Twin Peaks Poll - First Time

[santoantonium]

I was just getting into Lynch when I was 15/16. I had seen most of his movies, hadn't seen the show yet, and very unexpectedly I found a copy of FWWM on dvd for sale. It's a very rare edition these days here in Brazil. I bought it, watched it and was completely baffled. And I loved it. So yeah, I watched FWWM before the series. Then, a few months later, I found a VHS of the INTERNATIONAL PILOT in a video store and totally didn't know what to think of that ending (only afterwards I found out that was a fake ending). By the end of 2004, when the series was finally released on dvd, I got the box set. Yeah, I did everything wrong.

[LostInTheMovies]

I voted for "Gold Box" even though technically I watched a couple episodes (1 & 2, no pilot obviously) on the Artisan set a year before the Gold Box, and then stopped to wait for the pilot & s2 to become available on Netflix (DVD version).

[Agent Sam Stanley]

1993 - rerun outside the US

[Mordeen]

OG. Sitting glued to the TV with the phone next to me, calling friends during commercial breaks to tell them what they're missing.

-Mordeen

[Bookworm]

Live, from April 91 to September 91 on the long now defunct chanel "La Cinq" (The Five). They aired both season back to back.

Edit> Ah I realize it was not really live since it already aired in US, but it was live for me since I watched it when the show aired for the first time here in France, so it still count as live?

[MysteryMan]

I was 15 years old and watched the pilot with my parents in Oslo, Norway (where I'm originally from) in November 1990 (that's when it premiered in Norway). Was hooked from that moment on...

[Sid]

Original airing, that was September 1991 in my country.

I was 18 years old, living with my older sister who barely was at home at that time.
So I watched it mostly alone. Unplucked the phone to not get disturbed during episodes.

I can tell you watching it alone, at that age, without many people around you to discuss and process what you just saw and how it made you feel was wonderful and scary at the same time.
There was one girl in my neighbourhood who really got Twin Peaks the way I did and we became very close friends and still are to this day. Thanks to Twin Peaks

[MasterMastermind]

For me it was the season one DVD set with a torrented version of the Pilot, then I bought season 2 when it hit DVD a few months later.

[tausendsassa]

1993 - rerun outside the US

Same here, rerun outside the US around the same time. I was turned off by the hype around the show's initial run here in Germany, and thought "what is this Twin Peaks crap?" Besides we didn't have cable at home at the time.

[TheArm]

I was about 11 or 12 years old living in the DC area at the time and was a member of a local Doctor Who club (yep, nerd alert!) at the time. Doctor Who had just gone off the air indefinitely, and suddenly TP really seemed to quickly take its place in their hearts and minds, to the point where I recall being annoyed that this new show was ALL they wanted to talk about and I couldn't participate in the conversation since my parents strictly forbade me from watching it as they felt it was too adult and inappropriate. I even remember hearing my teachers at school whispering about it in between classes to each other, it was on all the magazine covers, etc. For a bunch of nerds who were initially into a fairly obscure

But I was absolutely fascinated and intrigued hearing them talk about owls, messages from outer space, BOB, MIKE, the dwarf, bizarre dream sequences, the woods, secret societies, demonic possession, etc. I just couldn't imagine what this show could possibly be like. Finally, Warner Bros. released that VHS of the European version of the pilot in 1991, at which point I remember everyone was getting increasingly worried that the show was on the verge of cancellation. They brought it to one of our meetings and I FINALLY got to see what they'd all been ranting and raving about. And I remember so vividly, I was utterly hypnotized by the opening theme song alone, and completely captivated and mesmerized by everything that followed.

I still wasn't allowed to watch the show, and it was swiftly canceled anyway. That pilot really resonated with me and haunted me over the next couple years, and thankfully, when Bravo began re-broadcasting it in 1993, I was finally able to watch the series in its entirety and was thrilled by every minute of it. (And I remember so vividly watching the finale for the first time and wanting to throw a brick at my TV when it ended. I still can't believe we're going to finally find out what the hell happened afterwards!!!)

[Qubism]

All the original British Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts!

I was 21 in 1990 and in 1991 I knew a quite pretty blond girl and she still to this day reminds me a little of Laura Palmer, (so wow I have very mixed feelings about her now.....) Also, she's not dead but maybe now has a bit of tragedy goin on though...but don't we all?......

......."It was a dream! We live inside a dream", as a wise man once said.

Testify brother Philip!!!!!

[AgentCoop]

Original US airing. I was 16. Had never heard of David Lynch, but I seem to remember TV Guide making a fuss that some guy who had made some spooky movies was doing a TV show, so I checked out the pilot with my mom. We were both hooked right away by the mystery and by the amazing atmosphere, which was unlike anything I had ever seen before. We watched Season 1 together religiously, then I started taping the show when it was rerun over the summer.

My mom started to lose patience with the show in Season 2, but I had the opposite reaction. The stranger the show got, the more I loved it. Not only did it turn me on to Lynch, but it opened my eyes to a whole new world of weirdness. I started getting into all sorts of odd movies, music, comics, etc. My love for the surreal started with Twin Peaks and continues to this day.

ETA: I just remembered this. Starting with Season 2, I started keeping notes. I had this little notebook where I diligently jotted down every little clue, observation and bit of info I could glean from the show. I would re-watch episodes on tape, trying to piece together the mystery. Finally, I concluded that Laura was killed by...Ben Horne. Oops.

[dugpa]

You've missed "Original airing outside US";)

Added

[dugpa]

There's no 'pirated' option.

Added.

[Si78]

I was 12 and watched the entire series first run. I was specifically told by my parents I couldn't watch the pilot so I went to my room and watched it. There must have been an argument at some point but they ended up letting me watch the whole thing openely from episode 1 through the finale.

Surprised how young so many of us were.