This Day in Pop Culture for April 8

1990: Debut of ‘Twin Peaks’

One of strangest TV series to ever hit the airwaves was Twin Peaks which debuted on ABC on this day in 1990. Initially, many critics predicted that Mark Frost and David Lynch show wouldn’t catch on. It didn’t help that the first season was relegated to just a handful of shows. While the story of Twin Peaks centered around the murder investigation of highschooler Laura Palmer, the show was more about the people who lived in the fictional town in Washington State. The shortened first season grew a huge following before its hiatus. Ratings were still high when the show returned for the second season. However, after the killer was revealed halfway through the second season, audience members turned away. Every episode was a unique mixture of comedy, drama and fantasy which appealed to fans at first, but as the show went on, the storylines got weirder and was canceled. Still, the show had a cult following and a “demand” for more birthed the movie, Fire Walk with Me, a prequel to the show. The movie was a big disappointment to many of the remaining fans. Many years later, Showtime aired a revival of Twin Peaks in 2017 that featured many of the original characters (albeit in much smaller roles) but also a few more storylines and locations outside of the Northwest.