Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks opening title screen
Format	Drama, Mystery, Horror
Created by	David Lynch & Mark Frost
Starring	Kyle MacLachlan Michael Ontkean Mädchen Amick Dana Ashbrook Richard Beymer Lara Flynn Boyle Joan Chen Sherilyn Fenn Warren Frost Piper Laurie Sheryl Lee Peggy Lipton James Marshall Everett McGill Jack Nance Kimmy Robertson Ray Wise
Opening theme	"Twin Peaks Theme" by Angelo Badalamenti
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	30 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mark Frost David Lynch
Running time	0:48
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	April 8, 1990 – June 10, 1991
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Twin Peaks is an American Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody and Golden Globe-winning television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, which first aired in the United States on April 8, 1990 and ended on June 10, 1991. The show is set in the fictional town of Twin Peaks in northeastern Washington state. The primary filming took place in Snoqualmie, Washington and North Bend, Washington. The central plotline tells the story of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan) and his investigation of the murder of a popular local teenage school girl and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer (played by Sheryl Lee), whose body was found on a river bank, wrapped in plastic. Although the series was created by Lynch and Frost, the majority of episodes are credited to different writers and directors. The show was co-produced by Aaron Spelling's production company, Spelling Entertainment, and ran for 30 episodes over two seasons.

Twin Peaks initially aired in the United States on the ABC Network, and in its first season was one of the most successful television programs on ABC. Declining ratings in the second season led to the series being cancelled. Despite the series' eventual declining performance with audiences, Twin Peaks quickly became a pop culture touchstone, and inspired a film prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, released in 1992. The series also later influenced several television series in different ways, including Northern Exposure, Picket Fences, Wild Palms, American Gothic, The X-Files, Carnivàle, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Wolf Lake, Eerie, Indiana, and Night and Day. Many of these series have been referred to as "the next Twin Peaks," either before their run, or after popular success, and examine the human condition and the underworld of a seemingly-perfect suburban setting.

Due to its success in the mid-to-late '90s, Bravo re-aired Twin Peaks in the U.S. from 2003-2004. Also, NBC Universal's horror-themed cable channel Chiller, which launched on March 1, 2007 is currently airing the series. Twin Peaks was ranked on TV Guide' magazine's "Top 25 cult shows" at #20^[1], and one of the "Top 50 Television Programs of All Time" by the same guide at #45.^[2]

In 2007, Channel 4 (UK) ranked Twin Peaks #9 on their list of the "50 Greatest TV Dramas." [1] Also that year, TIME magazine included the show on their list of the "100 Best TV Shows of All Time." [2]

Plot Synopsis

Autopsy report of Laura Palmer

The series is set in 1989, with each episode — barring occasional exceptions — representing a single day in the chronology.

On the morning of February 24th, in the town of Twin Peaks, Washington state, lumberjack Pete Martell discovers a naked corpse tightly wrapped in a sheet of clear plastic on the bank of a river. Following the arrival of Sheriff Harry S. Truman, his deputies, and Dr. Will Hayward on the scene, the body is discovered to be that of homecoming queen Laura Palmer, the most popular girl at the local high school. The news spreads among the town's residents, particularly Laura's family and friends. Meanwhile, just across the state line, a second girl, Ronette Pulaski, is found walking along the railroad tracks in a fugue state. Since Ronette was discovered across the state line, FBI Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate. Cooper's initial examination of Laura's body reveals a tiny typed letter 'R' inserted under her fingernail. He recognizes this as the "calling card" of a killer who took the life of Teresa Banks a year earlier in a town located "in the southwest corner of the state" (revealed in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me to be Deer Meadow).

Cooper quickly establishes that Laura's character and relationships are not as they first appear, and that she's far from the wholesome homecoming queen that those closest to her believed her to be. It is revealed that Laura was two-timing her boyfriend Bobby Briggs with sullen biker James Hurley, a fact known to Laura's best friend Donna Hayward. Cooper also finds traces of cocaine in Laura's diary, indicating a drug habit she shared with Bobby. Meanwhile, Donna and James begin an investigation of their own into Laura's death, and find themselves embarking on a romantic relationship with each other.

