Could Twin Peaks have lasted longer?

I'm sure long devoted Twin Peaks fans do not want to see more hypothetical threads about the show's potential, but after watching every episode to number 22 (FWWM prequel included) I have noticed some things that if changed probably could have saved the show.

It is my opinion that the shows overwhelmingly large cast at leasy partitially contributed to the show's cancellation. The large cast was essential for the initial Laura Palmer whodunit but once that was solved the focus of the show seemed to set on secondary characters (I consider anyone not closely linked to Laura or the police investigation to be secondary) and the overall theme shifted into what I felt was a kind of mellowdramatic soap opera.

For season 2 I would have focused mainly on BOB & the two lodges and would have phased any non integral characters out of the story save they were "inhabited" by black lodge spirits, which would drive the story further.

I was also a little disappointed with Windom Earle, I strongly believe that he could have been 100% more of an evil genius rather than an eccentric loon. When I first read about the character I thought about a John Cleese or Christopher Lee-esque character who was more elegant than loony toon acting.

Thoughts? Comments?

Have you not previously posted this in another thread? Im havin deja vuuuu

If it was made now, it would most certainl have lasted. LOST is still on the go, and that is crap crap crap; large cast of poorly written, cliched characters, blatant attempts to keep viewers watching by throwing mystery upon mystery upon mystery...So if TP was made now, i have no doubt itd be a huge success.

Yeh, the problem with TP is lack of focus: beyond the LP mystery, they didnt know what to DO with it. I really dont know what happened between ep 16 and 17. For the sudden cheese that emerged from the mayor squabbling with his brother at the wake, that part of that scene is painful to me. It began to lose most of its polish as a show, not just in plots, but in editing. The 'Laura Palmer Foghorn noise' (LP's theme before the piano kicks in) was used all the goddamn time, sometimes over the top of dialogue. Archive shots of trees were repeatedly used, shots of night when the story was set in day and vice versa. It wouldnt have felt as much of a dip in storytelling if this aspect was tighter. luckily, it seemed to pick this up towards the end...except for ep 28 which is arguably the worst of the series.

I agree though; the focus should have been upon Bob, the one armed man logically would have aided in a hunt for him, but he just vanished into nothing. Agh

Have you not previously posted this in another thread? Im havin deja vuuuu

If it was made now, it would most certainl have lasted. LOST is still on the go, and that is crap crap crap; large cast of poorly written, cliched characters, blatant attempts to keep viewers watching by throwing mystery upon mystery upon mystery...So if TP was made now, i have no doubt itd be a huge success.

Yeh, the problem with TP is lack of focus: beyond the LP mystery, they didnt know what to DO with it. I really dont know what happened between ep 16 and 17. For the sudden cheese that emerged from the mayor squabbling with his brother at the wake, that part of that scene is painful to me. It began to lose most of its polish as a show, not just in plots, but in editing. The 'Laura Palmer Foghorn noise' (LP's theme before the piano kicks in) was used all the goddamn time, sometimes over the top of dialogue. Archive shots of trees were repeatedly used, shots of night when the story was set in day and vice versa. It wouldnt have felt as much of a dip in storytelling if this aspect was tighter. luckily, it seemed to pick this up towards the end...except for ep 28 which is arguably the worst of the series.

I agree though; the focus should have been upon Bob, the one armed man logically would have aided in a hunt for him, but he just vanished into nothing. Agh

I think you're probably right about the series having a better chance at survival if it was made today, but I think a lot of it would've been different... for one thing the whole LP case would've had to be rewritten, they could've found out Leland did it in a second with DNA testing. Not that you couldn't have the mystery/whodunit aspect of the series in there, but it would go down much, much differently. Maybe DL and MF would be forced to concentrate on a bigger plot line than Laura's murder in the first season... At any rate I don't think TP would be the same if it was made today. We'd probably have more than two seasons of it, though...

 

I think the show got the best ending there could be, at the right time.

Call me a heretic.

@Cooped: I have no doubt in my mind that this topic has been brought up before, but I wanted some of the true lovers of TP to really analyze and dissect this with me.

