Twin Peaks: Call Back The Lynch Mob!

The news that David Lynch will not be directing the return of Twin Peaks to our screens in 2016 has been received with inevitable howls of outrage. The wild-haired one appears to have become a victim to the demands of a TV network once again. After ABC’s constant chopping and changing of its schedules led to a decline in ratings first time around, it seems Lynch and Showtime – who will be broadcasting the new series – have fallen out big time over money.

Lynch tweeted “After 1 year and 4 months of negotiations, I left because not enough money was offered to do the script the way I felt it needed to be done.” Two following tweets stated that he had called all of the actors and informed them of his decision before finally adding: “I love the world of Twin Peaks and wish things could have turned out differently.” The situation appeared to have been brewing for some time, with Lynch declaring at a public speaking event that he was “not sure” if things were going to go ahead due to “complications”.

With all nine scripts written by Lynch and the cast in place, the director’s decision couldn’t have come at a worse time. Showtime appear to be playing a deadly game of brinkmanship with the Hollywood veteran, their statement reading like a sheepish rewording of a desperate executive pleading “aww come on, Dave… we were just kidding around. Come on, let’s talk.” At least that’s what I got from ‘we continue to hold out hope that we can bring it back in all its glory with both of its extraordinary creators’. Because let’s be honest here, Twin Peaks can do all the fire walking, backwards talking and log-based conversing it wants… without Lynch at the helm it will feel wrong, look wrong… it might even smell wrong, such is the potential for massive error here.

And so what if it is about money? Lynch is a revered writer, director, producer, recording artist and author. He commands respect and is held up as an example to follow for many worldwide. Yeah it’s all about hating rich people and the acquisition of money these days but let’s take a wild stab in the dark and suppose that Showtime aren’t short of a few dollars either. They want quality, then they’re gonna have to pay for it. But then… wasn’t Lynch to blame for the slow death of the second season? Too many episodes, a slaloming storyline that got worse and more confusing as it went on and the lack of necessity and urgency was arguably to blame for ABC famously forcing Lynch to reveal Laura Palmer’s killer earlier than intended to hit the headlines and generate some heat. Even that ploy failed, and this great show went out with a whimper instead of a bang. If Lynch is cutting off his nose to spite his face then his opportunity to right a perceived wrong could be flying out of the window.

If Twin Peaks wasn’t weird enough already – and if seeing McLachlan reprise the role of Agent Dale Cooper still isn’t – then the thought of driving ourselves back into the sleepy town with more skeletons in its closet than Jeffrey Dahmer with Lynch at the wheel is weirder still. Maybe that will be the final irony of this whole situation.

Twin Peaks news site Welcome To Twin Peaks spoke with Showtime President David Nevins in the immediate aftermath of Lynch’s tweets, declaring that the network were still trying to rope Lynch back to the show that made his name. It’s a damn fine mess.

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