Around the dinner table, the conversation was lively. Thank you but for now, the forum has been archived.
Tv Shows: For me nothing really comes close to TPTR, not even the original show. I'm just gonna let you know that I really loved Breaking Bad and The Wire. But once they were over there wasn't much to discuss...was there? Two well thought and entertaining tv shows.
Books: I can't really say that a certain book is better than TPTR (the comparison doesn't make sense to me), but I can tell you that my favourite book ever is "Journey to the end of the night" by L.F.Céline. Céline had a huge stain in his life, since he was an anti semitic, but his beast (book) will always be in my mind as long as I live. Honorable mentions to Boris Vian's "Autumn in Peking", Kafka's "The Castle", Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" and Don Delillo's "Cosmopolis". Btw, not sure why, but the end of The Return made me think about Delillo's novel "Omega Point".
Films: Mulholland Drive is a perfect movie, too perfect (for Lynch) I would dare to say. So...my favourite DL movie is Lost Highway, but I would easily include Inland Emipre,MD and Blue Velvet in my Top10. My non-Lynch favourite is Jim Jarmush's "Dead Man". Tragic, comic, poetic, dark and the best soundtrack ever, IMO.
Not much is better than The Return 🙂
But, very close (or even), I thoroughly enjoyed the book Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter, if you like very thoughtful science fiction.
Series-wise - nothing comes close to TP. I did enjoy Stranger Things, although it is incomparable to The Return.
Film-wise, The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky; Primer (an independent film that'll have you thinking and reading about it for a long time, much like TP). I also think Interstellar is an excellent film.
Documentary wise, I highly recommend One More Time With Feeling, which I know I keep banging on about on this forum. It's directed in very lynchian style, and somewhat meta, even though it's a documentary.
Primer is one of my favourite films of all time. I believe it still holds the title for "Most Confusing Movie Ever Made".
Mr. Robot is really, really good--I don't think it's better.
For a while, Orphan Black was my favorite show, but the last season dragged a bit.
Back in the day, I thought Fringe was outstanding. Also a Doctor Who and Sherlock fan.
I do tend to like shows that mess around with timelines.
Mr. Robot is really, really good--I don't think it's better.
For a while, Orphan Black was my favorite show, but the last season dragged a bit.
Mr Robot is a great example here! That whole half the season where you knew something was off/not right. And then it was revealed that he was....dreaming? NO! It was even a delusion! It was a well orchestrated coping mechanism and method to present the information to the audience without ending up being corny and ridiculous.
I haven't watched the last season of Orphan Black, but I loved all the seasons before!
No, nothing ever has been or ever will be more compelling the The Return. And before there was any Return, I would have said the same about S 1 and 2 and FWWM. I believe a height was achieved beyond which nothing will rise, much like many music critics might say that classical music reached its zenith in Mozart. Or Cathedrals in earlier times- people don't bow down to buildings any more.
I like many of the shows mentioned in the prior posts, but they just aren't enough. Last night I saw MOTHER. It was awful to watch but probably is a great film. But not meant to be enjoyed, and most people want to enjoy what they watch.
I read a lot but no books have had the same impact. Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and the other 2 novels in that wonderful trilogy had a strong and similar effect in some ways. I felt near the characters and their stories for a long time and then, as in the Return, they were gone. And the story lines in Atwood's books are very powerful and compelling.
All week I have been groping around streaming venues, trying to find something worth my time. But the shows all seem so silly, compared to where we have been for the last several months.
All week I have been groping around streaming venues, trying to find something worth my time. But the shows all seem so silly, compared to where we have been for the last several months.
Having that very same problem. Nothing seems as interesting or worthy of my watching time anymore......
There is no television programming that has ever excited, captivated or utterly infuriated/devastated/delighted me like TPTR. I doubt anything in the future will ever come close. There have been plenty of shows I have enjoyed a great deal over the decades. But even if I "enjoy" them more on a stereotypical day to day basis, none of them have ever crawled under my skin and burrowed into my brain and driven me to obsess over fan forums. TPTR is truly a league of it's own and even if someone hated the ending, I bet they were obsessing like nothing else for the first 16 weeks.
On an additional note with a question, has anyone else noticed their television watching experience in general has been.........modified? I find myself trying to analyze other shows in the same way I analyzed TP. I ask too many questions, replay scenes over and over, listen over-attentively and obsessively wonder at deeper meanings and symbolism.
Until my spouse says "chill out, it's just a Cheetos commercial."
I never imagined that I'd be on a television fan forum either, so I haven't been as affected by a television show like this before. I've mentioned elsewhere that most shows are so obviously formulaic now that I can't bother to engage with them much beyond background noise at work or as escapism.
Shows that I have high hopes for: American Gods, Westworld, The Man in High Castle. We'll see how it goes once I get around to watching them.
Thanks, all. This is already a great discussion.
Here's my contribution, intended as a heartfelt compliment to Lynch by virtue of my reluctance to suggest anything else (high praise, in other words):
Vertigo (1958) is, IMO, "better" than TPTR.
Apples and oranges, I know, but revisiting it now, it's giving me chills like those Lynch has always inspired in me... Lynch-Badalamenti and Hitchcock-Hermann are two unforgettable collaborative duos...
