Watching Serials.

Two nights ago M. and I watched the series finale of Jericho. We completed all 29 episodes in about a month. That sounds like we tore through it, but the truth is that before we had Baby E. we might have seen it all within a week. We used to push our bedtimes back a lot, and egg each other on to watch "just one more episode". It's strange to think that, although most people reading can likely relate to what I'm talking about, the phenomena of watching an entire television series at one's own speed is relatively new in human history. Hell, the same thing can be said about TV in general. Now there is very little I like better in the realm of entertainment than to burn through the run of a series.

We liked Jericho. Neither the acting nor the writing was especially exceptional, but we were captivated by the premise of the show (remarked upon here). The narrative and the themes were particularly suited to the serial form. I can hardly imagine being a kid in the 50's and going to the theater to watch something similar. You'd actually have to wait weeks until the next installment in the chain of cliffhangers came out. That would be excruciating. I don't even think we'd have enough patience to wait for it on Netflix. We need to have all the episodes on hand so that we can pop it in whenever we anticipate having an hour of relative freedom. It's not just about our inability to delay gratification.

We're becoming old hands at considering market exigencies when it comes to television programming. If a show doesn't quickly garner a large audience, then it is gone without much hesitation. It doesn't usually matter whether the critics deem it a "quality" series. We internalized that lesson when Carnivale (which I still think is the best serial of all-time, followed closely by Twin Peaks) was cancelled. And I know we are not alone. So it wasn't devastating to see Jericho wrapped up in a slightly arbitrary way. It was less painful because we knew what was coming. I feel bad for those who invested themselves in watching it on network television. They had to face the disappointment of its unnatural death, as well as confront whatever dreck replaced it in its time slot.

What was interesting about the DVD package was that they included two versions of the last episode- one that was aired on broadcast television, and one that was meant to leave viewers wanting more. In this case the differences were subtle. M. and I differ in our requirements regarding resolution. Most of the major plot threads must be tied up, or otherwise M. feels a bit unsatisfied. On the other hand, I don't mind filling in the gaps on my own. Jericho met both of our requirements on that count. There was no feeling of being left hanging. Yet we did get the chance to imagine what a Season 3 could have looked like. It would have been nice to have been able to form a reasonable guess about where Carnivale was going when HBO pulled the plug.

Now we have to figure out what's next. We definitely plan to order the 4th season of Lost. That's a given. We are fully invested already. Aside from that I have a few ideas. There are some unresolved shows from the 90's that I missed and intend to order- FOX's Profit, CBS's American Gothic, and UPN's Nowhere Man. For most people, I believe these flew completely under the radar. As far as more contemporary viewing is concerned, I've already mentally committed to watching AMC's Mad Men. And Showtime's Dexter is calling out to me louder and louder. Finally, I have been convinced to give HBO's The Wire a try. There are just too many folks claiming that it's the best television drama ever produced. We'll see about that.

David Lynch, "Fire Walk With Me" (1992).

My viewing of the Twin Peaks series really wouldn't have been complete without seeing the follow-up feature, Fire Walk With Me. The film traces the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer, the young woman whose body is discovered in the series pilot. Technically FWWM is a prologue, but I wouldn't recommend watching it first if you've never seen the show. As I wrote yesterday, the mystery surrounding Laura's death is what drives Twin Peaks. Once you know who the perpetrator was, the story loses a lot of steam. The topic of the second season came up in a conversation today, and the person I was talking to was adamant about disliking it.

So why the hell did Lynch shoot a follow-up, a year after the conclusion of the series? Apparently he believed that there was still some tale left untold. If you watched the 29 episodes of the television run, then you already have some vague outline of Laura's final days. The movie fills in some of the details. You could make the case that the depiction of the back-story is best made in the viewer's imagination. That may have been why the film was booed so vigorously when it played the Cannes film festival. It had a similarly negative reception in the States. Critics panned it. The audience was naturally limited to those fans who still loved the original series. Obviously, it was completely impenetrable to anyone who hadn't watched the show previously. Therefore it did quite poorly at the box office.

There are also reports that people resented the lack of humor that was so evident in the series. On the other hand, the silliness of the back half of the second season was a sticking point for many of its detractors. FWWM is almost relentlessly dark. Unfettered by the limitations of network television, Lynch pulled no punches in the portrayal of the disturbing relationship that underpins the narrative. He also expands upon the imagery originally presented in the "Red Room"- the dreamworld sequences that illuminate the core nightmare behind Twin Peaks. The "Man From Another Place" (Michael Anderson), "The One Armed Man" (Al Strobel), and "BOB" (Frank Silva) are all back, and they are joined by others. Minor characters Mrs. Chalfont and her grandson also return, and play more prominent roles. All these characters add to the general surrealist tone of FWWM.

Some star power was added for a bit of extra marquee glitz. Chris Isaak, Kiefer Sutherland and David Bowie all appear as FBI agents. They figure in a story that predates the events surrounding Laura Palmer. Kyle McGlaughlin (the heart of the series) plays a limited role, as he was reluctant to reappear in his original role. Absent altogether is Lara Flynn Boyle, who is replaced in the role of Donna Heyward by Moira Kelly. In addition, many of the main players from Twin Peaks were peripheral to Palmer's death, and are therefore omitted as well. There is no doubt at all that this is Laura's story. Of course this means that characters like the Palmer parents, Leo Johnson, James Hurley, Jacques Renault and Bobby Briggs are indispensable.

