Twin Peaks - 20 Years Later

"She's dead, wrapped in plastic" and so began a magical experience.

20 years ago this month, America became captivated in a new TV series called 'Twin Peaks.' The show, which only ran for two seasons on ABC, remains unlike anything else produced before or since.

Twenty years after the influential cult television show began, David Lynch's sci-fi, absurdist murder-mystery soap opera continues to amaze legions of viewers who are experiencing it for the first time on DVD. Without it, there would probably not be shows like 'Lost' or 'The X-Files' or any of the countless serials that were labeled "quirky" or "weird."

Although it was mostly a whodunit about the murder of the homecoming queen in a small logging town in the Pacific Northwest, that was only part of the show's allure. The quirky, often bizarre characters that populated the town of Twin Peaks were also what made the show so incredibly fascinating.

When Laura Palmer's body is found washed up ashore wrapped in plastic, FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, played masterfully by Kyle MacLachlan, is brought in to investigate a possible connection between Palmer's death and another recent murder. I won't give away any more for those who haven't yet seen this show and may plan on doing so on DVD.

The show premiered in April 1990 with a 2 hour pilot episode, which is widely considered to be 2 of the best hours TV has ever produced. It's interesting to note that the pilot is only available on the Gold Box Edition of the DVD box set of the series. The show ran for 2 seasons and 29 episodes. The first season of the series was a cultural phenomenon, 'Twin Peaks' became more than a show, it was a national discussion. For a while, the entire country had at least heard of the phrase "Who Killed Laura Palmer?", if not rabidly discussed the answer at work or school the next day. The show spawned a slew of T-shirts, lighters, trading cards and books -- which included an audiobook, 'Diane: The Twin Peaks Tapes,' read by MacLachlan as Agent Cooper, a travel guide to the town of Twin Peaks and 'The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer,' written by Lynch's daughter Jennifer. In 1992, a big screen prequel, 'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me' was released.

Midway through the second season, ABC foolishly forced Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost to reveal Laura's murderer, thus causing a steady decline in the ratings -- and quality -- of subsequent episodes.

One thing the show did, that changed the face of television, was prove that TV didn't have to be vastly inferior to movies. When a director like David Lynch did a TV show, it became OK for big time movie producers, directors, and stars to do television. Television became the much more respected and revered medium that it is today.

Looking back 20 years, it's hard to overstate just how different 'Twin Peaks' was than anything else on television. Lynch, whose films 'Eraserhead' and 'Blue Velvet' would both influence 'Peaks' with its eccentric characterizations and evils in a small town, didn't let TV dilute his vision. Instead, he saw TV as an extension, rather than a compromise, of his films; a forum that allowed him to make what was essentially a 30-hour soap opera noir. Visually, in comparison to the grainy, cheap quality of other 1990s shows, 'Twin Peaks' looks just as beautiful now as it did when it first premiered.

One thing is for sure, 'Twin Peaks' changed the face of television for the better.