BuzzFeed: "Twin Peaks Co-Creator Mark Frost On The Series’ Return To Television"

Damn fine news: After 25 years, Twin Peaks is headed to Showtime with a nine-episode limited series. BuzzFeed News spoke to Frost about the revival and what fans can expect.

At BuzzFeed, you can read my latest feature, "Twin Peaks Co-Creator Mark Frost On The Series’ Return To Television," in which I talk to Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost about the series' resurrection as a limited series on Showtime in 2016.

Earlier this summer, deleted and extended scenes from the Twin Peaks follow-up film Fire Walk With Me were unearthed for the series’ complete Blu-ray release. But that was nothing compared to what happened on Oct. 6, as the impossible suddenly became a reality: Co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost announced that Twin Peaks would be returning to television 25 years after it went off the air, its resolution as hazy and unclear as a fever dream.

Nine episodes of a Twin Peaks revival series will air on Showtime in 2016 as a limited series, one that promises a resolution of sorts for FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and one that signals a reunion of Lynch and Frost, who will write every episode, with Lynch set to direct as well. For Frost, it’s a unique position to be in, one that has been three years in the making.

“It’s a very rich feeling, to finally be able to tell the world about it, because we’ve been living with it for three years,” Frost told BuzzFeed News shortly after the limited series announcement was made. “People’s reactions are so fantastic. The thought that something like this could make so many people excited and hopefully happy fills you with the kind of joy you don’t get most days. So it’s a wonderful opportunity to close the circle.”

Frost also talked about Showtime’s announcement, why there are exactly nine episodes planned for the resurrected Twin Peaks, whether composer Angelo Badalamenti will return with another iconic score, and what fans can expect from this most unlikely news. In the words of the Little Man From Another Place, let’s rock.

Very few artists ever get the opportunity to return to a work 25 years later, particularly those working in television. What does it feel like to have the chance to make this journey and specifically with David?

Well, you know, the heart of this whole experience, from the beginning, has been this friendship that we share. Everything that we’ve done has started and flowed from that. In a way, it’s a wonderful way to continue the friendship, and deepen the experience for both of us, as friends, as collaborators, and as people, working to tell a story together. Neither of us has ever collaborated with anybody else in this way, and it’s a very special relationship. I guess you can say it’s like the U.S. and Great Britain, in diplomatic terms. It’s the special relationship in my life, creatively, and I think in his in the same way. First and foremost, it’s a wonderful chance to work together with a very good, dear friend.

Given that this is the only collaboration that both of you have done, what is the process for co-writing these episodes, and how has your relationship with David changed in the more than two decades since you last worked together?

I think that the main thing is — you’re different people 20 years later. You’re older and hopefully wiser, and you’ve had a lot more life experience. You’re bringing all that to the table. That’s certainly been our experience; that’s what it feels like to me. We’re not just trying to bring back the show because we can bring back the show; we’re doing it because we feel there’s something more to say with it, and it’s the perfect vehicle for expressing those thoughts and feelings.

Why specifically is the revival nine episodes?

Well, if you think back about the first season, if you put the pilot together with the seven that we did, you get nine hours. It just felt like the right number. I’ve always felt the story should take as long as the story takes to tell. That’s what felt right to us.
There are still a lot of details that are coming together. In terms of the general thrust of this, is this being envisioned as a strict continuation of those plots that were left dangling when the show was canceled, or is it something altogether different?
It’s kind of all of those things. It’s different and yet the same. It’s reassuring, and yet, I hope, equally startling and unsettling. And, more than anything it does, Twin Peaks is kind of a way to look at the world. And this is a chance to refine that vision, so many years later. As you say, it’s a very unique opportunity.

Continue reading at BuzzFeed...

BuzzFeed: "Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces Makes You See Fire Walk With Me In A Different Way"

David Lynch unveiled nearly 90 minutes of deleted and extended scenes to his 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me at a Los Angeles theater last night. It was intense and weird.

At BuzzFeed, you can read my latest feature, "Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces Makes You See Fire Walk With Me In A Different Way," in which I look at the so-called Missing Pieces from Twin Peaks — the deleted scenes from David Lynch's Fire Walk with Me — unveiled by Lynch last night at the world premiere in Los Angeles.

WARNING: The following contains information about the identity of Laura Palmer’s killer. If, by some chance, you are reading this and haven’t finished the more than two decades-old series, stop reading before you are spoiled.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, David Lynch’s follow-up prequel to cult classic television series Twin Peaks, has always been an odd beast. It recounts the final seven days of the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), whose inexplicable and brutal murder is the impetus for the short-lived drama that riveted viewers when it aired between 1990 and 1991. It is also about the similarly brutal murder of Teresa Banks (Pamela Gidley), a woman killed a year before Laura in a similarly ritualistic manner whose death puts FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) on alert, following the disappearance of one of his colleagues investigating her murder.

One would expect that the film is a strict prequel, but it is not: Fire Walk With Me plays with time in a unique and nonlinear fashion, making it both prequel and sequel in an odd, contradictory sense. Like Twin Peaks, it is both dreamy and nightmarish, making the conflation of time make sense slightly more. There are visions and sigils, haunted rings and groves of trees, whirring ceiling fans and rustling curtains. The film itself is cryptic and strange, embracing a full-tilt Lynchian mode that the director successfully curtailed in the ethereal Mulholland Drive. Fire Walk With Me is about dreams, desire, and death. It is about answers and more questions. And it is also an unflinching look at the horrors of incest.

Continue reading at BuzzFeed...

BuzzFeed: "Twin Peaks Is 24 Years Old And It Still Haunts Your Dreams"

David Lynch and Mark Frost’s grand opus celebrates nearly a quarter century of influencing television. Damn fine show.

At BuzzFeed, you can read my latest feature, "Twin Peaks Is 24 Years Old And It Still Haunts Your Dreams," in which I (very briefly) explore just why Twin Peaks continues to hold a special allure nearly a quarter century after it first premiered.

Nearly 25 years after it first premiered on ABC, Twin Peaks — the brainchild of David Lynch and Mark Frost — continues to exert an inescapable gravitational pull on the imaginations of viewers and on the television landscape as a whole. Yes, there is still the totemic power of such influential series such as The Wire, or Six Feet Under, or The Sopranos, but Twin Peaks remains a powerful shorthand for ethereal, riveting mystery, and for good reason.

Nominally about the investigation into the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), the serialized drama was responsible for creating the nightmares of many as it delved into both the seedy underbelly of a seemingly idyllic town in the Pacific Northwest and into a haunting dream world where giants and dwarves roamed the halls of the Great Northern Hotel, perfect cherry pie could be had at the local greasy spoon, and murder most foul could rip a town in two. The show itself embraced the somnambulist visuals of its co-creator, infusing the whodunnit with a lyrical, somber, and, at times, terrifying feel. (You all know which moments I mean: A tableau of lovelorn teenagers singing a song segues into a nightmarish encounter. A skipping record signals doom. Red curtains part to reveal horrors.)

For those of us who experienced the show as it aired, tuning in each week to gather more clues about Laura’s killer and marvel at the deductive reasoning skills of the show’s resident Sherlock, FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), it’s almost impossible to describe the strange appeal that Twin Peaks had and the hunger to solve the murder in the days before Twitter, Television Without Pity message boards, or social media at all. It was a true watercooler show in the days when such things as watercooler conversation still existed. It caused many a sleepless night as you pondered just what the dwarf meant, or whether Laura’s lookalike cousin Maddy Ferguson (also played by Lee) was connected somehow to the specifics of her death.

Continue reading at BuzzFeed...

The Daily Beast: "TV Breaks the Incest Taboo"

HBO's Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, Bored to Death and other TV shows have recently featured incest storylines or themes.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "TV Breaks the Incest Taboo," in which I examine this troubling trend in scripted programming.

In 1990, Twin Peaks gave the world a nightmare vision into the seediness beneath the placid veneer of small-town America. But while one of the many puzzles embedded within Twin Peaks’ narrative was the identity of the murderer of teen queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), the true secret lurking at the heart of the mystery was the incest and abuse suffered by Laura at the hands of her father, Leland (Ray Wise) and the psychic damage this secret caused his wife, Sarah (Grace Zabriskie). It’s a reveal so horrific, so destructive, that the creators represented it in terms of the supernatural, having Leland possessed by a demonic entity in order to explain the cruelty and lack of humanity that such a crime would require.

“The act at the black heart of the murder colored the entire narrative,” Twin Peaks’ co-creator Mark Frost told The Daily Beast this week. “Incest is a primal, eternal taboo in civilized culture, and some of the greatest tragedies ever written proceed from it, or lead to it.”

In the 20-plus years since Twin Peaks first premiered, television’s approach to incest had changed little, with few shows daring to break that taboo. But, particularly in the last year, scripted television shows have reversed their disinclination to deal with incest. Premium cable is allowing creators to push boundaries with storylines that weren’t previously permissible. And with incest at the forefront of the national conversation—as classical-music troupe The 5 Browns come clean about the incest they suffered at the hands of their manager father—it is providing grist for the story engines of some of television’s most daring and controversial shows.

Continue reading at The Daily Beast...

There's Always Music in the Air: This Weekend's Twin Peaks Event

Just a few words about what was an amazing and surreal experience this weekend.

There is a place in downtown Los Angeles that's a bit of a local institution: Clifton's, a nearly 100-year old cafeteria where nearly the entire three-story interior is decorated like a forest. Trees sprout up from inside the main dining hall, the walls are painted to resemble a forest, and there are nooks and crannies designed to look like mountains.

In other words, it's the perfect place for a Twin Peaks gathering.

Saturday saw the launch of the Twin Peaks at 20 exhibition and reception, which featured artwork (paintings, photography, sculpture, metalwork, and much more) based on Twin Peaks and its characters as part of the 20-year celebration of the show's launch. Photography by Richard Beymer (Ben Horne!) sat alongside haunting boxes made by Grace Zabriskie (Sarah Palmer!) and works by co-creator David Lynch.

Cherry pie and doughnuts were served, along some of Lynch's damn fine coffee (which you can buy at select retail outlets), the soundtrack blared over the loudspeakers, and there was a room set up to resemble the Black Lodge/Waiting room, and, yes, those familiar zig-zag white-and-black floors and red curtains were in attendance.

Lynch created some prints specifically for the exhibition, including a limited-run print of the Twin Peaks town map (which I purchased and plan to hang in a place of prominence) and some Cub Scout-style badges that celebrated the show's two decades and that broken heart necklace that played so prominently into the plot of the first season. (Also for sale: extremely limited-edition Packard Sawmill work aprons, RR Diner coffee mugs, Great Northern Hotel stationery, books of poetry by Zabriskie, and much more.)

It was odd and magical--the sensation of walking into this forest to hear "Falling" was something I can't describe and took me back 20 years--and weird and wonderful. And it was the perfect way to celebrate the surreal and haunting quality of Twin Peaks itself. Thanks for the memories.

(For more on Twin Peaks, you can read my feature from late last year at The Daily Beast, where I interviewed co-creator Mark Frost, Sheryl Lee, and James Roday of USA's Psych, which reassembled much of the TP cast for an episode.)

The Daily Beast: "Twin Peaks' Strange Reunion"

"She's dead. Wrapped in plastic."

Twenty years ago today (yes, precisely to the day), Laura Palmer's killer was unmasked for Agent Dale Cooper and Sheriff Truman on ABC's seminal series Twin Peaks. Tonight, many of the original cast members of the haunting and harrowing series will reunite on-screen for the first time in two decades on USA's Psych, which airs its Twin Peaks homage episode, "Dual Spires," tonight at 10 pm ET/PT.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, entitled "Twin Peaks' Strange Reunion," in which I explore the enduring legacy of Twin Peaks and speak with the series' co-creator Mark Frost and Laura Palmer herself, Sheryl Lee, about the groundbreaking drama series and where things went wrong, and speak with Psych's star James Roday (who penned tonight's "Dual Spires" episode) about his Twin Peaks obsession (one that rivals my own).

