As an archivist, I enjoy documenting and researching every aspect about my favorite television show, Twin Peaks. Some of my favorite details are found in long, out-of-print magazines and articles. This time, I found a slightly used copy of “TV Guide” from April 7, 1990. This magazine was distributed to homes across the United States one day before the Pilot episode debuted on the ABC Television network. It is filled with wonderful and strange goodies from the very beginning of the show.
TWIN PEAKS IN TV GUIDE FROM APRIL 7, 1990
While prototypes of “TV Guide” existed in the 1940s, the first national issue was released on April 3, 1953 by Triangle Publications run by Walter Anneberg. According to an extensive Wikipedia article, for the magazine’s first 52 years of publication, “listings information was displayed in a ‘log’ format, a mainly text-based list of programs organized by both start time and channel.” The magazine also included feature stories, spotlights and other previews of programming.
On August 7, 1988, Triangle Publications was sold to the News America Corporation arm of News Corporation for $3 billion, one of the largest media acquisitions of the time and the most expensive publication transaction at the time.
The April 7, 1990 issue featured a look at the Spring replacements for the big four networks – NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX. These mid-season programs replaced many Fall shows that proved unsuccessful.
This particular guide was Vol. 38, No. 14 and issue #1932. It included a guide to the spring television season, an article about Melissa Gilbert, a spotlight on the National Baseball League, a review of The Simpsons and an article by Timothy Carlson titled, “The Weird New World of Twin Peaks.” You’ll soon see Carlson’s article is just one of several about ABC Television’s newest show.
CATCHING TV’S SPRING FEVER – PAGES 2 AND 8
The first article to include Twin Peaks is found on page 2 titled, “Catching TV’s Spring Fever.” Authors Bill Bruns and Emily Ormand, preview many of the new shows airing in Spring 1990. The four major networks would introduce at least 21 new programs, which was an “unprecedented late-season launch that rivals the traditional fall season. Only 10 out of 24 shows introduced in Fall 1989 would continue on-air in 1990. At ABC, they were famous for introducing successful mid-season replacements such as Perfect Strangers, Moonlighting, and China Beach (though the latter wouldn’t last long on the network).
On page 8, there was a short blurb about Twin Peaks including a photo of Special Agent Dale Cooper and Sheriff Harry S. Truman taken by Mark Seliger.
“Thursday, 9 P.M., ABC. Who murdered the high-school homecoming queen? Who’s plotting to gain control of the local sawmill? Who is that stange woman always seen carrying a log? What other secrets are being harbored in the seemingly tranquil town of Twin Peaks? If your curiosity’s been piqued, then tune in on Sunday, April 8 at 9 P.M., for the two-hour premiere of this offbeat prime-time soap. It begins in its regular time slot on April 12. For more details, see the article of page 20. Pictured; Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean.”
WELCOME TO THE WEIRD NEW WORLD OF TWIN PEAKS – PAGES 20-23
Timothy Carlson wrote a four page article titled “Welcome to the weird new world of Twin Peaks … where nothing is quite what it seems – and a killer is on the loose.” He was part of “TV Guide’s” Los Angeles bureau from 1989 through 1994. I love these early articles as they contain lots of tidbits about the show’s production and quotes from several actors.
The “Who’s who” images are all publicity photos from ABC Television. Craig Sjodin took most of them except Sheryl Lee and James Marshall who were captured on location at Snoqualmie Point Park in Washington State by Richard Foreman. Sjodin worked for ABC and Disney for 39 as a still photographer. He recently passed on September 15, 2023 as a result of injuries from a bicycling accident.
Carlson quotes Michael Ontkean who calls the new show, “a Kubuki-style Peyton Place” and Dana Ashbrook who said Twin Peaks is “Happy Days on very heavy acid or an introspective Happy Days in which Richie Cunningham contemplates suicide and the Fonz is a drug dealer.”
Mark Frost explained how they were reimagining the nighttime soap opera.
“We’re just trying to reimagine the genre of the nighttime soap, the way Hill Street Blues, did the cop show a decade ago … Dynasty had a campy quality – outrageously larger than life and glitzy and glamorous. David [Lynch] brings a certain surreal quality.
“I knew there was no way in hell I would not come out looking a little weird,” said Grace Zabriskie who played Sarah Palmer. “When [friends] heard me screaming and moaning so long, they were worried I had been made too look silly. But when I saw it, I was thrilled.”
