is there any other show that even comes close to your obsession with TP?

[krishnanspace]

I love Game Of Thrones,Fargo,True Detective(Season 1) which comes close to Twin Peaks,loved Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad while it was on.But nothing can match Twin Peaks.It exists in its on Dimension

[tmurry]

I'm kind of a Lost apologist, but the engagement with that show is so different than Twin Peaks. It's a show about how us Gen Xers with nerd tendencies try to distract ourselves with esoteric meaning in an effort to outrun our parent's divorce/daddy issues (patterns we seem doomed to repeat) when we really need to find each our meaning in each other. It's a work about the alienation of having grown up in a pop cultural landscape that is in love with its own cultural nods, which gives it a nice tension. But the engagement with the show was more qabalistic - tracking down the hypertextual references to build a rationalistic working model of meaning. The fact that that shambling macaroni sculpture of a model did not work is the point and the cruel joke of the series. Everyone hated the ending because it said, rather straightforwardly: all of the stuff you are so invested in? You have to let go of all that.

Twin Peaks doesn't work like this. It is not about the alienated individual but a community's deep rooted illness being expressed in the individual. The engagement is deeper and there is no irony in the point it is making. Tragedy, yes, but not irony.

In any event, I obsessed over Lost with an amplitude in the ballpark of TP throughout its run, but it didn't last past the finale and my engagement with all of Lynch's works over time adds up to more in every way. The last time I had this flavor of fever was True Detective season 1 and before that it was waiting for Game of Thrones to begin (lovers of the books will remember this).

[Mr. Reindeer]

Lost for me as well. I actually think it holds up better than TP as a unified whole, although it certainly doesn't have the artistic highs of the best (primarily Lynch-directed) episodes. I'm certainly hoping that the upcoming TP season changes that, of course. For me, Lost's greatest weakness is not the finale -- which I love unequivocally -- but the rest of the final season, which feels like the characters chasing their tails around in circles for most of the season. I think the nature of the "flash sideways" should have been revealed early on in season 6; if the viewer understood the stakes, the aggravating amount of time spent there would have had much more resonance, and putting the cards on the table would have allowed the creators to explore a fasinating concept in more depth. Lindelof & Cuse's biggest fault was a smug love of jerking the viewers' chains, and that trait finally overwhelms all their positive attributes as storytellers in that final season. (Something I'm sadly experiencing again -- but even worse -- with Sherlock.) Nice to see so many people mention Lost; it seems like even naysayers who delight in deliberately taking unpopular stances steer clear of defending the show these days.

The only other shows I'd potentially put close to TP level for me are The Prisoner and Mad Men. I think both are qualitatively better shows than TP and Lost, but my obsession factor isn't quite as high. I could also see Lindelof's phenomenal The Leftovers entering this pantheon if it sticks the landing in this new season.

GoT is just an exercise in aggravation for me, as a book reader. Incredible production value and a perfect cast squandered on half-hearted writing. It's such a sadness.

[Snailhead]

No. A few have come close - "Carnivale", "Mad Men", and "Riget", but nothing quite like "Twin Peaks."

[Jerry Horne]

Currently? Westworld.

[John Justice Wheeler]

I love many shows deeply but probably The Prisoner is the only one that equals my ardent love of Peaks (they're also the only shows I've watched annually for decades). And for me The Prisoner goes even further back as I was introduced to it as a teen in the mid 80's with a gift of a couple of the episodes on VHS. This was back when collecting TV series was miserably difficult as many were not available and those that were often were only available in select packages of episodes or as exorbitantly priced one episode per tape VHS editions (thankfully Prisoner was relatively short and that was beneficial in this sense). I used to love Lost and watched it devotedly during its initial run but have just about zero interest in ever returning to it. Leftovers, meanwhile, might turn out to be exceptional overall and I adore the first season for the most part but, contrary to apparent popular consensus, I have real difficulties with the second season that makes it a very problematic show for me, at least at this point. Indicators of the final season though are enormously encouraging as it seems to pick up on some lingering clues from the first.

[Agent Earle]

What a good idea for a thread!

