Subject: Re: WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!
From: boyajian@ruby.dec.com (Cisco's Buddy)
Date: 1991-02-20, 01:00
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

In article <46013399@bfmny0.BFM.COM>, tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) writes...

} Oh, heavens, that's unexpectedly pessimistic.

No, not pessimistic, just realistic. It's natural law, entropy. I've seen
too many good shows live on past the time when they should've been canned.
I'd rather see TWIN PEAKS quit while it's ahead than stumble about trying
to emulate its prior successes.

} However, the show today is far from stale! It has great promise.

I didn't say it *is* stale, only that it *will get* stale.

} * The ensemble has quietly turned into one of the best in television
} -- each character's personality is sharply etched.

True, but this is not unique to this show.

} * It's a showcase for directors and actors. Ever notice, when you go
} to the theatre, how many credits from SPENSER and ST:TNG there are?
} Those shows virtually specialize(d) in developing young talent. TWIN
} PEAKS stands to do the same. We'll be reaping the benefits for years to
} come.

But this is hardly *that* suprising. Let's just take directors as an example.
25-30 years ago, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS featured among its directors not
only the veteran Hitch himself, but such then-unknowns as Sydney Pollack
and Robert Altman. The original TWILIGHT ZONE had episodes directed by
Richard Donner, Don Siegel, and Jacques Tourneur!  The newer TZ featured
veterans John Milius and William Friedkin, semi-vets Wes Craven and Joe
Dante, and a young and upcoming Martha Coolidge. AMAZING STORIES had big
names like (in addition to Steven Spielberg) Peter Hyams, Martin Scorcese,
Irvin Kershner, Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, and Tobe Hooper. Plus
Paul Bartel, Joe Dante, Danny DeVito, and Robert Zemeckis. Not to mention
a couple of other familiar names like Todd Holland and Lesli Linka Glatter.

And those last two prove another point. We don't know where they've been
showing up between AMAZING STORIES and TWIN PEAKS. Maybe like Diane Keaton,
Glatter has directed an episode (or two or three) of CHINA BEACH. Maybe
Todd Holland has directed episodes of Lord knows what because we never
thought to watch it. There's a television write whom I admire a lot named
Alan Brennert -- did a lot of good scripts for TZ, among other things. I
found out a few months ago that wrote at least one episode of CHINA BEACH
(for which he was nominated for Outstanding Teleplay by the Writers Guild
of America), and this past weekend, I was told that he co-wrote last week's
LA LAW with ex-STTNG writer/story editor Melinda Snodgrass. For all I know,
he's done lots of other scripts for other shows I don't normally watch.

The point is that these folks get around, and they make their mark, even
if they aren't high-profile.

} The truth is, folks, that if they take it off, we're NOT going to see
} anything half as good in its place. There is no "conservation of quality"
} rule in TV.

Now see, here I disagree. I think there *is* a "conservation of quality"
rule in TV. There will always be something on that stands head and
shoulders above the rest. There always has, there always will. Before
TWIN PEAKS, it was MAX HEADROOM. Before MAX, it was THE (new) TWILIGHT
ZONE. And so and so forth, forward into the past. TWIN PEAKS will be
be replaced by something worthy. Maybe not immediately, but soon enough.
Maybe something not quite as good, but close enough. And if we're lucky,
it'll be something just as unique as TP was.

You call me pessimistic, but I can't think of anything I said that was half
as pessimistic as "we're NOT going to see anything half as good in its
place."

} The principals will wander off to work in other media or go back to
} retirement, and we can settle back to another season of MACGYVER. Is
} that really something to wish for?

No, it isn't, but I prefer to think that TWIN PEAKS will help reinforce
the idea that unique, quality television *is* possible, and that the
people involved will go on to work on other shows. It's happened before
and it'll happen again.

Serial fiction is inherently self-destructive. The worthwhile writers
tend to shy away from endless series, instead going from one unique work
to another. In the overall scheme of things in the 40+ years of television,
the better shows tended to be anthology shows, which by their very nature
offered something different each week. Not always, but usually.

-- "Have you ever made love to a revolutionary?" "No, but I once necked with a Stevenson Democrat." --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, "The Mill", Maynard, MA) UUCP: ...!decwrl!ruby.enet.dec.com!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%ruby.DEC@DECWRL.DEC.COM