All this plus, a damn fine gallery feature entitled "The Cast of Twin Peaks: Where Are They Now?" which explores what 12 of the series' stars have been up to since they last set foot in the Double R Diner.

Serve up a slice of cherry pie, grab a cup of Norma's coffee, and remember when...

Under the Nail: An Advance Review of Psych's "Damn Fine" Twin Peaks Homage, "Dual Spires"

Smell that cinnamon...

While USA may not have planned the stars aligning just so, it is twenty years to the day that Agent Dale Cooper unmasked Laura Palmer's killer on Twin Peaks, so it's only fitting that Psych should celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the series that changed television with an episode that both a send-up and a loving tribute to Twin Peaks.

Tonight's damn fine episode of Psych ("Dual Spires"), written by James Roday and Bill Callahan, does just that, offering a plot in which Shawn (Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill) travel to the quirky small town of Dual Spires for a cinnamon festival and encounter a revolving door of eccentric individuals. But their presence in town coincides with an eerie mystery, the murder of a local girl that is far more sinister and weird that it initially seems.

If you've never seen Twin Peaks, you might be slightly bewildered by the oddness unfolding around Shawn and Gus in this bucolic town where there's always music (or cinnamon, anyway) in the air. Red-suited individuals dance to creepy jukebox music, ceiling fans revolve menacingly, clues are found under the nail of one character, a woman clutches a log, and a man barks like a dog. It's weird, it's unnerving, and it's wonderful.

But if you've seen (and loved) David Lynch and Mark Frost's groundbreaking original series, it's clear that Roday has dropped in a kitchen sink's worth of allusions, shout-outs, and callbacks to Twin Peaks, loading the episode with a forest full of in-jokes for Twin Peaks devotees to catch, everything from The Great Northern (here Dual Spires' newspaper) and Windom Earle to a certain someone's transformative hair color. (And some clearly intentional music meant to recall Angelo Badalamenti's amazing score.)

I don't want to say too much lest I spoil this fantastic and fun episode, but I will say that the appearance of Twin Peaks regulars Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Sherilyn Fenn, Dana Ashbrook, Catherine E. Coulson, Lenny von Dohlen, and Robyn Lively only serve to enhance an already winning episode. (Extra points for getting Julee Cruise to perform the Psych theme song.) Fenn is pitch-perfect as sultry local librarian Maudette Hornsby (cough, cough) and it's fantastic to see Lee not serve as the victim this time around.

(Aside: I had a long conversation a few weeks back with Lee about her experiences shooting this episode and Twin Peaks in general and she fulfilled by 20-year love affair with the show and her characters. Some of which can be read here.)

Lee is fantastic here and one of the most famous scenes in Twin Peaks history, the discovery--in the pilot episode--of Laura's body, wrapped in plastic, is celebrated in rich fashion. As Lee's Dr. Donna Gooden stares down at the corpse of a local girl, whose body is wrapped in plastic, on a sandy shore, there's a sensation of being caught in a hall of mirrors, as Lee looks down at both the victim, herself as Laura Palmer, and herself as the actress playing Twin Peaks' most famous "dead girl."

It's also us, and our own memories of Twin Peaks, twenty years on, reflected back.



Psych airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on USA.