To me, the show that comes close in terms of me obsessing over it again and again over the years and the sheer amount of time I used thinking and talking about it is actually a sitcom, if you can believe it - namely, a British one called "You Rang, M'Lord?" dealing with the various goings on in an aristocratic household of one Lord Meldrum in the 1920s London, focusing on the dynamics between the upper class and their lowly servants who, as was the norm in that context, all live in the same mansion. In a number of aspects, it's similar to a lot of UK comedy shows from that time (the production lasted between 1988-92), only it's quite serious in tone (so much so that there are times when you can't quite decide whether you're watching a drama or a comedy - I guess it ended up picking up a whiff of seriousness from its supposed influence, an also excellent - Downton Abbey doesn't hold a candle to it - UK soap opera Upstairs, Downstairs from the 70's) and its episodes (there are 26 of them) are 50 minutes long, something I don't recall ever seeing in a sitcom before or since. In contrast to TP, which I only ever saw in its entirety 3 times (and then various bits of it here and there), I can't count how many times I've watched »You Rang« over the years and it's definitely a cult show to me in every respect.

When I'm on the subject of sitcoms, I urge everyone here with even a slightest interest TV comedy to seek out an Australian show called Mother and Son - lasting for about 10 years (from 1984 to 1994), it chronicled a strained (and only conditionally funny in a ha-ha manner) relationship between a 40-ish year-old sad sack of a man whom the circumstances have forced to live with and take care of his ageing mother, slowly succumbing to dementia and other old age-related woes and making her son's life a living hell while at it (and the presence of his conniving older brother the dentist and his gold-digging wife who're out to put the old bat into a home and get their hand on the family house certainly doesn't make it easy for our "hero"). This one really hasn't been all that well known outside Australia so it's a difficult find, but it's really a delicate, thought-provoking and an all-around poignant piece of art about the human condition that far surpasses its comedy brethren in almost every aspect - top-notch writing and acting plus first-rate production values, a jolly good show!

Ah, another one that's a refreshing genre cocktail from back in the day that I like(d) is the then-popular but now largely forgotten series Northern Exposure (1990-1995) - back then, it was reputed to be close to the TP spirit but that comparison was really made on a more artificial level, in that the both shows dealt with the close-knit township communities nestled in the middle of the woods (in Norhtern Exposure's case it was the »Alaskan riviera«, as they called it , dealing with everyday trials and tribulations of the outlandish residents, played by an ensemble cast. Other than that, the two shows really don't have that much in common, save for a fact that NE also doesn't shy away from including paranormal in its storylines, though doing it from a lighthearted perspective.

Out of the »serious« shows, I don't think anything comes close to the level of my TP obsession, although I'm definitely a fan of The Sopranos which I watched for the first time in 2007 (why so late? Well, my TP ravings have kept me from giving a chance to a number of TV shows for about 15 years since TP went off the air, as I was convinced nothing could ever come close to its brilliance and spellbinding attraction I was feeling; it's gotten to a point where I refused to check something out because I feared I might like it more than TP, actually, and that would make me the impure and untrue fan if you can believe it ) and then for 2 times more. I've most recently re-watched it from December of last year to February of this year and was captivated by it all over again.

As for the other reputed TV dramas, I've been slowly making my way through the current golden age of television since 2014 (guided by first-class book of Brett Martin titled »Difficult Men«, a chronicle of the post-1999 /the year The Sopranos debuted/ TV renaissance ) and devouring shows that I originally missed - so far, I've seen The Wire, The Shield, Six Feet Under, Breaking Bad, and I'm currently on the first season of Oz, and I love 'em all. Would have an extremely hard time choosing my favorite , though none of them comes quite close to my TP infatuation.

