Twin Peaks Publicity – Windom Earle and Annie Blackburne

Twin Peaks went on a brief hiatus in mid-February 1991 following a significant decline in ratings. Thanks to a dedicated fan base and a coordinated letter writing campaign, ABC Television brought the show back for its final six episodes beginning March 28 that year. But the ratings continued declining so the network pulled the show off the air again after episode 2.020. The final two episodes were then shown on June 10. But what would have happened if the show continued airing through the beginning of May? I acquired a black and white publicity photo of Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) and Annie Blackburne (Heather Graham) that offered a glimpse into that alternate reality and had me asking, “What year is this?”

WINDOM EARLE AND ANNIE BLACKBURN

This black and white publicity photograph was taken by Jerry Fitzgerald from the ABC Photography Department and distributed on April 9, 1991. The image has a catalog number of 28024A-3-21. The caption reads:

Villainous Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) takes captive Cooper’s sweetheart, Annie Blackburne (Heather Graham), placing her life in serious jeopardy, on “TWIN PEAKS,'” airing THURSDAY, MAY 5 (9:00-10:00 p.m.,ET), on the ABC Television Network.

Notice Annie’s last name ends with an “e” which was how it was also written in the script. The character’s name doesn’t appear in credits until the end of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me when the “e” was dropped and her last name became “Blackburn.” See this Twin Peaks Blog article for a expanded analysis about the name change.

The publicity photo contains crop marks meaning it was possibly used in a newspaper article. I cropped the image above to show how it might have appeared.

The photo was eventually used in The Daily Record on June 10, 1991 when ABC aired the final two episodes. The photo of Windom and Annie appears to be the same as the publicity shot.

A full color version of this publicity photo exists somewhere. The Mauve Zone has a sequence of these images by Jerry Fitzgerald with the one shown above being the closest to the black and white publicity photo (notice Windom’s hand by Annie’s hair has a slightly different placement). The scene was filmed at Franklin Canyon Park in Southern California.

But one thing still troubles me – why was “Thursday, May 5, 1991” listed as the broadcast date in the photo’s caption?

TWIN PEAKS PULLED FROM THE AIR AGAIN

Twin Peaks returned to the ABC Television Network on March 28, 1991 with episode 2.017 (#24). Three weeks later on April 10, the network announced they were pulling the show after episode 2.020 (#27) would air on April 18. Detroit Free Press reporter Mike Duffy discussed the announcement in the April 11 issue of the paper.

The final two episodes – 2.021 (#28) and 2.022 (#29) – would air on June 10 as a “ABC Monday Night Movie.” Continued declining ratings were the primary reason the show was pulled. By comparison, the episode Cheers aired on April 4 on NBC had a viewership of 33.4 million. Only 9.2 million viewers watched Twin Peaks that same night. The pilot episode of Twin Peaks on April 8, 1990 had 34.6 million viewers so it’s understandable why ABC decided to pull the show again.

So why did the network include a date of May 5 on the publicity photo?

The strangest part about this mystery is May 5 doesn’t fall on Thursday in 1991 – it’s a Sunday. The publicity photo was issued on on April 9 but I’m guessing it was prepared a few weeks earlier (knowing the final episodes were filmed at the beginning of March 1991).  While I don’t have an official explanation, I’m guessing it was simply a typo.

If ABC had not pulled the show, episode 2.021 might have aired on Thursday, April 25 and the finale could have been shown on Thursday, May 2.

The final episode might have been broadcast during “Sweeps Week,” a concept that dates to 1954 when the Nielsen ratings system collected television viewing diaries from homes in the Eastern United States and then would “sweep” west. 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.

During the sweeps time period, networks did everything possible to get viewers to tune in to their programming. This may include celebrity appearances, cross-over episodes or things that would make for must-see television. The David Lynch-directed, second season finale would have been perfect for “Sweeps Week,” but alas, it’s history from an alternate timeline.