What do you think of Spellbound?
I think Charlie Kaufman does a little bit better with scripts than Lynch does. They're a little more accessible, but almost as mysterious (and raise big questions). I'd like to see Lynch direct a Kaufman script!
"The Singing Detective" - the BBC series from 1986 (definitely not the film version). It intercuts between three different stories - an hospitalized author, a fantasy or hallucination of the author, and a memory of the authors childhood. Great acting from Michael Gambon.
For something with more of a Twin Peaks feel I agree with the the suggestion made by others of "Carnivale"
I also have a soft spot for "The Kingdom" by Lars Von Trier. It has roots in soap opera like TP but veers into ghost movie territory.
When tptr finished it was a week later and my friends girlfriend asked him if he wanted to watch something on telly , he answered simply.........................................................what's the point.
But for me I'm gonna go back to where it all started and rewatch the old Twilight zones from the 50s. Almost every good story these days can boil down to one of their episodes . That's why I liked twin peaks so much because it's so original and gripping ,downright hilarious ,horrific and meaningful all at the same time. And the return just blew my TVs poor little cathode rays. A once in a lifetime experience.
Greetings, all.
Right or wrong, TPTR has received a great many negative reactions, ranging from gently critical pushback against the apologist camp to embittered backlash by the 'betrayed loyalist' fan community.
I, for one, feel starved of what sustained me for 18 weeks.
As such, I'd like to invite anyone who felt disappointed by TPTR to share/recommend television programs, films, books, etc. they found more compelling than TPTR ... That is to say, what have you viewed, read or otherwise consumed that did something for you that TPTR didn't? How/why?
My goal here is not the "If you liked... you'll like" format of Amazon auto-recommendations, but rather the inverse...e.g., "I didn't like The Return as much as I liked Return to Oz (1985)... "
It's slim pickins'... I tried "OZARK" and got thru 2.5 episodes. I'm not sure if it's just that bad or perhaps TPTR has ruined me for all other shows. I've felt adrift since it ended and I haven't felt that way about a show...ever (maybe Mad Men... a little bit)
I think the best show on Tv is "Angie Tribeca" starring none other than Rashida Jones, the real life daughter of Twin Peak's Norma (Peggy Lipton).
Its a farcical police procedural in the style of "Naked Gun" and "The Carol Burnett Show." The show is ridiculously charming and fun. Norma has a cameo in season 2 as well as Twin Peaks' Annie, Heather Graham who appears in every scene with her own personal off-screen hair fan for maximum wind-blown glamour.
There is no television programming that has ever excited, captivated or utterly infuriated/devastated/delighted me like TPTR. I doubt anything in the future will ever come close. There have been plenty of shows I have enjoyed a great deal over the decades. But even if I "enjoy" them more on a stereotypical day to day basis, none of them have ever crawled under my skin and burrowed into my brain and driven me to obsess over fan forums. TPTR is truly a league of it's own and even if someone hated the ending, I bet they were obsessing like nothing else for the first 16 weeks.
On an additional note with a question, has anyone else noticed their television watching experience in general has been.........modified? I find myself trying to analyze other shows in the same way I analyzed TP. I ask too many questions, replay scenes over and over, listen over-attentively and obsessively wonder at deeper meanings and symbolism.
Until my spouse says "chill out, it's just a Cheetos commercial."
I never imagined that I'd be on a television fan forum either, so I haven't been as affected by a television show like this before. I've mentioned elsewhere that most shows are so obviously formulaic now that I can't bother to engage with them much beyond background noise at work or as escapism.
Shows that I have high hopes for: American Gods, Westworld, The Man in High Castle. We'll see how it goes once I get around to watching them.
I gave up with the man in the high castle after three episodes.
I thought it was terribly written, poorly directed and the acting was atrocious. Simply awful.
In my opinion 😀
There is no television programming that has ever excited, captivated or utterly infuriated/devastated/delighted me like TPTR. I doubt anything in the future will ever come close. There have been plenty of shows I have enjoyed a great deal over the decades. But even if I "enjoy" them more on a stereotypical day to day basis, none of them have ever crawled under my skin and burrowed into my brain and driven me to obsess over fan forums. TPTR is truly a league of it's own and even if someone hated the ending, I bet they were obsessing like nothing else for the first 16 weeks.
On an additional note with a question, has anyone else noticed their television watching experience in general has been.........modified? I find myself trying to analyze other shows in the same way I analyzed TP. I ask too many questions, replay scenes over and over, listen over-attentively and obsessively wonder at deeper meanings and symbolism.
Until my spouse says "chill out, it's just a Cheetos commercial."
I never imagined that I'd be on a television fan forum either, so I haven't been as affected by a television show like this before. I've mentioned elsewhere that most shows are so obviously formulaic now that I can't bother to engage with them much beyond background noise at work or as escapism.
Shows that I have high hopes for: American Gods, Westworld, The Man in High Castle. We'll see how it goes once I get around to watching them.
I gave up with the man in the high castle after three episodes.
I thought it was terribly written, poorly directed and the acting was atrocious. Simply awful.
In my opinion 😀
That's good to know. Most of what I've heard from friends is, "don't expect it to follow the book," with little else in the way of critique. I'll lower my expectations then.
Fire walk with 