Laura's cousin Maddy Ferguson arrives to stay with Laura's parents prior to the funeral. Maddy, who resembles Laura closely, befriends Donna and James and helps them in their efforts to find the killer — even impersonating Laura at one point to fool Laura's psychologist, Dr. Lawrence Jacoby.

During his investigation, Cooper stays at the Great Northern Hotel owned by the Horne family. The Hornes' sultry daughter Audrey develops a crush on Cooper that initially appears to be mutual. However, Cooper later rebuffs her advances, on the grounds that she is a high schooler, and that she is involved in the case he is working on. With Audrey's help, Cooper traces Laura's cocaine usage to a brothel called One-Eyed Jack's, which Audrey later infiltrates on Cooper's behalf. It is revealed that Laura had also been working as a prostitute there.

Agent Cooper, The Man from Another Place, and Laura Palmer in the "red room" of Cooper's dream, later revealed to be part of the Black Lodge.

Cooper also experiences a bizarre dream, in which he sees a one-armed man called Mike, who chants a strange poem: "Through the darkness of future past / The magician longs to see / One chants out between two worlds / Fire walk with me." Mike tells Cooper about another man called BOB, and how they went "killing together." BOB also appears as a man with long, gray hair, dressed in denim, who swears to Cooper, "I will kill again." As the dream continues, Mike shoots BOB. Cooper then finds himself twenty-five years later, sitting in a mysterious red-curtained room. It is here that he meets the diminutive Man From Another Place, who intones clues to Cooper in the form of strange phrases, and then proceeds to dance to a jazzy beat. Also present is the spirit of Laura Palmer, who kisses Cooper, and then whispers into his ear the name of her killer. When he awakens, Cooper is unable to recall the killer's name.

Cooper and the local police force are then able to track down Mike, whose full name is Phillip Michael Gerard. Gerard appears to be nothing more than a shoe salesman, and claims to know nothing of the Bob that Cooper describes. However, it eventually becomes clear that Gerard is possessed by an "inhabiting spirit" (the true "Mike"), who reveals to Cooper and his colleages the true nature of BOB — BOB is a fellow inhabiting-spirit who has possessed someone in Twin Peaks "for over forty years."

Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan)

Cooper is also visited by an apparition of a mysterious Giant, who provides him with further clues in the murder investigation. All of the information that Cooper has gained from psychic and empirical means, including the mysterious utterances of an eccentric local woman known as The Log Lady, leads him to a number of suspects; but when he discovers the existence of Laura's second, secret diary, he realizes that therein lies the key to solving the mystery. Harold Smith, a local man who was one of Laura's confidants, holds this diary. The secret diary reveals that from a very early age Laura was abused by a figure called "Bob," and that her use of drugs and sex are the means she has used to numb herself and escape from him.

On the night before she is to leave town, Maddy is brutally murdered by Laura's father, Leland, who is revealed as the man who is possessed by BOB. Cooper and Truman apprehend him, and as they interrogate the crazed Leland, it becomes clear that Leland has little to no memory of his grotesque actions while under BOB's influence. After confessing to two murders, BOB forces Leland to smash his own head against the wall of his cell. As Cooper and Truman rush to his side, Leland's memories of what he has done return to him, and in his dying moment, Leland claims to see Laura. However, as Cooper and the others note, if BOB has truly left Leland's body, it means his spirit is now loose in the woods of Twin Peaks.

With the murder investigation concluded, Cooper is then all set to leave Twin Peaks, when he is framed for drug trafficking by the criminal Jean Renault, and is temporarily suspended from the FBI. Renault holds Cooper responsible for the death of his brother Jacques, who was murdered by a grieving Leland Palmer when Jacques was under suspicion for Laura's murder.

