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BOP ventures into new territory today with weekly reviews of a cult TV show that’s been off the air for 20-some years. It’s Twin Peaks, David Lynch and Mark Frost’s supposed gem of a show that opened on April 8, 1990 before closing shop just 14 months later.

I say “supposed,” though, because honest to god I’ve never seen the thing - save for its “Pilot,” which I’ll get to in a moment.

You see, I’d been meaning to over the past month or two decide on a show that would entertain me through the summer. There are so many programs -- The Sopranos, The West Wing, The Wire, etc. etc. - that I shamefully have never started, but intend to in time.

Yet the problem with those three, and many others that come to mind, is that they’re freakin’ long. The West Wing? Um, 156 episodes. The Sopranos? “Just” 86. They may be acclaimed critically, but come on!

Enter Twin Peaks, a show that hit a nice and round 30 episodes before saying goodbye. As well, it’s available in its entirety on Netflix Instant, a convenience of accessibility that I felt should be taken advantage of immediately.

This column is like inviting a novice to the dinner table - I know little to nothing about Twin Peaks - but isn’t that the same attribute you’d hope for in new reviews of a show like, say, Lost? Though I’m bound to say many silly things in my analyses, perhaps they’ll be some of the same things you thought, too, when you watched Twin Peaks on first-run.

And now, a review of “Pilot.”

What’s great about Twin Peaks is it wastes no time in digging into story. No more than a few minutes go by - and even half of those were devoted to an opening credit sequence - before a logger named Pete discovers what appears to be a dead body washed ashore. It’s all so right away, like if the Cloverfield monster had revealed itself when the 20-somethings were still partying inside that swanky apartment. Anyway, Pete calls in the town’s sheriff, Harry S. Truman, who determines the body to be that of Laura Palmer, a 17-year-old high school student.

We cut to Laura’s house, more specifically her mother, who’s yelling for Laura from the kitchen to get her to wake up for morning classes. Realizing she isn’t home - in the morning! on a school day! what is
the world coming to?! - her mum makes frantic calls to her circle of friends, including the mother of Laura’s boyfriend, Bobby Briggs. Mrs. Briggs, too, isn’t sure herself where Laura could be.

Not happy with that answer, Sarah Palmer dials Bobby’s coach, who says Bobby’s been showing up late for practice all week, and maybe the week or two prior, too. Leland, Sarah’s husband and local bigwig who’s about to close a land development deal with foreign investors, says he hasn’t heard from Sarah either. He does, though, go all guy with it by telling his wife that Laura and Bobby must be out somewhere together. No big deal!

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