It has often been said that we are living through a second
golden age of television, and when this century has seen the likes of The
Sopranos and Deadwood set the stage for defunct series such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and ongoing ones such as Game of Thrones, Fargo, and Bojack
Horseman – among quite a number of other pieces of small-screen art—this age
does, indeed, look pretty golden. In 2012, pop-culture writer Alan Sepinwall
laid out the theory well by focusing on a number of series in his book The Revolution was Televised, not only
analyzing shows such as Mad Men, Lost, Sopranos, and Breaking Bad but
also supporting his ideas and making-of accounts with original interviews with
these series’ major players. It was an interesting format and a convincing
argument, but he didn’t go in-depth on any series earlier than Buffy the
Vampire Slayer. Fair enough, considering that the beginning of the golden age
is usually cited as the debut of The Sopranos in 1999, but there is a more
regularly cited predecessor for the
golden age than Buffy.
Sepinwall does reference Twin Peaks a few times in The Revolution was Televised, but he
hardly gives the show that brought big-screen editing, pacing, cinematography,
sound design, genre, and subject matter—as well as one big big-screen name—to
the small screen its due attention. Three years later, Andreas Halskov is
correcting Sepinwall’s oversight with an entire book devoted to Peaks that
mimics the format and approach of The
Revolution Was Televised close enough that it feels like an essential
companion piece to Sepinwall’s book.
While TV Peaks: Twin Peaks and Modern Television Drama
stops short of announcing, “Yep, Twin Peaks is solely responsible for the current
state of TV,” and gives voice to several dissenting voices (one of which
belongs to Mark Frost), Halskov also makes an incredibly strong case for the
pioneering status of Peaks by discussing its sundry cinematic elements and
explaining how new they were to television nearly ten years before Twin
Peaks-devotee David Chase gave life to Tony Soprano and his clan. Halskov supports
his conclusions with insights and anecdotes from about fifty Peaks veterans,
such as directors Lesli Linka Glatter and Duwayne Dunham; writer Robert Engels;
DPs Frank Byers and Ron Garcia; musicians Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise;
actors Catherine Coulson, Dana Ashbrook, Sherilyn Fenn, and Kimmy Robertson;
and briefly, David Lynch, himself. Because Halskov is Danish, he also provides
an international eye, taking into account the influence of Peaks on such
non-US items as Riget, Forbrydelsen (The Killing), Bron/Broen and
others.
The author also trumps Sepinwall in terms of presentation
with a beautifully designed book featuring full-color and black-and-white
images of rare production photos, memorabilia, and delightful fan-made artworks.
Thoughtfully packaged, historically important, insightful, entertaining, and
meticulously researched without reaching glib conclusions, TV Peaks is a study worthy of a TV show that, yep, helped lay the
groundwork for the current state of TV.
