Leading up to the season two premiere of Twin Peaks, ABC Television aired a 30-minute special about David Lynch and Mark Frost’s show on Friday, September 14, 1990. Hosted by Alan Thicke, the special featured a recap about the show’s first season followed by a brief look at the short lived, Steven Bochco police-themed musical show, Cop Rock. The special was produced by LMNO (Leave My Name Off) Productions, a Los Angeles-based company founded in 1989 by Eric Schotz. While the special doesn’t reveal a tremendous amount of new details, it served as nice first season recap before the second season debut.
LMNO PRODUCTIONS IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
According to the company’s website, LMNO Productions was established in 1989 as a small independent television production company.
Today, it is a full-service studio with about 100 employees and has produced almost 1400 hours of programming for various clients. Headed by Emmy Award-winning President and CEO, Eric Schotz (pictured above the logo), LMNO is one of the foremost providers of reality, documentary and entertainment programming for network cable and syndicated television.
Schotz served as Executive Producer and Director along with Producer Robert Kirk, an Emmy Award winning producer/director who today has over 30 years of television, feature film, commercial and interactive experience. The 30-minute special was written by Lou DeCosta, who would work for LMNO Productions for more than 19 years writing “more than 100 shows for virtually every channel on the spectrum, produced and directed dozens more.”
Additional productions credits for this promotional special are found at the end of this article.
ANNOUNCING “BEHIND THE SCENES – TWIN PEAKS / COP ROCK”
While newspapers began reporting this special on September 14, 1990, there was a different one-hour special Mark Frost and David Lynch were planned to air in September.
Michael Hill spoke with Catherine Coulson, Mark Frost and others for an article titled “Twin Peaks: Keeping the Mystery Alive” published on July 27, 1990. He writes about a proposed hour-long special.
“After a rerun of the eight episodes seen last spring, ‘Twin Peaks’ will return with a two-hour episode – directed by David Lynch – on Sept. 30. But the night before, in its new Saturday time slot, will be an hour that will sum up what happened last year while introducing a couple of new characters.”
Reporter John Kiesewetter wrote in an article from the Courier Post on August 4, 1990 that the show’s creators were “producing a one-hour special to air on September 29, the night before the fall premiere, to help explain the ‘Twin Peaks’ mystique. ‘(It) takes us off into some odd corners of Twin Peaks,’ Frost said of the special. ‘Not that you haven’t seen some odd corners already.'”
ABC Television did rerun the show beginning with the Pilot episode airing on August 5. The first season would be shown each week on Saturdays with episodes 1.005 and 1.006 shown back-to-back on September 8. This means the rerun of episode 1.007 was shown on Saturday, September 15, the day after the 30-minute behind-the-scenes special aired.
In newspaper reports, there were several mentions of Catherine Coulson (the Log Lady) being interviewed. Yet her interviews do not appear in the final cut of the broadcast.
Shortly after publishing this story, fellow Twin Peaks fan Cameron Cloutier pointed to a quote from Mark Frost about this proposed special from Mark Atlman’s “Twin Peaks: Behind The Scenes” book.
“Another aspect of the show that Peaks Freaks (ed. that damn phrase again) never saw was the promised introductory episode Mark Frost had touted throughout the summer. The show, which would be removed from the series, would recap the first seven episodes and lead into the new season on the Saturday before the premiere. It never materialized. What aired instead was a dreadful promotional program the network put together touting the return of ‘TWIN PEAKS’ and a segment on the creation of the greatly hyped (and now cancelled) COP ROCK. The show was hosted by Alan Thicke.” (Page 53)
Twin Peaks writer Harley Peyton was then quoted by Altman.
“‘ABC wanted to know if we could do it and if we would do it,’ says Peyton. ‘Production reasons made it impossible. Thank god we didn’t. It would have been a production nightmare although we would have loved to have done it before no one had ever don it before and it would have been completely different. Among the different ideas we were talking about was an hour of the cable access station in ‘TWIN PEAKS.'” (Page 53)
What I would give to have seen a cable access show from the wonderful and strange town!
If you would have tuned in on Friday, September 14, the 30-minute special was shown at 9:30 p.m. following Perfect Strangers and before 20/20. The synopsis in this listing said the show was, “an inside look at two of the network’s unique programs with interviews by David Lynch, Mark Frost and Steven Bochco.”