After Renault is killed in a shoot-out with police, and Cooper is cleared of the charges, his former FBI partner and mentor Windom Earle comes to Twin Peaks to play a deadly game of chess with Cooper, in which each piece of Cooper's that he takes means someone dies. As Cooper explains to Truman, during his early years with the FBI alongside Earle, Cooper had begun an affair with Earle's wife, Caroline, while she had been under his protection as a witness to a federal crime. Earle went mad and killed Caroline, tried to gut Cooper with a knife, and was subsequently committed to a mental institution. Now having escaped and come to Twin Peaks, Earle hides out in the woods so that he may go about plotting his revenge scheme.

As this is going on, Cooper continues to try to track down the origins and whereabouts of BOB, and learns more about the mysteries of the dark woods surrounding Twin Peaks. It is here he learns of the existence of the White Lodge and the Black Lodge, two mystical extradimensional realms whose gateways reside somewhere in the woods, and which are occupied by spirits that appear in Cooper's dreams and visions (metaphorically referred to as owls — "The owls are not what they seem"). Cooper also falls in love with a new girl in town, Annie Blackburn.

When Annie wins the Miss Twin Peaks contest, Windom Earle kidnaps her and takes her to the Black Lodge, which Cooper realises has been Earle's goal all along. The Black Lodge then is revealed to be the place where BOB, the Little Man From Another Place, and the Giant come from, and where the red-curtained room of Cooper's dream is located. Cooper follows Earle into the Lodge, and has a set of bizarre encounters with doppelgangers of dead characters, including Caroline Earle and Laura and Leland Palmer.

During Cooper's journey, Windom Earle is apparently killed when his soul is consumed by an enraged BOB after Earle tries to claim Cooper's own soul in trade for Annie's life. Cooper then tries to escape, but cannot find the exit in the non-linear path of the Black Lodge. He is also chased by his own smiling doppelganger as he tries to find a way out. The Cooper doppelganger catches him, as BOB laughs. Cooper returns to the woods, with Annie by his side, both found unconscious on the ground by Truman. Some time later, Cooper awakens in his room at the Great Northern Hotel, and is tended to by Truman and Doc Hayward. He then requests to brush his teeth in his bathroom. Locking the door behind him, Cooper then smiles uncharacteristically as he pours toothpaste into the sink. He then slams his head into the mirror, and when Cooper's bloody face turns toward the camera, he laughs — we see his reflection is that of BOB. Apparently the Cooper doppelganger has exited the Black Lodge, thus taking the real Cooper's place. The series then ends on this cliffhanger.

Following the cancellation of Twin Peaks, series co-creator David Lynch created a feature film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, that detailed the last week of Laura Palmer's life, as well as subtly expanding on the events of Cooper's fate in the series finale — Cooper remaining trapped in the Black Lodge while his evil shadow self (doppelganger) is out there in the world under the control of BOB.

Production

Origins

Laura Palmer as homecoming queen (Sheryl Lee)

A producer at Warner Brothers wanted Lynch to direct a film about the life of Marilyn Monroe, based on the book The Goddess. Lynch recalls in the Lynch on Lynch book that he was "sort of interested. I loved the idea of this woman in trouble, but I didn't know if I liked it being a real story."^[3] Mark Frost was hired to write the screenplay. Even though this project was dropped by Warner Brothers, Lynch and Frost became good friends, and wrote a screenplay entitled One Saliva Bubble, with Steve Martin attached to star in it. However, this film was not made, either.

