NON SPOILERS: Twin Peaks: Season 3 on Showtime Thread

[Ashok]

Have you guys noticed that The Return is at the moment #1 most popular tv show on Imdb? And the original is #4 – what a time to be alive!

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But "Dirty Dancing" the tv series is number 2 on that list, universally loathed and with an imdb rating of 3.2/10 ?
Also "Games Of Thrones" is only 3rd on that list, but has both a higher average rating than TP, plus a hell of a lot more votes.

How does this work?

IMDb numbers are based on page views and I believe they reset weekly. For this past week, we know the Twin Peaks profile at IMDb has been getting lots of views. I don't know how much you can read into this but the IMDb numbers suggest the show has lots of public awareness now and has been generating traffic!

[Jonah]

Does anyone know what the ratings were like for the official airing of Episodes 3 & 4?

[Harry S. Truman]

Does anyone know what the ratings were like for the official airing of Episodes 3 & 4?

Good Question!

[LostInTheMovies]

The reactions have been interesting. Honestly there would be something amiss if there weren't polarizing reactions, but it's interesting that the disparity has been greater among fans than critics, who largely seem on board. Some people hated the first two episodes and loved the next two. Some vice versa. I'm personally liking it so far but thought 3=4, at least on initial reaction, was so far the weakest works Lynch has directed in the TP franchise. I will most certainly watch all four episodes again before episode 5 airs and perhaps my opinion will change a bit. And of course it almost certainly will change once I've seen how the entire series plays out. I always find people are too quick to rush to judgement with episodic series with many chapters left to air.

3 too?! I can see that reaction with 4, which had some weak spots and was generally the most low-key entry so far (though there was some brilliant stuff in there too). But the first 35 minutes or so of 3 are among the boldest visual work Lynch has ever done with some gloriously trippy conceits, dazzlingly executed. Are you just considering 3/4 as one unit in your head, having watched it all together?

[LostInTheMovies]

Hmm. It was never going to be popular imo - firstly because it's a sequel to a 25 year old series and secondly because it's now massively esoteric in form and style

And thirdly because there's no one clear hook like "Who killed Laura Palmer?" Even understanding what "Good Coop must escape the Lodge and replace Bad Coop" means requires so much understanding of seasons 1 & 2 - plus that wasn't really advertised as the hook, plus much of the premiere seemingly had little to do with that. It's certainly not "A high school teacher begins cooking meth" or "A mobster goes to a shrink."

The pleasant surprise is how well the critics are taking to it. The pendulum sure has swung back.

[LostInTheMovies]

Abrupt endings would remind me of what was clumsily done with Series 1 of Jane Campion's Top of the Lake, where episodes would just stop mid-action, at least in the American release. Ending each episode with a musical number in Twin Peaks in the Roadhouse helps anchor the show, IMO. I love those musical beats.

The structuring of Top of the Lake baffled me, especially the differing episode count between DVD and Netflix and the multiple directors listed. Finally sussed out the difference and created this graphic when I made an episode guide:


Sorry if this is too OT. To bring it back to Twin Peaks, I suspect if Lynch desired a weekly schedule (which I seem to recall him and/or Frost saying, though I'd imagine Showtime has their own reasons for desiring same) I think it's to sustain the experience. I agree there isn't much if any episodic breakup at work here but by "pausing" the movie for a week it allows us to savor the unfolding and anticipate the rest. It's more like living inside of a slowly unfolding movie for four months than following a conventional TV show. For all his talk about loving the idea of an ongoing story, Lynch's conception of this usually has more to do with stretching out the middle rather than linking an ending to a new beginning. This is perhaps the ultimate example of that.

[LostInTheMovies]

Delighted to see such a great reaction at Cannes - including a lengthy standing ovation. And to see Mark's sweet response on twitter - now could some stop acting as though they've fallen out again? They're fine.

Yes. The unfounded and unnecessary speculation that they had a falling-out was starting to bother me.

Did people get this impression from some of the recent Lynch interviews? I'll admit the thought occurred to me though I didn't know it had become a thing.

[Metamorphia]

Hmm. It was never going to be popular imo - firstly because it's a sequel to a 25 year old series and secondly because it's now massively esoteric in form and style

And thirdly because there's no one clear hook like "Who killed Laura Palmer?" Even understanding what "Good Coop must escape the Lodge and replace Bad Coop" means requires so much understanding of seasons 1 & 2 - plus that wasn't really advertised as the hook, plus much of the premiere seemingly had little to do with that. It's certainly not "A high school teacher begins cooking meth" or "A mobster goes to a shrink."

The pleasant surprise is how well the critics are taking to it. The pendulum sure has swung back.

Very true.