TWIN PEAKS SPECIAL HOSTED BY ALAN THICKE
Sporting a suit and tie provided by Rick Pallack, Alan Thicke served as host for the promotional special. Pallack also designed clothing for Michael Jackson, including the iconic white suit seen on Jackson’s album cover of “Thriller.” ABC audiences would recognize Thicke as he played psychiatrist Jason Seaver on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains. The show would enter its sixth season that fall on the alphabet network.
During the broadcast, Thicke mentions he is also a “Peaker,” or dedicated fan of the show. I’ve yet to confirm he actually watched the series that closely or if it was just dialogue penned by the aforementioned DeCosta.
LMNO Productions shot Thicke’s sequences on Stage 33 at Universal Studios in Hollywood, California.
You can watch this entire 22-minute broadcast (commercials were removed) via the Internet Archive. I’ve transcribed the entire episode, complete with quotes from Kyle MacLachlan, Peggy Lipton, Michael Ontkean, Mark Frost and David Lynch.
I’ve only focused on the Twin Peaks segment as this is not a Cop Rock fan blog. The latter show debuted on Wednesday, September 26 at 10:00 p.m. on ABC. But the unique series didn’t last long – it’s final episode aired on December 26, 1990.
BEHIND THE SCENES – TWIN PEAKS / COP ROCK – INTRODUCTION
The broadcast begins with a slow zoom on the Twin Peaks High School trophy case from the Pilot. There is a voiceover with Sheryl Lee (assuming it’s her as she isn’t credited) who is reading an entry from her diary. There is an announcer voiceover that cuts out part of Lee’s dialogue, “Dear Diary, I had such a … I still feel pangs in the mouth of the men I’d been with hours before the photo was taken.”
An instrumental version of Madonna’s “Vogue” plays over a montage of behind-the-scenes and episode footage: “Tonight in this special sneak preview, we’ll take you behind the scenes of Twin Peaks and Cop Rock, TV’s most innovative new show. And we’ll attempt to unravel Twin Peaks’ biggest mysteries. We’ll talk to the stars and meet the people who created the shows.”
There is then three short statements from Kyle MacLachlan, Peggy Lipton and David Lynch on the set of the Double R Diner at City Studios in Van Nuys, California. Look carefully and you’ll spot a Syracuse China coffee cup and saucer that fellow Bookhouse Boy and Twin Peaks Blog author Vinnie Guidera identified.
“We’re all normal in this town. Believe it or not, it’s everyone’s watching that is abnormal [laughs],” said Kyle MachLachlan sporting a Seattle Seahawks t-shirt.
Peggy Lipton describes the show, “To me, Twin Peaks sits on the edge of something real and something not real.”
Dressed as Gordon Cole, David Lynch, “I can, like, watch some films over and over again because of the mood and the sense of place, and its just so much fun to go there. And that’s hopefully, you know, what Twin Peaks is.”
The episode then cuts to Alan Thicke standing by a vintage television with a chalkboard and diner booth in the background. Laura Palmer’s homecoming queen photo is in the foreground. Thicke says,
“Last season, viewers were hanging without an answer to the biggest TV mystery in years – who killed Laura Palmer? Every decade has it’s TV cult. Now I was never a Trekkie myself, but I do confess I am a ‘Peaker.’ So I’m waiting for the answer just like you. But there’s so much more to Twin Peaks than a riveting murder mystery. There’s a whole look, feel and a texture. So let’s grab a cup of joe, some jelly doughnuts and take a run up that highway into town.”
A montage of scenes from the show are shown with Thicke providing a voiceover.
“It’s in the Pacific Northwest, and 180 degrees away from anything else on television. To begin with, this isn’t a small town America the way its usually portrayed. This is rural life with a dark side, secrets, scandals, murders and more cheating hearts than Hank Williams ever imagined. The moment you hit Twin Peaks, you know for sure you’re not in Mayberry anymore.”
The first of several comments from Mark Frost and David Lynch are shown.
“They needed to be away from the regular world and be a kind of a hair of a dream spot. And it needed a woods, and a wind of a mystery, you know, blowing through it,” said Lynch.
Mark Frost continued, “It’s a small town, tucked away. And that, um, enabled us to do a place that was filled with secrets and away from the world, which is kind of the way Twin Peaks should feel to people. I like to think the show is some sort of weird, fun house mirror held up to life in a way that people can recognize and relate to.”
