"Twin Peaks" Pilot (1990)

Director:

David Lynch

Writers:

Mark Frost (written by) &
David Lynch (written by)

TV Series:

"Twin Peaks" (1990)

Original Air Date:

8 April 1990 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

A Mystery That Holds Its Secret To The Very End

Plot:

An eccentric, mystical FBI agent arrives in the small Pacific Northwest town of Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of a young high school girl.

Plot Keywords:

Agent | FBI | Murder | Investigation | One Armed Man

Awards:

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Kyle MacLachlan	...	Special Agent Dale Cooper
Michael Ontkean	...	Sheriff Harry S. Truman
Mädchen Amick	...	Shelly Johnson (as Madchen Amick)
Dana Ashbrook	...	Bobby Briggs
Richard Beymer	...	Benjamin Horne
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	Donna Hayward
Sherilyn Fenn	...	Audrey Horne
Warren Frost	...	Dr. Will Hayward
Peggy Lipton	...	Norma Jennings
James Marshall	...	James Hurley
Everett McGill	...	Big Ed Hurley
Jack Nance	...	Pete Martell
Ray Wise	...	Leland Palmer
Joan Chen	...	Jocelyn Packard
Piper Laurie	...	Katherine Martell

Runtime:

94 min | USA:113 min (video version) | 90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Norwegian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:15 | South Korea:18 | Spain:T | UK:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

North Bend, Washington, USA

Company:

Lynch Entertainment

Trivia:

Although Joan Chen assumed the role of Jocelyn "Josie" Packard, the character was originally written as an Italian woman named Giovanna Pasquialini Packard, with Isabella Rossellini slated for the role. This earlier version of the character appears in the first pilot script David Lynch and Mark Frost submitted to ABC. In this seminal draft, the series was entitled NORTHWEST PASSAGE.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the end of the pilot, Sarah Palmer wakes up from the sofa screaming due to her vision. In the mirror above the sofa, you can see a reflection of what appears to be Frank Silva (Bob). Silva may have been off camera as he was the "on-set dresser" for this episode. It is more likely that he was there to assist Grace Zabriskie with her performance by recreating the scene in her vision (UK version of pilot).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Pete Martell: She's dead. Wrapped in plastic.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Le son de Lynch (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Nightingale

Hawk, Would You Please Put on the Kitchen Mittens

I was ten years old when this show premiered on TV. I had a hot to trot fourth grade teacher who was fresh out of college (I had the biggest crush on her---oh, Ms. Beckett, where are you now?) who would come in the morning after an episode aired and share all the details with the advanced reading group I was in. THIS WAS IT. This was the greatest TV show ever made. I don't know how I talked my parents into letting me watch it (a few episodes involving BOB gave me nightmares), but since then I've rewatched it over and over and over again. Mystery, soap opera antics, mumbo jumbo, log ladies, midgets, damn fine coffee, cherry pie, cliffhangers and the best music ever composed for a TV series made the first season (which was HUGE in the ratings, and only seven episodes long as it was a mid-season replacement) the most memorable of any TV show in history. The second season got darker and weirder (which led to a drop in ratings, time slot shifts, and naturally more drops in the ratings). After the producers were forced by the network to solve the murder of Laura Palmer half way through the season (and what a f*** you to the powers to be that revelation was), wild soap opera antics ensued as a cover up for one of the most labyrinthine mythologies ever conceived (I'll take the agents of the Black and White Lodges over aliens and government conspiracies any day), and Lynch left the die-hard fans who clung on to the very end one doozy of a cliffhanger in the very last episode (WHERE'S ANNIE?).

After turning my friends on to Lynch with "Mulholland Drive" (which was ironically a failed TV pilot turned into a brilliant cinematic f*** you to the same powers that be that tried to ruin Peaks) they can't believe it when I tell them he made a TV show back when we were kids. "That must've been weird," they say. Oh, it was, weirder and more wonderful and brilliant than you could ever imagine.

Without this show there never would've been "The X-Files", "Northern Exposure", "Picket Fences" or the idea that TV could be thrilling, ground-breaking, quirky, and weird. Also recommended: Lynch's mind-boggling film prequel "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" that confounds beautifully and raises more questions than answers, "Blue Velvet" (the precursor to Peaks), and of course "Mulholland Drive."