Lynch's agent, Tony Krantz, had been trying to get the filmmaker to work on TV since Blue Velvet, but he was never really that interested in the idea. "So one day Mark and I were talking at Du Pars, the coffee shop on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Ventura, and, all of a sudden, Mark and I had this image of a body washing up on the shore of a lake," Lynch remembered in an interview.^[4] Lynch and Frost pitched the idea to ABC in a ten-minute meeting with the network's drama head, Chad Hoffman, with nothing more than this image and a concept, according to the director: "The mystery of who killed Laura Palmer was the foreground, but this would recede slightly as you got to know the other people in the town and the problems they were having...The project was to mix a police investigation with a soap opera. We had drawn a map of the city. We knew where everything was located and that helped us determine the prevailing atmosphere and what might happen there."^[5]

ABC liked the idea, and asked Lynch and Frost to write a screenplay for the pilot episode. Originally, the show was entitled Northwest Passage and set in North Dakota, but the fact that a town called Twin Peaks really existed (much like Lumberton in Blue Velvet) prompted a revision in the script. They filmed the pilot with an agreement with ABC that they would shoot an additional "ending" to it so that it could be sold directly to video in Europe as a feature if the TV show was not picked up. However, even though ABC's Bob Iger liked the pilot, he had a tough time persuading the rest of the network brass. Iger suggested showing it to a more diverse, younger group, who liked it, and the executive subsequently convinced ABC to buy seven episodes at $1 million apiece. Some executives figured that the show would never get on the air. However, Iger planned to schedule it for the spring. The final showdown occurred during a bi-coastal conference call between Iger and a room full of New York executives — Iger won, and Twin Peaks was on the air.

Casting

Twin Peaks features members of the loose ensemble of Lynch's favorite character actors, including Jack Nance, Kyle MacLachlan, Grace Zabriskie, and Everett McGill. It is also notable for the casting of several veteran actors who had long been absent from the screen, including 1950s movie stars Piper Laurie and Russ Tamblyn, and former Mod Squad star Peggy Lipton.

Improvisation

At several points during the filming, Lynch improvised by incorporating on-set accidents into the story. The most notable of these occurred when set decorator Frank Silva was accidentally filmed in a mirror during Sarah Palmer's vision at the end of the pilot. When David Lynch saw Silva's face, he liked it so much he kept it in the show, and cast Silva as "BOB," the mysterious tormentor of Laura Palmer. ^[6]

During the filming of the scene in which Cooper first examines Laura's body, a malfunctioning fluorescent light above the table flickered constantly, but Lynch decided not to replace it, since he liked the disconcerting effect that it created.^{[citation needed]} Also, during the take, one of the minor actors misheard a line and, thinking he was being asked his name, he told Cooper his real name instead of saying his line, briefly throwing everyone off balance. Lynch was reportedly pleased with the lifelike, unscripted moment in dialog, and kept the "mistake" in the final cut:^{[citation needed]}

ATTENDANT: I have to apologize again for the fluorescent lights. I think it's a bad transformer.

COOPER (Kyle MacLachlan): That's quite all right.

TRUMAN (Michael Ontkean): Agent Cooper, we did scrape those nails when we brought her in.

COOPER: Here it is. There it is. Oh my God, here it is!

COOPER (to attendant): Would you leave us, please?

ATTENDANT: Jim.

COOPER: Uh...would you leave us alone, please?

ATTENDANT: Oh. Certainly.

Music

Main article: Music of Twin Peaks

Composer Angelo Badalamenti, a frequent contributor to Lynch projects, scored the series and provides the leitmotif "Laura's Theme," the famous title theme, and other evocative pieces to the soundtrack. A handful of the motifs were borrowed from the Julee Cruise album Floating Into the Night, which was written in large part by Badalamenti and Lynch, and was released in 1989. This album also serves as the soundtrack to another Lynch project, "Industrial Symphony No. 1," a live Cruise performance also featuring Michael J. Anderson (the "Man From Another Place"). The song "Falling" (sans vocals) became the theme to the show, and the songs "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart," "The Nightingale," "The World Spins," and "Into the Night" (found in their full versions on the album) were all, except the latter, used as Cruise's roadhouse performances during the show's run. A second volume of the soundtrack is scheduled for release on October 23, 2007.