“There’s also some feeling that, um, anything can happen,” chimed Lynch.
MAP OF TWIN PEAKS
“The best way to get to know Twin Peaks is to follow the map,” continues Thicke. This map was mostly likely created by Graphic Designer Johanna Bertoldo. According to her LinkedIn profile, Bertoldo worked at ABC Television from 1988-1990 as part of their internal video design group. This map will be used throughout the series.
The map itself was inspired by David Lynch’s hand-drawn charcoal map that he drew when pitching Twin Peaks to ABC Television executives.
“To the north is Black Lake, where Laura Palmer’s body was found. Laura was 17 and a model teenager, or so it seemed. But after she joined the heavenly choir, a very different side of her personality came out,” Thicke’s voiceover stated.
It’s interesting they stated Laura’s body was found at Black Lake as in the script, she was originally discovered by the Packard Sawmill. In the Pilot, Pete Martell finds her near his residence of Blue Pine Lodge.
“Over here is the Sheriff’s office,” Thicke explains.
TWIN PEAKS CHARACTERS – LAW ENFORCEMENT
In addition to the map, Bartoldo created several Twin Peaks character graphics that explained relationships between individuals. White circles, arrows and other marks will be drawn on these static images as Thicke provides summaries interspersed with scenes from various first season episodes.
“…that’s where you’ll usually find FBI Agent Dale Cooper whose come to town to track down Laura’s killer. Cooper somehow manages to be both methodical and quirky at the same time. Cooper tries to go by the book, but his book includes chapters J. Edgar Hoover never dreamed of. Agent Cooper has a serious affinity for coffee. And a seemingly insatiable appetite for cherry pie.”
“The show looks different than anything else I’ve seen on television first of all, which I think is a big thing. And people, um, they don’t behave normally [laughs], which is, uh, is a lot of fun to do and it’s fun to watch too,” said MacLachlan while resting against the Double R Diner counter.
“Assisting Agent Cooper on the case is a small-town sheriff with a big time name, Harry S. Truman – the town’s straightest arrow,” Alan Thicke explains.
“I’ve always thought of Harry as the designated driver,” said Michael Ontkean. “Everybody in Twin Peaks is sort of reeling, drunk and out of control on some kind of excess, you know. Everyone is either drunk on greed, drunk on need, drunk on sex or drunk on craving attention. Or somehow they’re reeling around out of control and Harry is the designated driver. He’s gotta stay sober and take care of everybody.”
“There are also two deputies helping out, Hawk and Andy,” the voiceover from Thicke states. “Andy is in love with the Sheriff’s secretary Lucy who has single-handedly done more for the doughnut industry than anyone since Winchell.”
The Winchell’s references is to Winchell’s Donut House which is headquartered in City of Industry, California. With its slogan, “Home of the Warm ‘n Fresh Donut,” the business is the West Coast’s largest donut chain with over 170 units, in six states, plus locations in Guam, and Saipan.
MAP OF THE TOWN – THE PALMER HOUSE
The Twin Peaks map returns as Thicke explains, “This is where Laura’s family lives.” This is pretty consistent with the “Twin Peaks Access Guide to the Town” that places the Palmer house at the corner of Frost Avenue and Northwestern Street.
TWIN PEAKS CHARACTERS – PALMER FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
The voiceover continues as the Palmer family graphic is marked up with white pen.
“Her father Leland is a prominent attorney, but Laura’s death may have snapped his cords. Meanwhile, Mrs. Palmer is having psychic visions of the murder but more about that later.
Laura’s boyfriend was high school drug pusher Bobby Briggs, but she was also having an affair with nice-guy biker, James Hurley. And now that Bobby knows about it, he’s out to get James.
But James now loves Donna Hayward, Laura’s best friend. And the two of them, joined by Laura’s look-a-like cousin Madeline, are out to catch the killer. They started by focusing on Laura’s psychiatrist, Dr. Jacoby, who could use a little couch-time himself.”
MAP OF THE TOWN – ONE EYED JACKS
“Now the bad side of town is headquartered across the border at One Eyed-Jacks, the casino and brothel run by Blackie O’Reilly,” explains Alan Thicke.
“Laura Palmer may have been a prostitute here. She definitely had links to Jacques Renault who worked in the casino dealing cards and drugs. Jacques is one of two prime suspects in Laura’s murder.”
