes in 2017. Fire Walk With Me the film in 92.
Still, it's Lynch. Doesn't have to be logical or consecutive or anything like that.
And just for fun, when the episodes are referred to by number, some sources start with the 'pilot' episode as 1 (IMDB etc.) whereas some start with the episode after the pilot as 1 (Bluray disc, wikipedia etc.) so where an episode is referred to by number it won't necessarily be the one you think it is.
Well, about a third of the way into season 2 (1990/91) and still enjoying it enormously. Still looking forward to the fractured cliff-hanger ending that finished the season, and the whole series as far as anybody knew until they rustled up the cash for a third season a quarter of a century later.
Well goddam it. We have season 2 (1990-91) on disk, and I've seen FWWM (which is a 'prequel' to the tv series: it explains the whodunnit, wheredunnit and whydunnit, the 'it' being the murder of LP and much else).
I'm with Milko on this one. The first series was the first 8 episodes and was an artistic whole with a beginning, a middle and an end. If left to its own devices would have stood higher than the franchise as a whole now does.
I'm not blaming anyone involved for taking the money & milking the franchise, though - I'd have done the same.
Hmmmm.
I'm all for the well-established practice of leaving a story open: allowing unanswered questions to remain with the audience so that the world of the story lives on. But. In my opinion, breaking off at the end of episode 8 would have been a serious breach of trust between the programme makers and the viewers. It's fine that some stories leave a mystery in the air that can be speculated about forever, but by episode 8 no plot lines had been resolved at all.
I think that making 8 episodes of what would essentially be a piece of performance art, seeming to follow the pattern of a TV series but never intending to complete a story arc, would be a piece of self-indulgence.
In fact, something like Twin Peaks is bound to leave unresolved issues anyway. It relies on a kind of mysticism and magic (several) and the point of magic is that it isn't magic if it can be explained.
Damn, Now I really want to see the first season. I remember at the time it a) had very high ratings and b) was described as a nightime soap. Seasons two and three (1990-91) was where things got really weird, Lynchian you might say, and ratings plummeted. Pretty much all original story lines were resolved in FWWM, though it opened new ones (mainly: what would Evil Coop do?).
No no no, 1990-91 is just season two. It had trouble with the network (and ratings) though which made for some weird inconsistency.
As for Evil Coop, get ye to Season 3! Where there's not been any real limits on what Lynch wants to do with weirdness.
Ooh: I just checked the library catalog online and, while there are no Twin Peaks seasons, and an over-abundance of stupid (ghost-written?) fan books credited to Mark Frost, FWWM DVD is on order, with 12 holds already placed on it. Meaning my (13th) hold will probably come up in 3 or 4 months. (dance)