It reminds me a lot of Inland Empire in that way - Lynch of course (in)famously described it in promos/interviews as being about "a woman in trouble" when asked and the whole thing being near impossible to advertise or dilute into the mainstream. Both The Return and Inland Empire require an element of faith on the part of the viewer in being sucked up into something disjointed, disconnected and oblique (although as you say, knowledge of S1,2 and FWWM make it a slightly less confounding experience).

I guess what Showtime were hoping was S3 would follow a kinda cliched return path: a new murdered girl, a new FBI agent to come into town and dig up the case files etc, slowly reveal the quirks of the old town and series, providing a clear hook and through-line while following a traditionalist narrative. Glad we didn't get that, tho.

[mtwentz]

The reactions have been interesting. Honestly there would be something amiss if there weren't polarizing reactions, but it's interesting that the disparity has been greater among fans than critics, who largely seem on board. Some people hated the first two episodes and loved the next two. Some vice versa. I'm personally liking it so far but thought 3=4, at least on initial reaction, was so far the weakest works Lynch has directed in the TP franchise. I will most certainly watch all four episodes again before episode 5 airs and perhaps my opinion will change a bit. And of course it almost certainly will change once I've seen how the entire series plays out. I always find people are too quick to rush to judgement with episodic series with many chapters left to air.

3 too?! I can see that reaction with 4, which had some weak spots and was generally the most low-key entry so far (though there was some brilliant stuff in there too). But the first 35 minutes or so of 3 are among the boldest visual work Lynch has ever done with some gloriously trippy conceits, dazzlingly executed. Are you just considering 3/4 as one unit in your head, having watched it all together?

Having re-watched each a total of 3 times, I am now of the opinion that Parts 1/2 are stronger than Parts 3/4 , though the first half hour of part 3 is the strongest segment of the series/movie so far.

I think because that first part of ep. 3 is so mind blowing, it's colored most people's perceptions. I think a closer look reveals that 1/2 is clearly the stronger segment.

[Trudy Chelgren]

I feel that the musical endings can often color how I feel coming away from a Part. The ending to Parts 1 & 2 was near 'The World Spins' level of goosebumps for me. Parts 3 & 4 not so much, I guess it's down to preference and taste.

[Ashok]

Hmm. It was never going to be popular imo - firstly because it's a sequel to a 25 year old series and secondly because it's now massively esoteric in form and style

And thirdly because there's no one clear hook like "Who killed Laura Palmer?" Even understanding what "Good Coop must escape the Lodge and replace Bad Coop" means requires so much understanding of seasons 1 & 2 - plus that wasn't really advertised as the hook, plus much of the premiere seemingly had little to do with that. It's certainly not "A high school teacher begins cooking meth" or "A mobster goes to a shrink."

The pleasant surprise is how well the critics are taking to it. The pendulum sure has swung back.

True, you really can't jump into this Revival fresh but you can't start Breaking Bad from Season 3 either. Twin Peaks is a pre-existing franchise and we're basically just watching Episodes 31-34 now. I know lots of people in my circles who are intrigued by all the Season 3 buzz and are trying to catch up on the original series via Netflix. If Showtime were to continue Twin Peaks beyond these 18 new installments, I could honestly see the franchise building up a whole new audience of younger viewers and getting an good uptick in ratings over time.

[Poltergeist27]

Episodes 3 and 4 got a 0.04 / 195,000 rating according to Showbuzz Daily. Disappointing but obviously most fans streamed the episodes ahead of time. The real test is next Sunday's ratings, but this does not bode well for any additional seasons after this. Sigh.... I will have to be happy with these 18 but part of me hoped that popularity would follow and Lynch would be inspired to keep creating in this world for years to come.

[mtwentz]

I remember many weeks ago some posters here predicting 3 million viewers. Damn wish I could remember who they were so I could call them out LOL.

[Poltergeist27]

I remember many weeks ago some posters here predicting 3 million viewers. Damn wish I could remember who they were so I could call them out LOL.

Well to be fair, it probably has 3 million viewers easily WORLDWIDE since we know it is licensed in a huge number of countries and 1.7 million viewed the premiere on all platforms in the United States alone. But yeah, 3 million viewers in the U.S. alone is not even close to attainable now.

[mtwentz]

I remember many weeks ago some posters here predicting 3 million viewers. Damn wish I could remember who they were so I could call them out LOL.

Well to be fair, it probably has 3 million viewers easily WORLDWIDE since we know it is licensed in a huge number of countries and 1.7 million viewed the premiere on all platforms in the United States alone. But yeah, 3 million viewers in the U.S. alone is not even close to attainable now.

It does make it much more understandable why there was such a fight over the budget and number of episodes.