Locations

The towns of Snoqualmie and North Bend, in Washington, which were the primary filming locations for stock Twin Peaks exterior footage (many exterior scenes were actually filmed in wooded areas of Malibu, California), are only about an hour's drive from the town of Roslyn. This town was the set of the series Northern Exposure, which debuted the same year, and also focused on the eccentric populace of a small northwestern town. A scene in the Northern Exposure first-season episode "The Russian Flu" was shot at Snoqualmie Falls, which was also featured in the opening titles sequence of Twin Peaks.

The background behind the actors of Invitation to Love is not a studio set, but the interior of the Ennis House, an architectural landmark of Frank Lloyd Wright in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles.

Response

During the first season, it was the search for Laura Palmer's killer that served as the engine for the plot, and caught the public's imagination, although the creators admitted this was largely a macguffin— each episode was really about the interactions between the townsfolk. The unique (and often bizarre) personalities of each citizen formed a web of minutiae which ran contrary to the quaint appearance of the town. Adding to the surreal atmosphere was the recurrence of Dale Cooper's Lovecraftian dreams, in which the FBI agent is given clues to Laura's murder in a supernatural realm that may or may not be of his imagination.

The first season contained only eight episodes (including the two-hour pilot episode), and was considered technically and artistically revolutionary for television at the time, and geared toward reaching the standards of film. It has been said that Twin Peaks began the trend of accomplished cinematography now commonplace in today's television dramas. Lynch and Frost maintained tight control over the first season, handpicking all of the directors, with some that Lynch had known from his days at the American Film Institute (e.g., Caleb Deschanel and Tim Hunter) or referrals from those he knew personally.

Its ambitious style, paranormal undertones, and engaging murder mystery made Twin Peaks a surprising hit. Its quirky characters, particularly Kyle MacLachlan's special agent Dale Cooper, were unorthodox for a supposed 'crime drama,' as was Cooper's method of interpreting his dreams to solve the crime.

Following the cliffhanger finale of the first season, the show's popularity reached its zenith, and "Peaksmania" seeped into mainstream popular culture (such as Saturday Night Live, in which Kyle MacLachlan hosted and performed a sketch that parodied the show). Twin Peaks swept the Emmy Awards in 1990 with eight nominations, although it failed to win one.

Declining ratings

With the unpopular resolution of the show's main drawing point (Laura Palmer's murder) and with the storylines becoming more obscure and drawn out, public interest finally began to wane, and "Peaksmania" seemed over. This discontent, coupled with ABC changing its timeslot over a number of occasions, led to a huge drop in ratings after being the most-watched television programming in the USA in 1990. On February 15, 1991, ABC announced that the show had been put on "indefinite hiatus," a move which usually leads to cancellation.^[7]

This wasn't quite the end, though, as there was still a large enough fanbase for viewers to begin an organized letter-writing campaign, dubbed C.O.O.P (Citizens Opposed to the Offing of Peaks). The campaign was successful, and ABC agreed to another six episodes to finish the season.

In the final episodes, Agent Cooper was given a love interest, Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham), to replace the intended story arc with Audrey Horne. The series finale did not sufficiently boost interest, and the show was not renewed for a third season, leaving an unresolved cliffhanger ending that continues to be debated.

David Lynch himself returned to direct the finale of the series, annoying a few of the actors and writers, as they had previously felt "abandoned" by him. The writers, for their part, didn't appreciate his changes to their scripts^{[citation needed]}.

Later, David Lynch, having been long unhappy with ABC's "meddling" during the second season, sold the whole show to Bravo for a small sum. Bravo began airing the show from scratch again, along with Lynch's addition of introductions to each episode by the Log Lady and her cryptic musings.

