What Might Have Been Had The Show Either Not Been Cancelled or Had Come Back Sooner: Seasons 3, 4-7, maybe even 10!

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mojo1976
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Re: What Might Have Been Had The Show Either Not Been Cancelled or Had Come Back Sooner: Seasons 3, 4-7, maybe even 10!

Post by mojo1976 »

I don’t think it would have made it beyond a 3rd season had it been renewed. With the reveal of the killer, the bulk of casual viewers weren’t interested in any further mysteries. I remember when it was airing it would be erratic with re-runs and the nearly 2-month hiatus before the last 2 episodes airing as a TV special. I remember after the finale looking through newspapers for reviews and news of a season 3 and no one seemed to care. Sure there were letter-writing campaigns to try to save it, but it was cancelled for a reason. As much as I love it, flaws and all, the second half of season 2 isn’t as compelling as the rest of the show.

I could see a 1991-1992 season resolving the cliffhanger, desperately trying to create new mysteries, and still suffering the same fate getting cancelled.

But with The Return and how TV viewing has changed in the last quarter century, I think as long as L&F are interested and the money is there, TP can easily come back on their terms. I’m optimistic for a season 4.
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Re: What Might Have Been Had The Show Either Not Been Cancelled or Had Come Back Sooner: Seasons 3, 4-7, maybe even 10!

Post by Agent Earle »

mojo1976 wrote:As much as I love it, flaws and all, the second half of season 2 isn’t as compelling as the rest of the show.
I'd argue it gets to be even more compelling.
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Cappy
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Re: What Might Have Been Had The Show Either Not Been Cancelled or Had Come Back Sooner: Seasons 3, 4-7, maybe even 10!

Post by Cappy »

This is something I used to have a lot of thoughts about, but having seen the real Season 3 it's hard for me to picture what the 1992 Season 3 would've looked like, let alone any sort of continuation of the series last through the 90's.

Assuming we would've gotten 7 or so seasons of the original series, it's not hard to imagine Lynch eventually walking away from the project for good at some point. ABC would probably interfere with the show enough to frustrate Frost as well, deterring him from being much more than a supervising producer.

The best case scenario would be the network installing maybe a Chris Carter or Joss Whedon type who might be able to balance the show's seemingly disparate elements (horror, romance, police procedural) into something compelling. I shudder to think about the ways Twin Peaks could've been kept alive on life support and made to resemble some version of the X-Files or Buffy, but I still would've watched it, and would it have really been any worse than the Evelyn or Wyndham Earle-playing-the-flute stuff from the Diane Keaton ep?

Another alternative is that TP is handed to some Darren Star (Melrose Place) type, and it devolves into a prime time soap primarily about love affairs with the occasional dip into supernatural terror. The characters all start looking too glamorous for the town, Angelo Badalamenti's music is replaced in favor of hard edged 90's guitar, Marcia Cross joins the cast as Catherine Martell's scheming half sister, etc.

But hey, another potential weird side effect of ABC running Twin Peaks for 7 or so seasons: David Lynch is bitter at them for ruining something he created, and he doesn't create Mulholland Drive as a pilot. Perhaps MD never even gets made at all in this version of events.

As much as I would've loved a bunch more seasons of the show in the 90's, I think what we got (FWWM, Missing Pieces, 2017 S3... Mulholland Drive) is a lot better than a watered down Twin Peaks that is mismanaged by ABC.

One random thought: Had there been a Season 3 in 1992, and the Cooper/BOB storyline been resolved in a couple of eps, where would that leave Annie Blackburn? Would her and Coop just be a normal TV couple? Or would she be revealed to be some sort of tulpa thing created by BOB to lure Cooper in?
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Re: What Might Have Been Had The Show Either Not Been Cancelled or Had Come Back Sooner: Seasons 3, 4-7, maybe even 10!

Post by Jonah »

Cappy wrote:and it devolves into a prime time soap primarily about love affairs with the occasional dip into supernatural terror.
I want to see this! Maybe not as TP, but this sounds great and even better than police procedural/supernatural show like The X-Files.

-

It's probably just as well TP didn't run as a long series, but it's fun to think about what it would have been like as one. And I do feel we should have at least gotten a Season 3 back in the day. ABC was foolish to not give it one more season. And I'm surprised Bravo didn't pick it up.