The X-Files, now, I was never a fan of it - I think some of it can be contributed to my resentment towards its popularity; I always thought it was divine injustice that a second-rate TP rip-off got to live so a life so long and full while its in every way superior role model went down the drain after only 30 eps. I usually did enjoy, however, stand-alone episodes in the monster of the week vein (especially in the first couple of seasons, they became more scarce later on, if my memory's correct), but I never had the taste and patience for the ongoing conspiracy/alien abduction main story arc as it always seemed convoluted, dreary, far-fetched, and, crucially, boring to me.
Glad to hear what the creator of this thread has to say about MillenniuM - I've never checked it out due to my reservation regarding Chris Carter's showrunnership and the fact that by the late 90's, I've really grown very tired of the serial-killer-as-a-mad-genius-super-anti-hero schtik that The Silence of the Lambs ushered in (I was always more a fan of real life-emulating serial killer cinema, of which Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer would be the prime example), but since I've heard only good things about it and I'm a fan of Lance Henriksen's, I think it's high time I give it a whirl.

[DeerMeadowRadio]

What a good idea for a thread!

Glad to hear what the creator of this thread has to say about MillenniuM - I've never checked it out due to my reservation regarding Chris Carter's showrunnership and the fact that by the late 90's, I've really grown very tired of the serial-killer-as-a-mad-genius-super-anti-hero schtik that The Silence of the Lambs ushered in (I was always more a fan of real life-emulating serial killer cinema, of which Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer would be the prime example), but since I've heard only good things about it and I'm a fan of Lance Henriksen's, I think it's high time I give it a whirl.

Despite being tired of Silence of the Lambs-type movies, try Hannibal from a few years back. Great show and was really building its own universe before it was cut short.

[DeerMeadowRadio]

Doctor Who -- it was my Twin Peaks when I was a kid. I can't think of a show outside of those two that completely own their own distinctive universes (in many many ways) that can totally suck you in.

[Agent Earle]

What a good idea for a thread!

Glad to hear what the creator of this thread has to say about MillenniuM - I've never checked it out due to my reservation regarding Chris Carter's showrunnership and the fact that by the late 90's, I've really grown very tired of the serial-killer-as-a-mad-genius-super-anti-hero schtik that The Silence of the Lambs ushered in (I was always more a fan of real life-emulating serial killer cinema, of which Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer would be the prime example), but since I've heard only good things about it and I'm a fan of Lance Henriksen's, I think it's high time I give it a whirl.

Despite being tired of Silence of the Lambs-type movies, try Hannibal from a few years back. Great show and was really building its own universe before it was cut short.

Yep, it's on my to-watch list for sure!

[Ross]

I enjoyed the first two seasons of Hannibal quite a bit, but really lost interest during the third. By then all the characters had become unlikable.

[djerdap]

Hannibal is a must-see, the most visually striking show on TV. I thought it ended on a perfect note and I don't think it's necessary to move the story beyond that point.

[Robot Butler]

Lost for sure. I just obsessed about it for six seasons. Then it ended --which was was okay but not mind-blowing. I don't think it was a bad ending. It just could never have lived up to the expectations I had built up in my mind. After it was over I didn't think about it much ever again.

Breaking Bad was a binge for me. I didn't start watching it live until the final season. I inhaled Breaking Bad more than I obsessed over it. I didn't think about it between episodes because I didn't leave time between episodes. Orange is the New Black comes close every summer.

[Robot Butler]

The X-Files, now, I was never a fan of it - I think some of it can be contributed to my resentment towards its popularity; I always thought it was divine injustice that a second-rate TP rip-off got to live so a life so long and full while its in every way superior role model went down the drain after only 30 eps. I usually did enjoy, however, stand-alone episodes in the monster of the week vein (especially in the first couple of seasons, they became more scarce later on, if my memory's correct), but I never had the taste and patience for the ongoing conspiracy/alien abduction main story arc as it always seemed convoluted, dreary, far-fetched, and, crucially, boring to me.

X-Files is weird like that. I tend to prefer serialized story telling over stand alones. But X-Files is the opposite for me. The creatures were usually very clever, but I didn't really give a shit what the syndicate was up to.

[Mr. Reindeer]

For me, that third season of Hannibal is where the show really comes through on Fuller's stated goal of telling a Hannibal Lecter story in the style of David Lynch. The character motivations and the story are increasingy absurd, but the mood is incredible.