Characters

The creation of BOB

Frank Silva was a set decorator who worked on the pilot episode. One day, when he was moving furniture in Laura Palmer's bedroom, a woman remarked to Silva not to get locked in the (Laura Palmer's) room. The image of Silva trapped in the room sparked something in Lynch, who then asked Silva if he was an actor. Silva replied "Yes," and Lynch told him that he had a part in mind for him on the series. Silva accepted, and Lynch shot footage of him behind Laura's bed with no real idea of what he would do with it.

When Lynch shot the scene of Sarah Palmer's frightening vision, Silva's reflection was accidentally caught in the footage. Silva can be seen in the mirror behind Sarah Palmer's head. Lynch was made aware of this accident, but decided to keep Silva in the scene.

MIKE, the One-Armed Man

MIKE's appearance in the pilot episode was only originally intended to be a "kind of homage to The Fugitive. The only thing he was gonna do was be in this elevator and walk out."^[11] However, when Lynch wrote the "Fire walk with me" speech, he imagined MIKE saying it in the basement of the Twin Peaks hospital – a scene that would appear in the European version of the pilot episode, and surface later in Agent Cooper's dream sequence. MIKE's full name, Phillip Michael Gerard, is also a reference to Lieutenant Philip Gerard, a character in The Fugitive.

The Man from Another Place

Lynch met Michael J. Anderson in 1987. After seeing him in a short film, Lynch wanted to cast the actor in the title role in Ronnie Rocket, but that project failed to get made. While editing the alternate ending of the foreign version of the pilot episode, an idea occurred to Lynch on his way home one day: "I was leaning against a car — the front of me was leaning against this very warm car. My hands were on the roof and the metal was very hot. The Red Room scene leapt into my mind. 'Little Mike' was there, and he was speaking backwards... For the rest of the night I thought only about The Red Room."^[12]

Laura Palmer

To save on money, Lynch intended to cast a local girl from Seattle "just to play a dead girl."^[13] The local girl ended up being Sheryl Lee. "But no one — not Mark, me, anyone — had any idea that she could act, or that she was going to be so powerful just being dead."^[14] Indeed, the image of Lee wrapped in plastic became one of the show's most enduring and memorable images. And then, while Lynch shot the home movie that James takes of Donna and Laura, he realized that Lee had something special. "She did do another scene — the video with Donna on the picnic — and it was that scene that did it."^[15] As a result, Sheryl Lee became a semi-regular addition to the cast, appearing in flashbacks as Laura, and becoming a recurring character — Maddy, Laura's cousin who also becomes another victim of BOB.

Episode list

Main article: List of Twin Peaks episodes

Themes

Note found in the train car.

As with much of Lynch's other work (notably Blue Velvet), Twin Peaks explores the gulf between the veneer of small-town respectability and the seedier layers of life beneath it. Each character from the town leads a double life. The show further resembles Lynch's previous and subsequent work, in that it is difficult to place in a defined genre: stylistically, the program borrows the unsettling tone and supernatural premises of horror films, and simultaneously offers a bizarrely comical parody of American soap operas with a campy, melodramatic presentation of the morally-dubious activities of its characters. Finally, like the rest of Lynch's oeuvre, the show represents an earnest moral inquiry distinguished by both weird comedy and a deep vein of surrealism.

A popular feature of the series was Frost and Lynch's use of repeating and sometimes mysterious motifs — trees, water, coffee, donuts, owls, ducks, fire — and numerous embedded references to other films and TV shows, such as The Twilight Zone (mysteriously malfunctioning electrical equipment), and The Patty Duke Show (the phenomenon of identical cousins).

Invitation to Love

Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn)

Invitation to Love is a fictional soap opera in Twin Peaks. It is seen briefly on TV screens in all but the first of seven episodes of the first season, and was shot in the Ennis House.