After a “1” is placed next to Jacques, a “2” is drawn on Leo’s photo as Thicke says, “The other is his drug-dealing partner, Leo Johnson, a mean-spirited trucker with a penchant for beating his wife Shelly.”
The background image from inside One Eyed Jacks changes as Thicke says, “Okay, remember Bobby, Laura’s drug-dealing boyfriend who’s out to get James? Well, Bobby got his drugs from Leo Johnson until Leo caught him seeing Shelly. So now Leo’s out to get Bobby.”
MAP OF THE TOWN – DOUBLE R DINER
The second to last map location is shown – the Double R Diner represented by hands holding silverware.
“Shelly works over here at the Double R Diner, which is owned by Norma Jennings,” Thicke explains.
TWIN PEAKS CHARACTERS – HURLEY / JENNINGS RELATIONSHIPS
A character graphic appears on the screen as Norma Jennings photo is circled. It then cuts to Peggy Lipton speaking on the Double R Diner Set.
“When I read the script, it was very exciting,” said Lipton, “And then the cast, I mean [the show] has got the most wonderful elements for an actress.”
“Norma’s husband Hank just got out of prison. Hank claims he’s mended but he’s clearly he’s a repeat offender at heart. And he’s somehow tied to Leo Johnson,” say Thicke as the graphic expands to include folks connected to One Eyed Jacks.
Thicke then explains the love triangle between Ed, Norma and Hank.
“While Hank was in prison, Norma fell for Big Ed Hurley. He’s James’ uncle. But Big Ed’s married to Nadine, who is obsessed with inventing silent drape runners.”
MAP OF THE TOWN – PSYCHIC WORLD
“There’s also a part of town you won’t find on any map – a psychic world where things get even weirder than in Twin Peaks itself, if that’s possible,” says Thicke explaining the more supernatural side to Lynch and Frost’s show.
“Agent Cooper visits here, in his dreams,” continues Thicke. “This is where he met Mike, the one-armed man. Mike led him to BOB, a psychic world low-life that also appeared in one of Mrs. Palmer’s visions. But we haven’t heard much from BOB lately, or from the dancing dwarf who stole the show in one of Cooper’s dreams. What does it all mean? Who knows?”
TWIN PEAKS CHARACTERS – PACKARD / MARTELL RELATIONSHIPS
The action cuts back to Thicke who is standing next to a chalkboard with Twin Peaks character names listed in a relationship chart. He says, “Laura Palmer’s murder is only the main plot. There are enough subplots here to make a soap opera jealous. Everything from your basic adultery and arson to real estate scams and secret societies.”
The Packard / Martell character graphic then appears on screen as Thicke says, “The saw mill, for instance, is one point where plots and subplots often cross. The mill is owned by Josie Packard, but it’s managed by Josie’s sister-in-law Catherine who’s trying to force Josie out. Catherine is married to Pete who found Laura’s body but she’s having an affair with Ben Horne who owns The Great Northern Lodge [sic].”
The Great Northern Lodge must be a combination of The Salish Lodge (used as the exterior of Horne’s hotel) and The Great Northern Hotel.
“Ben’s after the saw mill too for a development site and he’s playing Josie and Catherine against one another,” explains Thicke. “Ben’s daughter Audrey, a teenage vixen with bright light dreams, thinks Agent Cooper might be her ticket out of Twin Peaks. So to win his affection, she’s trying to crack the Palmer case too but going undercover as a hooker at One Eyed Jacks.”
All character families appear on screen as the voiceover continues.
“Meanwhile, hasn’t Josie Packard been seeing Sheriff Truman, who doesn’t know that Josie may have had her husband killed by Hank Jennings? And hasn’t Ben Horne, tired of trying to buy the saw mill from Josie, hired Leo Johnson to torch it? Leo’s plotting to end his marital woes at the same time, by tying Shelly up inside the mill before he burns it down. Had enough? Never. With a plot that works on more levels than a coal miner, you have to wonder how thought out Twin Peaks really is.”
“Not too thought,” said David Lynch. Mark Frost retorts, “Very thought out.” Both laugh.
TWIN PEAKS LOVES COFFEE
After the character and map graphic segment, Thicke proclaims he has figured out Twin Peaks.
“Hmm, I’ve got it,” continued Thicke. “I’ve solved one of the big mysteries in Twin Peaks. You know the cause of all that murder and mayhem – caffeine.”