Sheryl Lee (who was an inexperienced local actress originally picked by Lynch merely to play the dead girl) ends up being given a lot of work in her role as Laura Palmer. It is fascinating to get to know the personality that affected so many of the players in the television series. She is confused, possessed, sexy, and dynamic in turn. And she could have been a major disappointment if she hadn't been able to deliver the goods. But in my opinion she did quite well. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the cursory attempts Lynch made to clear up some of the lingering mysteries of the series. For example, we see a brief appearance by Agent Cooper's love interest about half way through the film. It seems like nothing more than an afterthought, and serves only to disrupt the continuity of the particular scene. Perhaps the talented director could have left well enough alone, and kept his eye on the main thread. Regardless FWWM was still enjoyable, and constitutes essential viewing for any Twin Peaks enthusiast.

David Lynch and Mark Frost, "Twin Peaks" (1990).

After watching the complete offerings of several television programs that I had always wanted to see (Oz, Carnivale, The Prisoner), I finally decided to take a stab at seeing the entire Twin Peaks series. The show was created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, and was first aired starting in 1990 on ABC. It was tremendously original, and took millions of viewers by surprise. Lynch had made a string of extremely idiosyncratic features, including Eraserhead (1977), Dune (1984), and Blue Velvet (1986) . In short, he was already known as one of the strangest filmmakers in American history. I remember when Twin Peaks first came out because it got an astonishing amount of critical and commercial acclaim. It caught media observers off guard, because it was put up against Cheers (one of the most popular sitcoms in history) on Thursday nights. Everyone involved with the project was taken aback by its tremendous reception. Viewers were captivated by the show, and anxiously waited out the intervening days between episodes, wondering what would happen next.

The central puzzle in Twin Peaks dealt with the question, "Who killed Laura Palmer?" The teenage character was everything a girl would want to be- popular, beautiful, smart and talented. She had what appeared to be a loving family and many friends. Yet in the wake of her death, it was revealed that she had a hidden life that no one truly knew about. The unraveling of that story is the focus of the series pilot and its first season of seven episodes. Surrounding that main narrative was a full cast of quirky and odd characters. Kyle MacLachlan played FBI agent Dale Cooper, who was called in to help sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) investigate the killing of Palmer (played by Sheryl Lee). Meanwhile there was a devious hotel owner (Richard Beymer), a black widow (Joan Chen), the manager of a saw mill (Lynch-favorite, Jack Nance), and a community doctor (Warren Frost). Surrounding these prominent figures was a bevy of young and attractive actors including Sherilyn Fenn, Lara Flynn Boyle, Madchen Amick, James Marshall, and Dana Ashbrook. And this was but a mere sampling of the major players.

There were certainly a lot of folks to keep track of. In fact it might have been an overwhelming prospect had it not been for the genius of Lynch and Frost. The dark atmospheric beauty and the enigmatic qualities of the main setting made watching Twin Peaks particularly compelling. The rustic little Northwestern town and its surrounding forests provided a suitable tableau for the type of mysteries that its creators had in store. Charming details like Cooper's love of cherry pie, and the inordinate donut consumption in the sheriff's office seized its obsessive audience, and inspired parties organized around each episode. Tantalizing glimpses of a surreal dreamworld, and appearances by a giant, a dwarf, and a woman carrying a log for a companion hooked the collective imagination of all who watched.

By the time the first season was concluded, Twin Peaks had been promised a second one. It took nine more episodes to get to the revelation of Laura Palmer's killer. Some were satisfied, and others were left cold by the explanations. Still there were thirteen installments yet to come. Many felt that the show lost its tension and genius with the solution of Palmer's death. Naturally people had been clamoring for the answer for as long as it was dangling on the edge of events. Yet its eventual disclosure somehow removed an essential aspect of what had made the story so irresistible. Indeed neither Lynch nor Frost had ever planned on resolving the main question in the first place. They had correctly identified that device as the element that made the series work. But the network financiers believed that the audience needed resolution, and forced it upon Lynch and Frost. The remaining 13 episodes meandered through a range of fantastic and unlikely narrative threads. The back end of Twin Peaks was still quirky, but vaguely anticlimactic.

Despite the relatively disappointing nature of the second half of the series, I found a wealth of enjoyment in watching Twin Peaks in its entirety. More than fifteen years after it originally came out, its excellence is still obvious. There is a good reason that this show forever changed the standard for quality serial television. I noticed more possibilities for development that ultimately went unexplored in Twin Peaks than most shows have offered altogether. Any loose ends it left by its conclusion should be forgiven- as it delivered more in its two seasons than 99% of all television, before or since its appearance. In fact there is a whole new generation of viewers just now discovering its brilliance, with the recent complete series release on DVD. If like me you missed it the first time around, make sure to grab this opportunity to see Twin Peaks. It's more than just entertaining... it's an education in the possibilities of the form.