Reruns of Twin Peaks on Bravo TV was my gateway to David Lynch and Mark Frost’s wonderful and strange show. In advance of the series starting on their “Too Good for TV” block on June 11, 1993, a colorful, multi-panel flyer was produced providing a summary of the show along with broadcast dates and times.
TWIN PEAKS ON BRAVO FLYER FROM 1993 – COVER
I missed the original airing of the show on ABC Television in 1990-1991. After seeing the first season on VHS and then Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (totally ruined the show by watching Lynch’s feature film after viewing episode 1.007), I picked up the series just as Windom Earle was arriving to town. I guess that is why I have a soft spot for anything related to the show being aired on Bravo. This flyer is a wonderful piece of ephemera from the early days of the series and my fandom.
The cover features an iconic image of Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic. The entire flyer uses a monochromatic color palette with accents of green and white.
This is the same image but without the “Bravo TV Culture Television” logo.
In a previous Twin Peaks Blog article, I discussed when Bravo announced Twin Peaks was coming to their network in January 1993.
On May 6, 1993, newspapers articles announced Twin Peaks would start airing on June 11 complete with new Log Lady introductions and no commercials. At the time of press, the Austin American Statesman newspaper didn’t know what time episodes would air.
A few days later, other newspapers, such as Newsday, reported the episodes would be shown at 8:00 p.m. (repeated Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m.).
Bravo spokeswoman Caroline Bock mentioned The Log Lady introductions would be something more than a standard show introduction.
“These aren’t standard intros. They’re really very spiritual meditations on ‘Twin Peaks’ and its characters and its world and television. In [David] Lynch’s mind, he says, the Log Lady was always the commentator on the world of ‘Twin Peaks.'”
TWIN PEAKS ON BRAVO 1993 FLYER – INSIDE PANEL
The flyer opens to reveal two panels one contains an overall summary of Twin Peaks on Bravo and the other gives an overview of key characters from the series.
A close up of the left panel shows Special Agent Dale Cooper examining Laura Palmer’s finger nails in the Twin Peaks morgue. There is a brief quote from a TV Guide interview: “Once in awhile, a whole town has a really bad day…” I’m assuming the quote is from the first TV Guide review which may be in the April 7-13, 1990 guide. I’ve ordered a copy of that issue from an online auction site to hopefully confirm.
This page contains a summary of the show’s appearance on Bravo:
“All 32 hours of Academy Award (R) Nominee David Lynch’s critically acclaimed Twin Peaks on Bravo … without commercial interruption! Plus, new introductions written by Lynch and featuring the “Log Lady”. Beginning June11, a new episode premieres every Friday at 8pm and 1am with an encore presentation every Sunday at 10pm and 4:30 am (all times Eastern). Plus Bravo airs a “Twin Peaks” marathon on June 29 featuring the two-hour pilot and the first two episodes.”
The mention of the June 29 “marathon” in the flyer could mean that it was produced for distribution in June 1993. Newspaper articles began mentioning this specific date around June 5.
The opposite panel contains a “Peaks” overview and “Peaks” profiles, short character biographies about a number of characters in the show.
“The Northern logging town of Twin Peaks is a tranquil place where all seems right with the world. But when the high school homecoming queen is found brutally murdered, it’s up to FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) to discover ‘who killed Laura Palmer'”.
I won’t retype the character profiles but they are a great summary of people I’ve come to love.
TWIN PEAKS ON BRAVO 1993 FLYER – INSIDE PANEL
Once the two inside panels are opened, there is a “Peaks” By Week broadcast schedule. Each episode is labeled by number (i.e. episode 1, episode 2, etc.) versus production code (episode 1.001, episode 1.002, etc.). Interestingly, they list the final two episodes as one – episode 28. Typically, the last two were listed as Episode 28 and episode 29 or episode 2.021 or episode 2.022.
Here is a closer look at the Agent Cooper panel.
The cropped image without the episode details.
Audrey Horne is on the second panel for a shot at Twin Peaks High School.
Audrey’s image without the episode details.
The Sheriff Harry Truman panel is a cropped image. The full image has Agent Cooper standing next to him (you can see Cooper’s hand on Truman’s shoulder).
The cropped image without episode details.
The final panel features The Log Lady at the Double R Diner.
In this image I removed the legal disclaimers and kept the Bravo TV logo.
TWIN PEAKS ON BRAVO 1993 FLYER – BACK COVER
The back of the flyer contained an image of Laura Palmer’s body wrapped in plastic by the giant log outside Blue Pine Lodge. There is a blank white rectangle where a mailing label would be placed. They also included a quote from a USA Today article – “You’re in for a treat. Or a trauma, maybe both.”
Despite my best researching skills, I’ve been unable to locate the full quote from the USA Today article. I’m guessing it could be from Matt Roush’s article on April 6, 1990 titled, “High Hopes for Twin Peaks.” Yet there is no searchable online database for old USA Today newspapers and my usual sources don’t have a copy of that article. I hope one day a copy will turn up on an online auction site.
Eagle-eye observers will immediately recognize this image of Laura Palmer’s body on the rocky beach is reversed.
This is the original, full-color publicity photo used for the back image.
Download high-resolution images of this flyer on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/albums/72177720320170909/
Bravo TV would continue airing Twin Peaks for the next few years following the June 11, 1993 debut. I still have several episodes recorded on VHS from many viewings throughout my college experience. Looking at this flyer immediate transports me back to those analog days.