I do agree that if done as a Showtime or HBO original series the show would be big today I don't think there are a lot of people who would disagree with that (especially the endless list of bright young actors who could be cast as the main players). What I am really digging my claws into to be specific is the original 1990-1991 time frame, as to say if now were back then and by some kind of divine intervention of sorts the show by the end of the Laura mystery took a different turn (plot, focus, mood, etc) what do you think would been necessary to cut/edit/revise, etc in order to save the show?

I already said I believe that the focus should have remained strongly on the lodges, and they could have kept the going fresh by introducing new spirits or returning the prequel ones to posses or provoke key players of the plot. Catherine's viciousness would have been more delicious if she were influenced by a meddling lodge spirit in my opinion.

Any thoughts?

no, i mean have you not literally written this in another topic somewhere else? Not a criticism, genuinely asking cos when i read your post i got a bit spooked

Well i think- although ep 29 was made when they knew the show was in the can- that ep29 hints at a sort of 'fat trimming', with the donna thing being melodramatically resolved, nadine being restored, earle being swiftly disposed of. Definately if that route had been taken earlier, it may have been saved. If the White Lodge mentioned in ep17 had been given more focus, instead of hinted at, especially its connection to Bob, this may have kept more viewers interested; by connecting the white lodge to bobbb straight after the LP murder was solved keeps the viewers mind in the frame of that mystery, keeping them hooked.

I disagree about what you say about catherine, i think if that were the case there would have been a risk of oversaturation of the lodge mythology...I think Catherine and Ben are the best 'non investigative' characters.

MORE WOODS: i reckon more of a focus upon the woods, the whole mysterious nature of them that constantly is being alluded to in s1...

James and Donna: They should have quietly become background characters instead of a melodramatic couple after the LP mystery...

Leo/Bobby/Shelly...instead of taking the piss out of a disabled man, the show should have focused more upon Bobby and Leo's past connection, Leo's with Hank, drugs, drug deals in the woods, connecting back to mysteries presented in s1

Edit: What I always wanted to see, and would have been a logical extension of the mood and themes, was an 'in the woods' cult; a sort of Anti-Bookhouse Boys, thinking robes, the members being main players in the town, but their identities remain a mystery for a great time. they invoke Lodge powers that they do not understand yadda yadda. Just alwyas thought it may have gone that way, or should have.

perfectly said, cooped. the woods have always been a mystery. they probably didnt even know how to deal with it, so they just let it be.

@ Cooped actually this is my first post of this kind on this forum, maybe someone else made another one :D I agree with the woods thing, I was also thinking that Mrs. Tremond & Pierre needed more appearances, S2 could have used some freaky out of the blue cryptic lodge magic. As for the woods cult thing I think that's an interesting idea, I was thinking of the govenor or someone really high in office power in TP being Pierre Tremond's father and a cult member/lodge spirit like the Tremonds. Maybe a King Bradley/homunculus thing?

Have you not previously posted this in another thread? Im havin deja vuuuu

 I thought the same thing, Cooped.  I think it was here, in the 25 yrs. thread...

    http://www.2000revue.com/community/topic.cfm?topicid=5370

Have you not previously posted this in another thread? Im havin deja vuuuu

 deja vu on the net? that can't be.

Alas, hellish repetition is all we Lynch fans have to work with nowadays. 

Alas, hellish repetition is all we Lynch fans have to work with nowadays. 

  Then let me repeat this: no amount of "damage control" would've saved TP from cancellation!!! The powers that be at ABC (not the  same ones that greenlit the show)had it in for Lynch/Frost productions.  How to explain switching the show from it's prime Thursday night slot to--- SATURDAY?! Then there were some weeks it wasn't on at all & I believe the finale was Sunday. Make sure to lose your audience by putting it on the big night that folks  go out, THEN play hide & seek....  The ratings had slipped considerably (but they were HUGE for season 1), but were still respectable enough to keep the show on. BUT it was expensive to produce, it was "artsy" & a pain to those at the station who just didn't get it... Lynch was burned twice more by this same TV station for On The Air & Mulholland Drive.  Those who forget the past are doomed to--- uh, I forget...

Whatever happened to the Twin peaks Webisodes that Maclachlan was talking about last June? Was his child's birth and decision to stay with Desperate Housewives the reason nothing's happened?