This is followed by a montage of characters discussing coffee as Thicke says, “These people drink enough coffee to buy Juan Valdez a summer home. No wonder there are so many jangled nerves.”
“It is the caffeine,” laughs MacLachlan. He character does drink a lot of coffee as seen in this Twin Peaks Blog article.
“The sugar level, the caffeine level, all conspires to make things a little squirrely,” responds Ontkean.
“I don’t think there can ever be enough, uh, too much caffeine,” states Lynch.
“David is all for caffeine,” continues Frost. “It’s just sort of a general phenomenon that should be spread and promulgated in as many directions as possible.”
As the coffee segment concludes, Alan Thicke is seen sitting on a couch next to a framed photo of Laura Palmer.
“We’ll have more from Twin Peaks, with some exclusive new clues from Laura Palmer herself,” says as the segment fades to commercial.
ALAN THICKE WITH LAURA PALMER’S DIARY
There is a about a 10-minute segment for Cop Rock. After that, the special returns to the “wonderful and strange” Twin Peaks.
“Earlier we gave you a guided tour of Twin Peaks and introduced you to its most famous and infamous citizens,” says Thicke. “Now to get us all up to speed for the new episodes, here’s a quick look at where they left us dangling when last season ended.”
The recap montage includes scenes from episode 1.007 including Dr. Jacoby being attacked, Leo Johnson being shot, fire at the Packard Saw Mill, Jacques Renault killed, Ben Horne entering a room at One Eyed Jacks, and Special Agent Cooper being shot.
Earlier in the episode, Thicke promised a special treat. He delivers at the end of the broadcast with the following.
“Well, as promised we saved some special for you “Peakers” until the very end. This is big – an exclusive inside tip about this season. A key discovery will be made in the Laura Palmer murder case that provides some startling revelations about Laura and some surprising new clues. Remember Laura’s diary and how it didn’t really reveal very much? Well that’s because she kept another diary hidden, a secret diary, her real diary.”
It appears Alan is holding a prop of Laura Palmer’s diary, at least it appears to be similar to the one used in the show. He also mentions a key reveal from the second series when Donna Hayward find Laura’s secret diary at Harold Smith’s place.
As he turns pages in the diary, Sheryl Lee’s voice returns.
“Dear Diary, Falling in love is like holding a white flag out to your enemies and saying, ‘We give up.” We’re in love. Love is surrender. I can’t do that until I know for certain that BOB is really dead. Until there is a corpse that I can kick as many times as I please. God, I hope that day comes soon.”
As Sheryl’s voice continues, the camera pans into the framed photo and a superimposed image of Laura Palmer from the picnic video fills the screen.
The broadcast closes with Alan Thicke wrapping up and thanking viewers for watching.
“So here we go – a new season, new shows, new dimensions daring and dramatic, weird and wonderful, strange and surreal. I didn’t make this stuff up either. Critics and viewers alike agree, Twin Peaks and Cop Rock are going to make things just a little different this year. Be there from the beginning to see for yourself. Have a great viewing season. Thanks for watching. Good night.”
BEHIND THE SCENES – TWIN PEAKS / COP ROCK CREDITS
Here are the folks who worked on this Behind the Scenes special for ABC Television.
- Executive Producer – Eric Schotz
- Producer – Robert Kirk
- Supervising Producer – Paul Hall
- Host – Alan Thicke
- Director – Eric Schotz
- Writer – Lou DeCosta
- Coordinating Producer – Bradley Anderson
- Editors – Scott Reynolds, Joe Lewis, Pat Coushios
- Associate Producers – Darci Fletchall, Robert Lihani
- Director of Photography – Steve Suggs
- Audio – Eric Bourgoujian, Brian Bidder
- Lighting Director – Lee Rose
- Gaffer – Jack Rappaport
- Graphic Design – Johanna Bertoldo
- Art Director – Cherie Baker
- Business Manager – Linda Schotz
- Production Associates – Renee Mendoza, Jim Meyer
- Audio Mixer – Scott Reynolds
- Assistant Editor – Joe Van Slick
- Technical Crew – Mike Lewis, Mike Gorse, Fred D’Aguilar, Fred Fryrear, Judi Frenkel, Hector Gonzales
- Unit Managers – Arturo Gonzalez, Diane Navarrete
- Alan Thicke’s Wardrobe Provided by Rick Pallack
