Topic: The TV Show Thread

@ralphdibny ah yes Elongated man, sorry. I knew something seemed off when I typed that. Wasn't someone I knew about prior to the show. And I forgot all about Julian. Yeah that was a good character and done well by Felton.

I was actually just thinking about Twitter today and how it tends toward outrageous bombastic rhetoric for whatever reason. I was actually even considering this may explain why Trump says things in real life that are remarkably dumb and incendiary and all that but on Twitter it's dialed to 11. Just seems it's the nature of the platform. So I'm generally willing to give people leeway as to what they say on there, especially when it's in the service of humor.

Spacey on the other hand, oof. That's certainly a weird one. About the only thing I can still watch him in is Seven. And I never liked the X-Men movies so it's no problem avoiding those on account of Singers very Cosby like behavior.

@nessisonett I didn't realize Blake Jenner was in Supergirl unless maybe you're referring to her current partner. Those two are great together onscreen which is why I really enjoyed the episodes where he's there. I forget his name.*

Also as regards Blake Jenner, it didn't sound like a one way street on the abuse stuff. Which I've seen too many relationships like this (my parents), where couples basically just bring out the worst in each other to a violent degree, to think he's making stuff up. His version of events sounds more true to life in my experience. But I'm open to being wrong.

Edit: Chris Wood

@zupertramp He was in a couple of episodes in the first season as Cat Grant’s son. It was strangely morbid viewing.

@nessisonett lol yeah i just looked it up and you're absolutely right. In my defense I couldn't pick him out of a lineup and I slept through most of the first season.

@zupertramp I’m ashamed to say that I actually watched the Glee reality show back in the day which he appeared on and won, which is how he ended up on Glee with Melissa Benoist. Glee’s a show that’s proper haunted, just look at how many of them have died. That might be more telling about the general conditions as a ‘teen star’ though.

@nessisonett Glee wasn't or isn't for me but more power to you if that's your thing, reality show and all. You're not kidding about it being haunted though. Whether we file that under the dangers of youth stardom idk but it's unfortunate nonetheless.

@zupertramp yeah elongated Man doesn't exactly roll off the tongue too easy does it? It's an awkward name, at least Reed Richards had the common decency to just be called Mr. fantastic!

@zupertramp Glee was terrible but it was a staple of my teens so it was rather hard to avoid 😂

@ralphdibny I was looking there at the circumstances surrounding Hartley Sawyer and it’s an interesting one as obviously it came to light at literally the worst time ever. Also, looking at the executive producer’s statement, himself African-American, it seems to have been a decision he made with his team out of genuine disgust and anger rather than kowtowing to some unseen Twitter mob. Grant Gustin also seems to have legitimately been angry over what he said. If it had come out last year, he’d probably have been fine. It’s a case of utterly terrible timing, not that the sorta stuff he said would ever have been acceptable.

@nessisonett Hmm, my problem is that I just can't binge. As a result I think a lot of series just don't really suit my viewing style!

@RogerRoger Well, it's strange actually how fast times are changing. David Lynch isn't by any standard a modern director or writer anymore, but it's crazy how fast this series too feels kind of dated by today's standards. Some things I frowned at watching it for the first and second time in 2017, know just really make me cringe and sigh.

On the other hand... yea, I'm still discovering a lot of new details, and the third season has some of the series best moments. I still love how it toys with your expectations; alternating between providing straight-up fan service and at the other momented completely doing the opposite.

I also think it's a season that, like most of Twin Peaks, benefits from the viewer not being laser focused on the plot moving forward. It rather rewards anyone that wants a TV series that is unlike anything else.

@Kidfried Thanks for that. You've inadvertently reinforced my perspective; namely that watching it week-by-week was frustrating because nothing was "happening" and yet my feelings towards its overall tone and substance have vastly improved in hindsight. It's why I'm a little nervous to revisit it, because I watched it, kinda hated it, but now I love it in its absence. I don't wanna hate it again!

And yes, that's an incredibly weird way of feeling about a television show, but then it's Twin Peaks we're talking about here. As you say, there really is nothing else quite like it.

@RogerRoger Yea, I'm definitely not always enjoying myself in the moment watching it. It's a difficult watch at times. But in hindsight, especially since our group of friends will talk and discuss each episode after watching, I appreciate every episode more.

For me revisiting the series very often (I have watched through every season multiple times - the first two obviously way more often than the third), helps appreciating the series. When you've been gone from the series and then revisit again it can be a hard watch, but the more you know the series and know what to expect, the more easy it gets to even digest the most dumb or difficult parts.

I really used to hate the slapstick in Twin Peaks; I thought it was often implemented at the wrong moments. Andy getting a plank to forehead during a serious investigation used to feel like just bad juxtaposition, but now I find myself sometimes actually relieved when the moment happens.

Of course, you might protest that if you're exposed to something for long enough, you'll start to appreciate it, no matter what. Like a Stockholm Syndrome. Or like how I used to despise the taste of cheese when I was younger, but after having it force fed for so long, I actually started to love it, and then at some point even found it difficult to give up cheese when I became a vegan.

I mean... who knows what "loving something" even means, I guess. At times I wonder if "loving" is just another word for "being used to" something. I've gone way off-topic now. I'll try to approach this subject from another perspective then.

Something I really appreciate and hate in Twin Peaks is the sound design. Especially in the third season. Most of the scenes in Twin Peaks have a nervous 'hum' or 'buzzing' behind them. Every scene has a slightly different kind of hum, but it always sounds like machines working in the background. It's very ominous.

