It seems TV in the '80s got really, really awful and it took something weird and challenging and different like "Twin Peaks" to reinvigorate the medium and pave the way for TV's Second Golden Age -- "The Sopranos," "Breaking Bad," "The Wire," "Black Mirror," The X Files," and others.
shareMoonlighting. Ground breaking show...was awesome for the first three years....forgotten for the last two years.
shareNot a fan of Twin Peaks, or Lynch.
TV used to suck, except for some truly stellar early shows, such as The Twilight Zone.
I did like Northern Exposure and Thirtysomething. That's about it for the 80s. For me the rest were mediocre or bad.
Certainly "Twin Peaks" wasn't for everyone. I myself have issues with it -- particularly the second season once Laura Palmer's killer is revealed. But, at its best, "TP" was something rare for TV at the time: it was avant-garde. Not since "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits" had there been something idiot box-related this experimental. It wasn't a cop drama. It wasn't a medical drama. It wasn't a soap opera. It wasn't a sitcom. It had elements of all of those, sure, but, combined with Lynch's singular sense of dream logic, these tired cliches felt fresh and new. What "TP" did for TV is akin to what "Raiders of the Lost Ark" did for the adventure film, "Gone With The Wind" did for the screen epic, or "The Dark Knight" did for the comic book movie: it reinvented it.
shareHonestly, I think Twin Peaks was absolutely boring. The 1980s had loads of different kinds of entertaining shows like Miami Vice, LA Law, North & South and many sitcoms like The Golden Girls and The Cosby Show. Even stuff like Dynasty or Murder She Wrote.
shareIf you liked '80s TV -- and a lot of people did -- than I completely understand you finding "TP" boring. "TP" wasn't made for you. I happened to find very little about '80s TV that was appealing -- I couldn't get into any of the shows you mentioned (though, as stated previously, found "Miami Vice," from a visual standpoint, quite arresting on occasion) and so welcomed "TP" with open arms.
shareI like 80s tv and I like 90s tv. I don't like tv that goes nowhere.
shareTwin Peaks never resolves anything. Around and around in circles.
shareAin't that the truth. I gave it a fair shot.
shareA big influence on Lynch was Kafka. Like Kafka Lynch loathes resolution. If Lynch had had his way Laura Palmer's murder never would have been solved. But ABC demanded he solve it and so he did. Once this concession to formula occurred Lynch lost interest in his show. His co-creator Mark Frost's interest flagged too. To no one's surprise, "TP" petered out shortly thereafter.
But the amount of weird packed in that season and a half made up for all the weird frustratingly absent in the previous decade of TV.
Did you watch last years reboot because I don't think many did ??
shareThe ratings were pretty dismal. Which is understandable. "TP" is as far from "Game of Thrones" and "Breaking Bad" as one can get. It's a cult show. I happened to be one of its enthusiasts. The reboot was interesting and as bizarre, non-linear and maddening as you would expect from Lynch when he no longer has to answer to anyone.
shareHill Street Blues
St Elsewhere
Seinfeld also started in 1989
No one liked Cheers?
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Wrong decade, Turnip. Actually the original "Twin Peaks" was on from 1990 - 1991.
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