The article continues pages 22-23 with Dana Ashbrook describing how he approached playing Bobby Briggs until Lynch offered other direction.
“I try to play Bobby as sad [in the Twin Peaks High School library], but David says, ‘No, it’s not that. He’s thinking about himself here. He’s surprised, but he’s immediately thinking how it’s going to help himself … You’re going to be able to get sympathy from people, and that’s what he thrives on.'”
Carlson reports the Pilot episode was shot “last winter near Seattle” for $3.8 Million. ABC ordered seven additional episodes, which were shot in the latter half of 1989 in Southern California with some establishing shots and extra footage captured in Snoqualmie Valley.
While speculation is one of the seven episode may reveal the killer, Russ Tamblyn was quick to squash Carlson’s idea say, “For every mystery that is solved, another emerges.”
“Soap operas to me should not be camp. These are very real characters,” explained David Lynch. “[The townsfolk] feel and do what they do with all their heart. Camp is not only not creative, it is putting yourself above something else that has already been done and poking fun at it. To me that is a lower kind of humor.”
Lynch continued talking about the challenge of working in television versus feature films.
“You can’t get into certain heavier violence and sexual things that are a part of life but not a part of TV life. But the added time allows you to pay more attention to more characters, and you can concoct an elaborate tapestry of those lives. That is completely thrilling to me.”
“We had one line [ABC’s Standards and Practices Department] wouldn’t allow,” recalls Lynch. “Bobby Briggs said he wasn’t going to take any ‘crap off that bitch,’ so we rewrote it to have him say he wasn’t going to take any ‘oink-oink off that pretty pig.'”
Joan Chen recalls how Lynch found Frank Silva to play BOB for the International version of the Twin Peaks Pilot released in December 1989 in Europe.
“We needed a killer in an alternate ending for the pilot,” recalls Chen. “And David saw this propman hiding, not wanting to get in the way of the show. David thought he was an interesting-looking man and made him the killer. David really appreciates accidents on the set.
Carlson wonders if the audience will get Twin Peaks, much less “get hooked on its technique.”
“I’ve always been interested in secrets,” Lynch continued. “Every human being is a detective, and they’re looking for the secret to be revealed.”
Ashbrook thought the audience would understand the show.
“The reason Middle America will like this show is because it’s about a small town. They can relate to us. And unlike the big city, things like drugs and pornography and death have a much higher importance in small towns.”
Mark Frost offered his insight by saying, “The series definitely doesn’t insult anyone’s intelligence … We have embedded clues for the careful viewer throughout – but it is also rewarding for the casual viewer.”
The article concludes with Lynch’s thoughts about why audiences’ will return each week.
“You just sort of picture this kind of darkness and the wind going through the needles of these Douglas firs, and you start getting a bit of a mood coming along. And if you hear footsteps, and you see a light in the window, and you start moving toward it, little by little you are sucked in. And this fantastic mood and sense of place comes along, and hopefully you want to go back and feel it each week.”
THIS WEEK – PAGES 48-49
There was one additional mention of Twin Peaks in Paul Droesch’s “This Week” column.
“The other old standby is the prime-time soap, repackaged by eccentric filmmaker David Lynch, whose Twin Peaks is one of two series debuting on ABC this week. Some viewers may conclude that this much ballyhooed eight-parter, which is set in a Pacific Northwest logging town, is a surrealistic sendup, although Lynch denies that it is in the article that begins on page 20. But this saga of sex, drugs, greed and power is hardly Dynasty. For one thing, it’s a murder mystery (the victim: a high-school prom queen who seems to have been leading a double life). And there are plenty of darkly humorous images and sly in-jokes of the sort that made Lynch’s 1986 film ‘Blue Velvet’ a cult favorite.
Back, too, from ‘Blue Velvet’ is the estimable Kyle MacLachlan as the slightly off-kilter FBI agent called in to investigate the murder. MacLachlan’s character name is Dale Cooper, which is suspiciously similar to D.B. Cooper, the airline hijacker who bailed out over the Northwest in 1971 and was never heard from again. Is this significant? You can begin to decide for yourself on Sunday, when ABC airs the two-hour pilot, which Lynch directed him-self. Then on Thursday, the series turns up in its regular hour slot with an episode that Lynch didn’t direct, but which he wrote with co-executive producer Mark Frost, a Hill Street Blues veteran.”
