Subject: Re: East Bay Express Article on TP
From: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff)
Date: 1990-11-18, 18:56
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

> >"Tweaking the Peaks"
> >by Andrew Goodwin

[ most of high-quality piece deleted -- I think SPY once ripped into
reviews in the form of all-questions, which *is* pretty silly once you
start paying attention to it ]

> >Have you noticed that the "Invitation to Love" soap-within-a-soap 
> >that appeared during the first season has now gone? Isn't this 
> >significant? Doesn't its disappearance signify the transformation of 
> >Twin Peaks from a show _about_ soap opera into something more 
> >interesting -- a soap opera? Hasn't the clever-clever Twin Peaks 
> >been slowly corrupted by its form, the _serial_? Is this perhaps not 
> >so much David Lynch's triumph over television, but television's 
> >triumph over Lynch?

Not necessarily.  I gave this some thought, as I'm sure others have.  It
seems to me that INVITATION TO LOVE was a narrative device L&F felt was
needed to offset what was essentially a one-track plot progression in
the first season, i.e., who-killed-Laura.  Its implementation was pretty
absurd -- seemingly always on the air, jokily mirroring the main PEAKS
action -- and it added to the surreal, satirical tone of the series.
But it has been clear for some time that L&F are not interested in
creating a new FERNWOOD 2NITE here: they intend us to take some things
fairly seriously.  (As Goodwin points out, they may intend some of us to
pop a mild sedative before key episodes!)

I think ITL went away because with the advent of the second season and
the development of what will hopefully become interesting and self
sustaining secondary plotlines, it was superfluous and potentially
misleading.  I miss it occasionally, but if it were still appearing
every week I'd probably be tired of it by now.

-- "It has come to my attention that there is more !!! Tom Neff than one Jeffrey Miller." -- Jeffrey Miller ! ! tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM