Twin Peaks: how it ‘opened up the grammar’ for TV’s current Golden Age When Twin Peaks debuted in 1990, it revolutionised television and the way that producers approached their projects. Here was a series […]

When Twin Peaks debuted in 1990, it revolutionised television and the way that producers approached their projects.

Here was a series that took risks; a work of art driven by David Lynch’s creative vision, and one that told an intriguing story with a distinct sense of style.

With Twin Peaks: The Return this year, viewers were once again taken back to the esoteric characters, locations and themes that made the show a hit. This time with a more expansive story.

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A timely return. For just as Twin Peaks has come back, we are seeing a range of new shows which draw from the surreal tone of Lynch’s work.

Expanding the possibilities

“Twin Peaks was influential because of its tone, its atmosphere and its reliance on style and mood,” says Andreas Halskov, author of ‘TV Peaks: Twin Peaks & Modern Television Drama’.

The show’s unique sensibility made it a target for imitation and parody, in “sketch shows, series like Eerie, Indiana, art exhibits, and electronic music”.

But Halskov says it was also “removed from the rest of the television landscape”.

“It has opened up the TV grammar, daring the cable networks and TV producers to take chances”

Franck Boulègue – film critic and author of Twin Peaks: Unwrapping the Plastic – believes Twin Peaks remains influential because “it shows how formulaic [other TV shows] are”.

“It expanded the possibilities of what is acceptable on TV,” he says.

“The originals introduced mass audiences to surrealist imagery and a radical mix of soap opera, thriller, horror and science fiction.”

The third season once again broke all the rules, and revealed “to what extent the ‘Golden Age of television’ is unimaginative”, Boulègue says.

It is happening again

The tail end of 2017 has seen a number of new shows heavily influenced by Twin Peaks.

Channel 4’s The End of the F***ing World was described as “if David Lynch made a rom-com“.

The soon-to-be-released Dark – Netflix’s first German-language series – has been dubbed “Stranger Things meets Twin Peaks“.

Halskov believes that “systemic changes in the TV landscape” in more recent years paved the way for Twin Peaks to make a comeback, and “push the boundaries once more – and even further”.

In turn, Halskov suggests that The Return itself could have a notable influence on emerging TV dramas.

“[It] might influence writers and directors to make more outrageous and challenging TV series,” he says. Though he admits that the The Return’s divisive Part 8 will “hardly become a formula for success”.

But even that baffling episode showed audiences that television can be “more challenging and artsy than we would expect”.

“It has opened up the TV grammar,” he says, “daring the cable networks and TV producers to take chances and continue to push the boundaries”.

Boulègue hopes The Return gives executives more confidence to try new and experimental things, “even if the series didn’t attract audiences like Game of Thrones“.

Streaming and a greater choice of content has given rise to broadcasters and channels distinct from traditional networks like ABC, on which the first two seasons of Twin Peaks aired.

“Channels like Showtime [which hosted The Return] and Netflix are eager to produce prestigious series, giving almost complete freedom to renowned filmmakers,” he adds.

“This promotes their image as artistic or providing high-quality television, but also these works do have an audience.”

The danger of imitation

But reaching for Twin Peaks’ forward-thinking experimentalism can be counter-intuitive. Simply trying to recreate Lynch’s boundary-pushing vision is in itself an unoriginal approach.

Both Halskov and Boulègue argue that to ape Lynch’s “irreducable strangeness” is to miss the point.

“It’s both ‘avant-garde’ and fan-based, which very few works of art manage to achieve.”

“I strongly believe it’s a mistake to try and ape Lynch’s style because it only functions in relationship to the kind of content he creates,” says Boulègue.

“He’s reaching for fundamental, metaphysical truths which his style helps to illustrate. Those who imitate him don’t have this background; their works remain superficial as a result.”

“If you think of ‘Lynchian’ and ‘Peaksy’ as synonyms for weirdness,” says Halskov, “your series will come across as a strange emulation of Twin Peaks.”

“People have to understand that it’s not just about certain moods, and quirky characters,” says Boulègue.

“It’s really about the meaning of life and death.”

Stranger Things: ‘you can sense the influence’

Halskov believes Stranger Things is a prominent example of a TV show with certain Twin Peaks ‘qualities’.

“The influence is in the eerie atmospheres, the fantastic uncertainty and the melding of different genres and registers.”

He says these shows don’t really look and feel quite like Twin Peaks, “but you can sense the influence”.

“Instead of aping the style and the sense of weirdness, it’s more convincing when shows take tonal elements from Twin Peaks and put them into new narrative and stylistic contexts. As seen in Stranger Things.”

“What distinguishes Twin Peaks is the level of interactivity it manages to create,” says Boulègue. “It’s both ‘avant-garde’ and fan-based, which very few works of art manage to achieve.”

Whether we’ll see a true successor to Twin Peaks remains to be seen, but the show’s irrepressible influence will continue to shape the TV landscape for years to come.

TV Peaks: Twin Peaks & Modern Television Drama by Andreas Halskov is available now. Twin Peaks: Unwrapping the Plastic by Franck Boulègue is also out now.