Twin Peaks Reboot Debuts in 2016 (Plus: The Good, The Bad and The Baffling of TV Remakes)

News, Rumors, Shows

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Thumbs up, indeed.

If you’re an admirer of the strange and seminal early-’90s television show Twin Peaks, you likely heard the universe explode when a new nine-episode season on Showtime was announced, in a pair of identical tweets, by co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost.

Any further details have yet to be released, but fan speculation is running rampant. Naturally, these episodes are to be set in the present day and, hopefully, they’ll address some of the many unanswered questions brought up by the bizarre and widely-criticized series finale. Kyle MacLachlan dropped a hint on Twitter about readying his black suit, so I’m assuming he’s gearing up for another whack at playing FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper. Perhaps the owls are what they seem…

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“I’ll see you again in 25 years…”

Plenty of the die-hard series fans eschewed the film follow-up, Fire Walk With Me, and I anticipate a major backlash upon the unveiling of the new series. It’s inevitable. Truthfully, I’m not huge on the ‘purposefully-inaccessible-and-confusing’ thing that defines much of David Lynch’s work. (I could get all raving-rabid-fangirl over Wild at Heart, but that’s an entirely different post.)

As we all know, the entertainment industry ran out of creative steam a decade or two ago – how else would “the sequel” have become so omnipresent? When it comes to small-screen reboots, it can usually be boiled down to the good, the bad and the baffling (and don’t even get me started on film re-makes). Let’s take a quick look…

THE GOOD:

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Hey, look! Selena’s dad is the Commander of the fleet!

Battlestar Galactica. Seriously, if you find someone who legitimately prefers the goofy original…I’ll eat my hat, feathers and all. BSG is widely considered to be one of the best remakes of all time, in any medium. Star Trek. C’mon, everyone has a favorite version! Doctor Who. Uhh…ditto for what I said about Star Trek. The Office. Okay, I never actually watched The Office (either British or stateside) but ignoring its wild success and numerous accolades would be remiss.

THE BAD:

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Yeah…PASS.

90210. “Yeah, but…it’s…kinda successful!” In the words of a gal who shared the same area code: ‘Whatever Twilight Zone. Black and white or nothing, I say. Charlie’s Angels. It’s almost like they went out of their way to make it even more superficial and cliché. Dallas. Who shot JR? Who cares? Evidently, no one anymore.

THE BAFFLING:

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¿Que?

Metástasis (aka Breaking Bad in Spanish). What’s wrong with subtitles, Columbia?! Though, to be fair, I really dig the name “Walter Blanco”. Girl Meets World. In a word? UGH. I can even imagine who the target audience for this was. Fargo. I don’t care if it’s the best show ever…I still don’t understand how this idea made it into production.

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If these three items mean nothing to you…well, in the words of The Dude: “you’re obviously not a golfer.”

Trailing the release of ‘TWIN PEAKS: THE ENTIRE MYSTERY’ on Blu-Ray by a matter of months, it would appear that the collector’s edition box-set has suddenly moved categories: from “complete” to “obsolete”. Sorry, dudes. By the time 2016 rolls around, perhaps they’ll have a Direct-to-Eyeballs App. Who knows?

Either way, when the new episodes debut, I’ll be ready with my strongly brewed coffee and freshly baked pie. You might even catch me donning a “Nadine” eye patch and clutching my clairvoyant log. The gum I like is coming back in style, after all… Are you stoked?

Bette Davis, Batman, Breaking Bad...and other "B" things.