The Mark Frost-directed final episode of Twin Peaks aired on Wednesday, May 23, 1990. The “TV Guide” magazine published that week – May 19-25 – offered a brief mention along with an iconic black and white advertisement.
TWIN PEAKS IN TV GUIDE FROM MAY 19-25, 1990
The cover story to Issue #1938 of “TV Guide” (Vol. 38 No. 20) for the May 19-25 issue featured a caricature of Carol Burnett as part of a look at her NBC hit comedy Carol & Company.
THIS WEEK – PAGES 56-57
Reporter Paul Droesch makes a brief mention of Twin Peaks in his “This Week” column found on pages 56-57.
“Sweeps ends Wednesday, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that most of this week’s stars – and there are quite a few of them – shine before the sun rises on Thursday,” writes Droesch. “Take Laura Palmer, the enigmatic linchpin of ABC’s Thursday-night phenomenon of recent weeks, Twin Peaks. The producers are being coy about whether Agent Cooper will solver her murder this week, but the series will end its spring run here and wait for the network to decide whether to bring it back next season. And by the way ABC is moving this pivotal episode to Wednesday to get it under the sweeps wire (and to get it away from NBC’s powerful Thursday-night lineup).”
Sweeps Weeks kicked off a few weeks earlier (I discussed it in this article about TV Guide for April 28-May 4, 1990). The concept dates to 1954 when the Nielsen ratings system collected television viewing diaries from homes in the Eastern United States and then would “sweep” west. Interestingly, Nielsen processed approximately two million paper diaries throughout the U.S. until 2018 during the months of November, February, May and July – the “sweeps” rating periods. These seven-day diaries (which later became eight-day diaries for homes with DVRs) were mailed to homes to track of which shows were watched and by whom in the particular household.
This would explain why ABC moved the season one finale to Wednesday from its normal Thursday night slot. During the sweeps time period, networks did everything possible to get viewers to tune in to their programming. This could include celebrity appearances, cross-over episodes or things that would make for must-see television. Episode 1.007 certainly had all of the ingredients for such a dramatic and exciting episode that would end the show on a cliffhanger.
WEDNESDAY EVENING TV LISTINGS, PAGES 186-187
Page 187 lists Twin Peaks episode 1.007 in the 10:00 p.m. time slot. It followed a rebroadcasted Barbara Walter’s special from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m.
The Hartford Courant published a syndicated column by John Burlingame on May 23, 1990. He discussed the season one finale of Twin Peaks writing an “ABC spokeswoman won’t even say if the mystery is resolved or left, cliffhanger-style, for next season, but it seems reasonable to assume that viewers will be offered at least a partial solution.” They weren’t, of course.
Burlingame also details the Barbara Walters special which included an interview with Billy Crystal, who shows off his fully equipped 747 aircraft bathroom in his home, Kathleen Turner and Robin Williams.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 23 SYNOPSIS AND ADVERTISEMENT – PAGES 200-201
A brief synopsis of episode 1.007 is found on page 200:
“In the season-ending cliffhanger, Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) baits Jacques at One-Eyed Jacks, while Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) brace for her first night on the job; James, Donna and Madeleine play their trick on Dr. Jacoby; Josie (Joan Chen) does business with Hank (Chris Mulkey); Leo (Eric Da Re) comes after Shelly (Mädchen Amick); Catherine (Piper Laurie) has a heart-to-heart with Pete (Jack Nance). James: James Marshall, Donna: Lara Flynn Boyle, Leland: Ray Wise, Dr Jacoby: Russ Tamblyn, Bobby: Dana Ashbrook (Last show of the season).”
Page 201 contains a full page advertisement for Twin Peaks with an image of Special Agent Dale Cooper and Sheriff Harry S. Truman. For the longest time, I thought this advertisement was for the season two finale (which was just as shocking).
The image of Cooper and Truman is similar to this shot which was taken on December 12, 1989. It’s part of a series of similar shots featuring the law enforcement duo, but I have yet to find the original full color version of the one used in the TV Guide.
It’s also the same image seen in the two-page advertisement published in the April 7, 1990 issue of TV Guide.
As a a footnote, ABC Television announced on Monday, May 21, 1990 that they would pick up the series for a second season.
Jay Sharbutt from the Associated Press wrote a syndicated column published in May 22, 1990 about the renewal stating ABC revealed its fall schedule on Monday announcing a second season for David Lynch’s “surreal, quirky” show even though “the series has slid sharply in the ratings and had its lowest Neilsens to date on Thursday (for episode 1.006).
Sharbutt also shared additional context about Twin Peaks‘ ratings throughout the first season stating the two-hour premiere on April 8 “got the highest ratings of any two-hour movie aired last season.” It averaged 21.7 rating and a 33 percent share of the audience in that time period.
As the season progressed, the show lost viewers especially paired against NBC’s Cheers in the same time slot. Interestingly, folks in the television industry assumed ABC would pick up a second season because it attracted “a female audience desirable to advertisers and it eventually might get a larger general audience.”