1. I hate it, because it's an annoying sound. Sometimes it makes it harder to understand what everyone is saying, it distracts as well.

2. I love that sound, because most TV series wouldn't dare to do something that might annoy viewers, but just add it because it fit their artistic view of the tension in each scene.

3. I hate that sound, because (getting a bit personal now, sorry!) it mimics experiences I sometimes have. Ever since a few of my most difficult episodes of depression a few years ago, my way of hearing has changed. Whenever I'm a bit stressed the filter in my ears goes rogue, and I hear all kinds of buzzings, and experience soft sounds (like the fan of my laptop) as unbearably loud. Or I might just hear really loud beeps in my ears from out of nowhere. At those times I experience the world like the sound design in the third season of Twin Peaks.

4. But for that reason I love that sound as well. There's a lot of stress and trauma among the Twin Peaks characters. I even think most supernatural things that happen in the series are pretty clearly metaphors for the stuff that's happening inside the characters themselves. Does "pure evil" like the series portrays it really exist in the series, or is it just a way of portraying the evil that's actually within pretty much anyone, which under the wrong circumstances raises its ugly head.

So, hate and love. It's just really close to each other in the world of Twin Peaks. And the series just has a lot of these inner contradictions. Like I mentioned it might jump from being moody to slapstick in seconds, strong emotional and well written scenes alternate with low-level soap opera stuff.

It's weird!

@Kidfried Having never watched a single episode of Twin Peaks, I gotta say that your description had me mesmerized. Don’t know if I’ll try it out, it depends if it’s on one of my streaming services, but I’m haltingly curious.

@Kidfried The constant feeling of unease lingering in the background is part of what makes Twin Peaks so interesting to me. I’d never really thought much about that hum you describe, but it’s definitely part of what makes it so unsettling. There’s an off-kilter strangeness and nothing ever feels “quite right” the whole time it’s playing, reflecting the darkness that lives inside the town and its people. My own interpretation is that the supernatural stuff is largely a metaphor for that darkness. Most of Twin Peaks’ residents have some sort of secret and any one of them could have been Laura Palmer’s killer (although I had guessed correctly before the reveal).

The show has certainly dated in many ways, and there is a certain naffness, but I love it. I also respect it for its innovations and challenging the scope of what television could be. There’s more of a filmic quality in both how it is shot and the length of scenes compared to other TV programmes of the time, and a richness to the mise-en-scène. It was also quite forward thinking in how it uses sound and music to convey ideas, and in using respected film actors at a time when TV was viewed as cinema’s ugly child.

@Kidfried I agree that it's not a show to watch alone. My partner got me into the first two seasons (he'd seen them before) and then we watched the third one together as it was broadcast, and having somebody to discuss it with helped immeasurably. I'm a much more immediate viewer; I react in the moment, almost scene by scene, and only take a wider view later. This meant that, for example, my "Are they havin' a laugh?!" response to watching some guy silently sweep a floor for two minutes was kept in check by my partner's more accepting, open-minded approach.

And I also totally get your uncertainly regarding whether you "love" the show or are simply comfortable in its presence. At first, I didn't think I'd like it at all, but we'd watch a couple episodes after work and invariably order some nice takeout to eat whilst doing so, and that probably boosted the show's ability to ingratiate itself with me. I quite liked the slapstick and humour because it was so unexpected, and (in my opinion, of course) so perfectly executed.

I mean, how the heck did that llama develop such perfect coming timing with Coop?

No apology necessary for getting personal, either. The sound design in general is something which really drew me in (a lifetime of being a sci-fi fan means I'll always notice a background hum, or rather the absence of one) but my sensitivity to such things can be varied by my mood, for sure. I think it's a great example for conveying your feelings about the show, which I totally get.

And yet, because it's Peaks, I think I'd totally understand if anybody fell firmly on either side of the fence between love and hate. It's a frighteningly personal show for something so outwardly surreal.

@RogerRoger Haha, that lama scene is a perfect example of some seemingly spontaneousness and carelessness that the series had over it at its start. The series lost some of that frivolousness in its later episodes, which is I think why many people prefer the first season and the first half of the second season.

A lot of series tend to have that over the course of their run, though. Just compare Mad Men season 1 with season 6.

Also, about being more of a "moment-by-moment" viewer, I find that Twin Peaks often rewards those viewers as well, though. I love how scenes not always have a larger meaning in the great overall story. Like the scene when Andy and Lucy show off their kid, and he's like "the road is my dharma". Brilliant scene.

@RogerRoger And about getting "too personal". I try to keep it a bit balanced. On the one hand I know a lot of you here on the forum for quite some time now (you've been around for almost 3 years!). On the other hand this is still a public forum, and maybe some lurkers are rolling their eyes right now, who are not at all interested in my life story.

@mookysam Did you watch season 3?

@Kidfried Yep, as it aired.

@Th3solution The first season is only eight episodes long. And after three episodes you should pretty much know what to expect from the rest of the series in terms of tone. It's dumb, smart, soap opera, detective, all in some kind of weird mix.

(Also, it's set in the state of Washington, which is a big plus for me.)

I recommend it to anyone with an open mind!

@Kidfried Forgot to say that the first time I saw the first two series of Twin Peaks was around 2011 during a rather long period of terrible insomnia. I’d watch it in the middle of the night with the lights off and I swear that BOB appearing to Sarah Palmer was one of the most terrifying, unsettling things I’d ever seen on television before or since. I guess it’s quite tame really, but in the context of how I viewed it it really creeped me out and the memory has stayed with me.