Also, everyone keeps talking about the cliffhanger being resolved quickly. That was never set in stone, just one idea that was thrown out there. And as far as I can tell, not a Lynch or even a Frost (?) idea. I think Engels or Peyton said that, right? So it's quite likely had the show come back then, Lynch/Frost would have been quite involved and not resolved that storyline straight away. I do think the time jump would have happened, though.
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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Re: What Might Have Been Had The Show Either Not Been Cancelled or Had Come Back Sooner: Seasons 3, 4-7, maybe even 10!

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

I really doubt Lynch would have been more involved with a S3 than he was with S2. He didn’t have the patience for the world of TV production. When he shot the On the Air pilot, he gave an interview where he said he was going to be more involved than he had been on TP, but as soon as the show started he was largely in the wind again.
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Re: What Might Have Been Had The Show Either Not Been Cancelled or Had Come Back Sooner: Seasons 3, 4-7, maybe even 10!

Post by Jonah »

I think they would have been more involved at least initially had the show been renewed, but I agree he didn't have the patience and probably would have wandered away again, unless he decided to direct most episodes like he did with The Return. I could see him sticking with a Season 3 for the first few episodes, maybe even most of the season, not sure about the full season. Had it gone on from there, I doubt he would have been actively involved. Hopefully Frost would have been, but he too had wandered away during Season 2.
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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Cappy
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Re: What Might Have Been Had The Show Either Not Been Cancelled or Had Come Back Sooner: Seasons 3, 4-7, maybe even 10!

Post by Cappy »

Yeah, it's fun as a thought experiment to try to imagine what these hypothetical seasons would look like.

I remember a long time ago having an idea of what a 1992 Season 3 might be like... I think evil Cooper would have spent the whole season doing nasty things, but just under the radar enough to avoid getting exposed. Anyone that would suspect him, he'd eliminate. Major Briggs figures out what's going on, and is killed. Bobby somehow knows this, and works discreetly against Coop. Sheriff Truman questions Coop's methods after a suspect of some random crime dies in custody, and is subsequently framed and thrown in a jail cell for several eps. Cooper somehow takes over the police department and carries out tyrannical tough on crime policies, beating suspects, planting evidence, inducting thuggish biker minions & evil French Canadians into the Bookhouse Boys, etc.

The finale would center around Cooper marrying Annie Blackburn in a joint ceremony where Norma marries Big Ed. Somehow BOB putting a ring on Annie's finger would bring about a great calamity to Twin Peaks, as The Giant would suggest to maybe Leo or some other character. Truman, Bobby, and Leo would have to break out of the Twin Peaks jail to stop the wedding. They have a gun fight with the evil Bookhouse Boys outside the chapel, which wakes up comatose bridesmaid Audrey Horne, who says something to snap Cooper out of BOB's possession long enough to say "I don't", thereby stopping BOB's plan.

Lucy goes into labor during all of this, and Dick Tremayne tries to drive her to the hospital, running over Leo during the chaos. Other storylines could be tied into this as well: Cooper's best man Gordon Cole reads a love poem inspired by Shelly Johnson, who having grown tired of Bobby's preoccupation with Cooper, reciprocates his affections. Ed's best man James Hurley professes his desire to stay in Twin Peaks to be with Donna, who in turn states that she is leaving to go to a far away college. Pete Martell, who has been clumsily hiding behind corners in an attempt to pretend he is dead all season, trips and knocks the wedding cake onto himself, prompting a heavily medicated Catherine Martell to shout "Are you done playing hide and seek dummy?"

But unbeknownst to all, a jilted and crazed Nadine sits beneath the chapel in a darkened basement. She cries and proclaims her never ending love for Ed, then promptly pushes down on an ACME style detonator, blowing up the chapel and everyone inside. Heidi, arriving fashionably late, is initially mortified before catching a blackened bouquet, which provokes her trademark giggle with some eerie Badalementi synth.

Meanwhile, Sarah Palmer is sleeping on her couch, in a callback to the pilot. She awakens from a nightmare, only to be checked on by a worried Laura and Leland Palmer, somehow alive. Sarah screams upon seeing their smiling faces. Cliffhanger!

I don't know, having a big wedding finale seems like something early 90's ABC would do.
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