So I'm rewatching Northern Exposure (
http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4337) and I noticed Season 1 is 8 episodes and Season 2 is only 7 episodes. Not only that but there was almost 8 months between the end of Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2, almost a year in TV terms, with S1 airing in 1990 and S2 in 1991. Not just a summer break. The show would eventually move to summer breaks between seasons (starting in 91) and larger episode counts, starting with Season 3, where it was 20-something episodes for the next four seasons until it ended after a total of 6, but it got me thinking - Twin Peaks really should have been similar.
The first season of TP had a similar episode count - 8 episodes (Pilot and 7 episodes, 9 hours if you count the Pilot being a two-parter). And the first 8 or so episodes of Season 2 are generally considered to be of great quality before the mid-season dip. Now, maybe ABC would have still insisted the killer be revealed, but whether or not that was the case, I think a 8-episode or so second season (similar to the first) would have done the show a favour and allowed them to prepare for longer seasons after that. Even if the network still insisted on them revealing the killer, it could have been the finale of Season 2 with time to come up with new hooks for S3 and beyond.
Also, was CBS was ever interested in the show or could have taken it over after ABC cancelled it? We've mentioned Bravo being a possibility before but what about one of the other big mainstream networks or would they all have been too gun shy to take on something so quirky and dark? CBS kept Northern Exposure on the air for an impressive six seasons. Now, granted, it is much lighter than TP - BUT it is VERY quirky and existential and at times dark, the show even has a direct nod to TP in its first season (to the waterfall, mentions of coffee and cherry pie and the Log Lady all in one sequence) so maybe CBS would have made room for TP too.
I wonder if TP would have ultimately ended up being lighter had it gone on? Not only did ABC seem uncomfortable with the darker themes, but the writers themselves seemed to dovetail into much lighter fare very quickly after the Laura Palmer storyline ended, which seems like an odd choice in some respects. The show always had lighter, goofy and quirky subplots (even The Return has them) but I wonder if these would have started taking over had the show continued with occasional mysteries and darker arcs taking centre stage until they were each resolved. Not sure I would have liked to see that approach (I love how it started to go back to its darker roots towards the end of Season 2 and Lynch REALLY took it back into dark and scary territory for Episode 29) but just something else that occurred to me.
Anyway, what do you think - would a shorter Season 2 have been better and given them more time to prepare for Season 3 and allowed the show to flourish longer? Would CBS or another network have made a better home than ABC or were all US networks at that time likely to end up stifling the show to some extent and/or would Bravo have given it more free reign had they had the budget?