Reviewing Peaks – Full Page Twin Peaks Ad from April 8, 1990

David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks debuted on April 8, 1990 on the ABC Television Network. As part of the show’s publicity, the alphabet network placed a full-page ad in newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times on that Sunday.

FULL PAGE TWIN PEAKS AD FROM APRIL 8, 1990

In advance of the special preview of Twin Peaks on Sunday night from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m., the ABC Television Network placed a full page ad with positive comments from television critics in major newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.

The image of Special Agent Dale Cooper and Sheriff Harry S. 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 this ad.

A similar black and white image was used in an advertisement found in the TV Guide from April 7, 1990.

The image of Peggy Lipton as Norma Jennings is also from a sequence of shots on the Double R Diner set. This publicity image is close to the one used in the advertisement (she is leaning too far forward in this shot). I have yet to find the original full-color one used in the advertisements.

The image of Donna Hayward, James Hurley and Audrey Horne at the Double R Diner also appears similar to an ad from TV Guide on April 7.

CRITICS’ REVIEWS OF TWIN PEAKS

Here is a closer look at the original critics’ reviews featured in the full-page ad. These short quotes come from longer, in-depth reviews of the show. ABC Television would recycle several of these quotes in various advertisements.

“TWIN PEAKS – the series that will change TV.” – Connoisseur Magazine

Howard Rodman gave one of the first looks at David Lynch and Mark Frost’s show in the Sept. 1989 issue of Connoisseur Magazine. His article was titled “The Series That Will Change TV,” which ABC basically lifted for their advertisement.

“Something of a miracle. The most hauntingly original work ever done for American TV.” – Time Magazine

This review comes from Richard Zoglin’s article in the April 9, 1990 issue of Time Magazine. The LA Times advertisement reverses Zoglin’s review:

“In outline, ABC’s heralded new series Twin Peaks sounds like an amalgam of familiar TV genres. A touch of true-crime docudrama, a dash of Columbo, a jot of Knots Landing. But in the darkly idiosyncratic world of director David Lynch, terms like murder mystery and soap opera don’t begin to tell the tale. Twin Peaks, which debuts Sunday as a two-hour movie, is like nothing you’ve seen in prime time — or on God’s earth. It may be the most hauntingly original work ever done for American TV.

It is also something of a miracle. Imagine: one of the world’s most perversely offbeat movie directors persuades ABC to let him try a prime-time series. He shoots a pilot with virtually no interference. The network bigwigs look at the result, realize that it will probably befuddle many viewers, then decide to air it anyway. The programmers even consider — horrors! — showing the two-hour pilot without commercials. (Cooler heads prevail; the show will have ads, though fewer than usual.) It’s enough to restore one’s faith in television.”

“The year’s best show! Grade A+” – Entertainment Weekly

The April 6, 1990 issue of “Entertainment Weekly” contained a review by Ken Tucker who gave the show an “A+” rating. The “year’s best show” reference comes from the cover with an image of David Lynch.

“Twin Peaks extends the boundaries of network television.” – GQ Magazine

This quote has me stumped as I’ve been unable to locate its origin. My guess is that it’s from either the March or April 1990 issue of GQ Magazine. I’ve recently ordered the April issue hoping the review will be there.

One thing is certain – ABC loved using the GQ Magazine quote. There is an alternate version of this advertisement I found in the TV Guide issue for April 7, 1990 that includes only three quotes from The Washington Post’s Tom Shales, Connoisseur Magazine and GQ.

“Twin Peaks will change television history.” – Los Angeles Daily News

Like the GQ Magazine quote, this snippet from the Los Angeles Daily News has eluded me. I spent several hours looking for any source of the quote. I assumed it was from a longer article by a television or entertainment critic. I cross referenced Newspapers.com, NewspaperArchive.com, Internet Archive, Google News, and even the Los Angeles Daily News site to name a few sources. Nothing.

As an archivist, it’s important to me to properly credit and give additional context for quotes like this one. Without a source, we will never know who wrote it or how the reporter felt overall about Lynch and Frost’s new series. This is why I continue documenting as much as possible around this show for future Bookhouse Boys and Gals to discover. It’s been 35 years since this quote was written and we’ve already lost the source.

“Unprecedented. ‘Twin Peaks’ easily out-dazzles all the new network shows … this you gotta see.” – Tom Shales, The Washington Post

I”ve previously discussed this quote from The Washington Post’s Tom Shales as it was written a day after the pilot episode was screened at the Telluride Film Festival on  Sept 3, 1989 at 4:00 p.m. in the Sheridan Opera House, at 8:15 p.m. at the Community Center, and at 11:00 p.m. at Nugget Theatre.

It’s unclear if Shales was at the festival, yet he was one of the earliest reporters to rave about the show. His quote in the advertisement is cut together from his syndicated review.

“…But ABC has ordered seven episodes of this rather unprecedented serialized drama…” and  “…In terms of provocative novelty, ‘Twin Peaks’ easily out-dazzles all the new network shows that will be premiering over the next few weeks” are taken from his opening paragraph. “This You Gotta See [sic]” is the last line of his review.

“Intelligently, gorgeously filmed and highly stylized. TV has never seen a small town like ‘Twin Peaks.'” – Newsday

Newsday Reporter Andrew J. Edelstein attended the Television Critics Association event on Jan. 6 where he first saw the pilot. He wrote a glowing review on Jan. 9 which contained the quote from the advertisement.

“But you’ll have to wait until April. That’s when ‘Twin Peaks,’ a mystery-drama, debuts on ABC. It’s the most intelligent, gorgeously filmed and highly stylized series of this disappointing season. …Nevertheless, it’s clear that TV has never seen a small town like Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks.’ It makes ‘Peyton Place’ look as homey as Mayberry.”

“Twin Peaks’ … like nothing else on television.” – Los Angeles Times

The final quote is from Steve Weinstein’s article published in The Los Angeles Times on Feb. 18, 1990. Titled, “Is TV Ready for David Lynch?,” Weinstein wrote this lengthy piece that provided some behind the scenes details about the show’s production. In the fourth paragraph, you will find his quote for the advertisement:

“‘Twin Peaks’ is certainly like nothing else on television: A serialized murder mystery that is all mood – one moment the height of campiness, the next disturbingly eerie.”

Weinstein and all the critics quoted in this Twin Peaks advertisement were correct. I know this as, on the 35th Anniversary of the show, I just spent way too long putting together this article. Decades later, we are still dazzled by the mystery. I’m grateful everyday for Mark Frost, David Lynch, the expert crew and talented cast who spent countless hours making something that continues bringing me such joy.

It did change television, and my life.