Analyzing Twin Peaks Through Different Mediums

After reading an article and interview with David Lynch that was published in Entertainment Weekly Special Edition in 1990 by Troy Patterson and Jeff Jensen, it became clear that Twin Peaks was an addictive series to watch. Jensen and Patterson considered Twin Peaks to be a “cult show” because of the amount of people that followed it and were completely fixated on watching it. People were staying in on Saturday nights to watch Twin Peaks because it had such a large following. The night it premiered, it had 35 million viewers which is astonishing to think about at that time. During this time, there was no genre such as a “serial drama” and the public could not wait to get more of it after the first episode aired. As Patterson and Jensen stated, “In 1990, director David Lynch took a twisted look at cherry-pie America with Twin Peaks and television has never been the same (Jensen & Patterson, 1990).” 

As I read a blog post written by Chad Webb, he too explained how after watching the first episode of Twin Peaks he was immediately immersed in the television series. He writes, “Twin Peaks was a bold, beautiful, quirky, strange, and ambitious show, one I became immersed in.” However, Webb watched the series through DVDs rather than on live television 23 years ago. He did thorough research on Twin Peaks and found that people did not think the show was going to be a hit because it was a type of genre that no audience had ever seen before. Between the acting, the characters, the plot, and the fact that the series was based around a murder, audiences could not get enough of Twin Peaks.  It is fascinating to recognize that despite the fact that Webb watched this series 23 years later than Troy Patterson and Jeff Jensen did, that he was still just as immersed in the series. Even though he had most likely watched many more serial dramas before Twin Peaks, unlike the audiences that watched the series live many years ago, it still had the same affect on him as it did for those who had Twin Peaks as their first serial drama television series.