Channel Surfing: Psych Has a Twin Peaks Experience, HBO Orders Apatow/Dunham Pilot, SNL, Modern Family Casts Cam's Mom, and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

I'm not even a Psych fan and this made me blissfully happy. Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that USA's Psych is staging a Twin Peaks-inspired episode that will also feature original cast members Sheryl Lee, Sherilyn Fenn, Dana Ashbrook, Catherine Coulson, Ray Wise, Lenny Von Dohlen, and Robyn Lively. Um, yes please. The episode, co-written by series star James Roday, will air sometime this fall and will revolve around "a quirky Northern California town that has been rocked by the death of a high school student." Sound familiar? Coulson will even play a "mysterious Woman with Wood," a tongue-in-cheek take on her Log Lady from Twin Peaks. Sign me up. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that HBO has given a pilot order to an untitled comedy written/directed by 24-year-old Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture) and executive produced by Judd Apatow and Jenni Konner. Project, which will also star Dunham, revolves around "the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20's" and will feature autobiographical elements from Dunham's own life. (Deadline)

Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice is reporting that Parks and Recreation leading lady Amy Poehler will host the season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 25th, with Katy Perry serving as musical guest. Season 36 has added four new players to the mix, including Taran Killam, Paul Brittain, Vanessa Bayer, and Jay Pharoah (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

[Editor: Will Forte, as widely reported, will not be returning to SNL this season. Jenny Slate, who made headlines for the F-bomb heard 'round the latenight world, is also "not expected to return," according to Variety's Michael Schneider.]

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting that Celia Weston (Desperate Housewives) has beat out Delta Burke, Dianne Wiest, and Kathy Bates (along with others) to play Barb Tucker, the mother of Emmy Award winner Eric Stonestreet's Cam, on ABC's Modern Family. Weston is expected to turn up around the holidays for a visit this season. (TV Guide Magazine)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Alan Ritchson will reprise his role as Arthur "AC" Curry on the final season of the CW's Smallville during November sweeps. "AC was last seen in season 8, when his secret identity was discovered by LuthorCorp," writes Ausiello. "I’m told the Justice Leaguer will resurface in this season’s ninth episode." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

MTV is getting back into the live daytime game with new daily countdown show The Seven, according to The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd, who reports that the show, which will launch September 27th, "presents seven stories that MTV viewers need to know, from Hollywood news, music, sex and fashion to other topics." Project, which will also feature interviews and musical performances, will be executive produced by Steve Tseckares. (Hollywood Reporter)

David Nevins has announced his first piece of development business since he took over as president of Showtime. The project in question is an adaptation of Tom Perrotta's novel "The Wishbones," which Perrotta himself will adapt for the pay cabler. Warner Bros. Television-based project, which will be executive produced by Perrotta and John Wells, revolves around a small-time wedding band with plans of rock n' roll stardom. Wells is no stranger to Showtime: his next series, a US adaptation of UK drama Shameless, is set to launch early next year on the channel. [Editor: Having seen the pilot for the US Shameless--twice, no less--and been raving about it for months since, this is one to keep an eye on.] (Variety)

Don't look for Marc Cherry to pull out the stops this sweeps on ABC's Desperate Housewives. Cherry told TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck that the soap will get back to basics this season and ditch the gimmicks. "I'm not doing another big gimmicky natural disaster this year; I'm trying something different," Cherry said. "My big cliffhanger right before we take our Christmas break will have to do with Paul Young. He has a plan for destroying the neighborhood. There will a shocking cliffhanger that effects everyone's lives, and then right before February sweeps, we're going to kill off one of our characters." (TV Guide Magazine)

HBO has acquired rights to Martin Scorsese's documentary Public Speaking, which focuses on writer Fran Lebowitz and which will air on the pay cabler in November. (via press release)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that FOX's Bones will feature an episode that's loosely inspired by dance competition series So You Think You Can Dance, as Booth and Brennan tackle a case involving street performers. Episode will feature a guest appearance from So You Think You Can Dance Season Four runner-up Stephen "tWitch" Boss, who will play a murder suspect. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

FOX has renewed culinary competition series Masterchef for a second season. (Variety)

Despite the rumors swirling that Simon Cowell will step down from the UK X-Factor in order to focus his attention on the upcoming US launch of the format, his reps have told The Hollywood Reporter that "no decision has been made." (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.