WHO WILL SOLVE THE MYSTERY? ADVERTISEMENT – PAGE 71
On Page 71, there is a small rectangular advertisement for Twin Peaks that asks, “Who will solve the mystery?”
I love these simple black and white text ads ABC Television created for the show. It also incorporates an early version of the Twin Peaks logo that includes two small triangles.
SUNDAY EVENING – APRIL 8, 1990 TELEVISION LISTINGS – PAGES 86-87
Here is the television listing for Sunday, April 8, 1990 which places Twin Peaks in the 9:00 p.m. slot. This TV Guide is from the Youngstown, Ohio – Erie, Pennsylvania area. So different “TV Guide” regions may look a little different.
MORE BLACK AND WHITE ADVERTISEMENTS – PAGES 93-95
Another black and white ad appears on page 93, which doesn’t mention the name of the show. It only has a “The Second ABC Season” logo and quotes from previous reviews of the show including Tom Shales with The Washington Post, GQ Magazine and Connoisseur Magazine (which was one of the first magazines to review Twin Peaks in 1989).
The next two pages contain a full-spread advertisement with images of Special Agent Dale Cooper and Sheriff Truman and Norma Jennings. The ad states “The Mystery Begins Tonight” and offers three questions: Who killed Laura Palmer? What’s the FBI doing here? Who videotaped Donna and Laura in the woods?
Page 98 gives a brief synopsis of the Twin Peaks pilot. Note that Mädchen Amick’s name is misspelled as “Maschen” and Catherine Martell is “Katherine” which is how it appears in the opening credits of the episode.
“Debut: A surreal soap about life in a North-western lumber town begins with the discovery of the murder of a high-school girl and the arrival of FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle Mac-Lachlan), who joins sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) in the probe. Directed by David Lynch (“Blue Velvet”). Shelly: Maschen [sic] Amick. Bobby: Dana Ashbrook. Benjamin: Richard Beymer. Donna: Lara Flynn Boyle. Jocelyn (“Josie”): Joan Chen. Audrey: Sherilyn Fenn. Dr. Hayward: Warren Frost. Katherine: Piper Laurie. Norma: Peggy Lipton. James: James Marshall. Ed: Everett McGill. Pete: Jack Nance. Leland: Ray Wise. [Another episode airs Thursday at this time in the series’ regular slot.] “
THURSDAY EVENING – APRIL 12, 1990 TELEVISION LISTINGS – PAGES 170-171
Episode 1.001 would premiere on Thursday, April 12 at 9:00 p.m. as indicated by the television listings above.
TWIN PEAKS AD AND EPISODE 1.001 SYNOPSIS – PAGES 173-174
On Page 173, there is a magnificent black and white advertisement with Lara Flynn Boyle (Donna Hayward), James Marshall (James Hurley), and Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne) at the Double R Diner. They never appear together at the diner in these outfits. I also love the tag line for the show, “Like every town you’ve ever seen. And no place you’ve ever known.” The same tagline appears in the previous ad with Norma Jennings.
Since this is an advertisement for episode 1.001, there are three quick bullet point updates – Laura Palmer found murdered, The FBI arrives, James Hurley arrested.
Page 174 contains a brief synopsis for episode 1.001. Mädchen is spelled correctly this time but “Katherine” remains despite the spelling being changed to “Catherine” in the series.
“Cooper and Truman uncover more about Laura Palmer’s secret life, and release James (James Marshall) from jail, along with spiteful Mike and Bobby; Katherine (Piper Laurie) makes her plan to take over Josie’s lumber mill known to Benjamin (Richard Beymer). Cooper: Kyle MacLachlan. Truman: Michael Ontkean. Josie: Joan Chen. Bobby: Dana Ashbrook. Mike: Gary Hershberger. Donna: Lara Flynn Boyle. Ed: Everett McGill. Shelly: Madchen Amick. Leo: Eric Da Re. Sarah: Grace Zabriskie. Eileen: Mary Jo Deschanel.”
This “TV Guide” is just one more piece of the puzzle to documenting this masterpiece of a series. You can download high-resolution photos of the TV Guide by visiting Flickr – https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/albums/72177720320497613
Twin Peaks coverage continues about episode 1.002 in the “TV Guide” from April 14, 1990.
Dana’s description of the show is hilarious!