The show acts as a commentary on events unfolding in Twin Peaks itself, often highlighting some of the more outlandish or melodramatic elements of the show. The most obvious example of this "show-within-a-show" commentary can be found when Maddy Ferguson, the near-identical cousin of Laura Palmer, first arrives in Twin Peaks. Just before Maddy first appears on the show, an episode of Invitation to Love is shown in which it is revealed that there are identical twin characters in Invitation to Love who are played by the same actress, much as Maddy and Laura Palmer are almost identical, and are both played by Sheryl Lee. It is also implied in the brief snippet of the show that is shown that Jade and Emerald, the two characters in Invitation to Love, are characters with very different personalities, much as sweet and innocent Maddy is diametrically opposed to the dark and secretive Laura in Twin Peaks.

Another example can be found in the final episode of the first season, when Leo Johnson is shot in a dramatic fashion, and a similar event is shown happening to the character of Montana in Invitation to Love. Both shootings involve the character who has been shot lying down and slowly dying.

There is one final reference in one episode of the second season (audio only).

Invitation characters

• Jared Lancaster, soap patriarch and owner of "The Towers." Aging father to Emerald and Jade. Played by "Evan St. Vincent" (Peter Michael Goetz).
• Chet, geeky husband to Jade, and keeper of Jared's will. He is played by the fictional actor "Martin Hadley" (Lance Davis).
• Montana, an aggressive, rapacious bully who schemes with Emerald to gain ownership of The Towers. He is played by "Jason Denbo" (Rick Giolito).
• Emerald, seductive, manipulative twin sister to Jade. Schemes with Montana to end her father's life and collect the inheritance. Played by "Selina Swift" (Erika Anderson).
• Jade, sweeter, more innocent twin to Emerald, who tries to save her father's life. Wife of Chet. Also played by "Selina Swift" (Erika Anderson).

Video and DVD releases

The pilot episode, first shown on TV in the US, was released on video in Europe in 1989. The European version is 20 minutes longer than the TV pilot, with a different ending added to bring closure to the story. Cooper, Truman, Hawk, and Andy find BOB, who admits to Laura's murder, and then is shot by Mike, the one-armed man. The Red Room dream sequence that ends episode 2, where Cooper encounters the Man from Another Place and Laura Palmer, was originally shot for this film. Lynch was so happy with the material that he incorporated part of it into the second episode of the regular series (that is, the third episode shown in the U.S., including the pilot) as a dream Cooper has about the case. This version of the pilot was also offered by Warner Home Video in the United States, resulting in a rights-entanglement which prevented the broadcast version of the pilot being released for a number of years. On October 30, 2007, the broadcast version of the pilot will finally receive a legitimate U.S. release as part of the Twin Peaks "Definitive Gold Box Edition"^[16]. This set will include both versions of the pilot.

On December 18th, 2001, the first season (episodes 1-7, minus the pilot) of Twin Peaks was released on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time by Republic Pictures, then a unit of Spelling Entertainment, (which had an output deal through Artisan Entertainment, now part of Lions Gate Entertainment). The box set was noted for being the first TV show to have its audio track redone in DTS. The region 1 release was heavily criticized for not including the key pilot episode, which could not be included due to the fact Lynch sold the rights to it to Warner Home Video in order to facilitate its video release in Europe. When the series was released on video in the US (twice by Spelling Entertainment's Worldvision Home Video), the pilot episode was excluded both times. In turn, Warner Home Video released the pilot on video — however, it was actually the European version, and was labelled as having "bonus footage." The televised pilot episode is included in the UK (region 2) DVD release from Universal Home Entertainment. A DVD collection of Season One was released in Australia by Paramount Pictures, in 2001. In 2006, Season 2 was released by the same distributor in two parts (Collections 1 and 2). In addition, the entire series was released in Australia in a box set collector's edition.^[17]

The first season DVD box set is known to have production errors, which cause many DVD players to freeze. One known track glitch occurs during the opening credits of episode 2. Another glitch occurs fifteen minutes into episode 4, during Donna and Audrey's scene in the girls' high school lavatory. The European DVD box set of season two has an audio flaw where in episode 12, the center and right channels have been flip-flopped.

The release of Season Two was complicated by the sale of