Goliath wrote:Please, don't get me started on Iger in relation to ABC again...
Goliath, I love Twin Peaks too. But Iger is not the villain - its unsustainable to produce a TV series at a loss. And sadly, when the audience fell, Twin Peaks would have been created at a loss.
The villains are the - I hate to use this word but I will - ignorant viewing public who once Laura's Killer was "revealed" lost interest in the show (I use quotes around revealed because as we all know, the revelation sparked more questions than answers and created all sorts of new plot-lines) and the fact that (lets face it) Twin Peaks did start to go slightly off the rails (did that Nadine age-regression thing, or James Hurley's road-trip actually contribute anything to any on-going plot point, or were they simply padding?) didn't help.
Another "villain" is the stupid US formula for paying artists and creators. They end up with shows which cost millions of dollars to film just one episode! Fine if you have the audience to support it, but quickly leads to loss-making once support drops. Iger can hardly be blamed for an industry-wide practice.
Finally, at that time TV was rarely offered for home video viewing in the US - and while Twin Peaks had many VHS releases throughout Europe knowing how multi-national companies work, the US originator would only receive a small fraction of the VHS sale profits.
TV in the US is commercial. It has to make money. It's not good enough to simply make a product because its art. Thankfully - especially recently with HBO's huge success - audiences realise that quality shows make must-see TV viewing. We can bemoan the US commercial only system, but I think it is a fact that most of the best TV in the world is currently being made in the US.
As for public service stations such as the UK's BBC, it too cancels TV which doesn't get enough viewers to justify the cost. I'm still absolutely livid at the BBC for messing about with S3 of Jam & Jerusalem and then cancelling the series on S3's completion.
We just have to accept sometimes that "stars that shine the brightest sometimes burn the fastest.
Personally I think we should celebrate the fact that Twin Peaks was even commissioned - I'm sure it was a huge risk and gamble at the time. Truly "Lynchian" films while finding dedicated audiences are hardly mainstream after all. You should also feel the same for any other ABC show you feel Iger may have killed. Celebrate its life, not its death.
As for Twin Peaks (although I'll admit I don't fully understand it myself) there is some small conclusion to Agent Cooper's cliff-hanger in the prequel movie "Fire Walk With Me" - remember time in the Red Room is not necessarily linear.
I've rambled a bit, but all art that costs money to produce has to walk a line between artistic merit and funding. Even some of the greatest works of classical art were paid commissions and paid for by others. It's not a new concept and sadly its something I don't see changing.
