Jeff at 2010-04-08 12:08:43:

My experience with Twin Peaks is a strange and roundabout one...

I was busy working in public TV during its initial run and missed the series entirely. However, as a lifelong Lynch nut, I knew one day I'd catch up with it.

Flashfoward a bit... our local arthouse is premiering Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me at midnight. I go, knowing full well that I was a babe-in-the-woods regarding the show but figured it was Lynch so COHERENCE was not always such a big deal anyway, right? (Lost Highway convinced me of that.... even though I love the movie, I still don't exactly have a clue what the hell was going on...)

The film floored me. Destroyed me. Since it was a midnight show in a college town, the night began with a bit of rambunctiousness.... by the time the final reel played out, the place was dead silent, sans a few girls in the back weeping (sadness or terror... both perhaps?)

Either way, that was one of the most stark and dramatic nights in a movie theater I've ever had.

I know that movie gets kind of a bad rap from Peaks fans but I thought it was a masterpiece.

Kyle at 2010-04-08 12:36:09:

could shows like Lost exist today without Twin Peaks? At least as far as networks allowing shows to have a running mystery that doesn't have to be solved within a season.

I love Twin Peaks, and I agree that movie terrified me when I first saw it, and I think the commercial failure was due to the weirdness that no longer had a grounding in a charming small town. The innocence that was in the show or a movie like Blue Velvet was completely gone and it was just the terrible underbelly.

Plus the David Bowie cameo was completely off the rails

Bill Weinberger at 2010-04-08 14:22:20:

Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure both coincidentally came on the air shortly after we moved from California to the Seattle area. They became our quirky introductions to the PNW (TP being set there and NE being filmed there).

A concur. Cooper's Red Room Dream must be the #1 scene. And we must not forget either cherry pie or a damn fine cup of coffee.

I always loved it when Lucy, the sheriff's secretary was on the screen. Because it always sounded like this: [answering the phone] "Sheriff, it's Pete Martell up at the mill. I'm going to transfer it to the phone on the table by the red chair ... the red chair against the wall ... the ... the little table with the lamp on it. The lamp that we moved from the corner. The black phone not the brown phone."

We were also disappointed with the direction things took in the second season. I'm not convinced the writers knew what people liked about the show.

Scott at 2010-04-08 14:58:21:

@Bill W: I loved Northern Exposure, too, particularly the first three years. How the writers managed to interweave three storylines that explored one theme, week after week, always amazed me.

Désirée at 2010-04-09 00:05:08:

I love it. I think it flipped out too much and went bazooka and should have been a limited number of episodes from the beginning, but still: I love it.

According to one of those very reliable and serious tests on Facebook, I'm the Log Lady.

My favorites have switched around over time. Twenty years ago I was 17 and James Hurley was soooo handsome (still is but I'm older, he's stayed young, poor thing), and so was Hawk who got too little screen time. Guess Dale Cooper always been a favorite. And of course the Log Lady.

But most of all the environment, the whole atmosphere!

daveed at 2010-04-09 13:33:02:

I will never forget the episode in which--

*SPOILER ALERT*

Leland is in custody and he bashes his head against the wall, injuring himself mortally. Just before he dies, he realizes the horror of his crimes. Afterward, Cooper has this "all is lost" moment conversation with the sheriff and the other FBI agent.

OMG, I found the clip, and it's STILL terrifying/engaging.

*/SPOILER ALERT*