OTH 2024 Update- "See you in 25 years"
It probably really will take that long to get to this point.
This Friday, the 40th TCA Awards occurred, and it seems like a well-done presentation, their first in-person ceremony in five years. Shōgun was the year’s big winner, taking home awards for best program, drama, new series, and Anna Sawai received the individual achievement in drama award, all of which were well-deserved in my opinion, brilliant series. Hacks, meanwhile, took home the major comedy awards (cannot opine there), while the other awards were more well-rounded, for obvious reasons, as they focused on more specific nets- family programming, reality, documentary, etc.
The reason for the season, however, were the legacy awards. The late Andre Braugher won the Career Achievement Award, remembering him for, among other roles, his legendary work on Homicide: Life on the Street and his time spoofing said run on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Well-deserved, even as someone who has little use for B99 and still hasn’t got around to Homicide, although I await the latter’s streaming debut.
But the reason we’re here is the TCA’s Heritage Award, which highlights an influential series and validates its stature, and this year’s winner was a long-time coming. David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks has been a frequent nominee for a good decade, or at least it was back when the nominations were revealed to the public- in recent years, like the Career Achievement nominees, the Heritage Award’s nominations are kept under wraps.
How do we talk about a series with such a legacy, arguably Lynch’s defining work as a filmmaker, an unforgettable dig at quaint suburbia that combines satire, surrealism, melodrama and horror deftly? A series which proved that television could look as visually rich as anything on the big screen, and featured some of Angelo Badalamenti’s most memorable musical works? A series that features characters as instantly iconic as Agent Cooper, Audrey Horne, the Log Lady, and most importantly, Laura Palmer?
This is a daunting challenge, especially as the show’s reputation only grows over the years as it becomes increasingly revered. How can I speak about a series that so many love and make it fresh? While I have a long time before we get to this point, I have one potential angle- I’m not a fan.
Granted, I say this after only seeing the first two seasons, which a few moments aside, left me cold. But I intend to finally make it to Fire Walk With Me and The Return before we get to this point. Maybe by this point, it will all click with me. Yes, both will be covered along with the first two seasons. I’ll probably also discuss The Missing Pieces next to FWWM.
Regardless, there is plenty to talk about with Twin Peaks, including its themes, how it embraces and rejects genre tropes, whether the series fetishizes or criticizes domestic violence, how the series ties into Lynch’s oeuvre as a whole, and the behind-the-scenes information that inspire much of what we see on screen, like the second season’s divisive pivot.
The reason I’ve dedicated this blog to covering Heritage Award winners is because the TCA haven’t always gone for the most expected series, often going for what might be considered “cult” as opposed to just the major hits and award winners. The Wire and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are good examples of such, and while Twin Peaks is beloved online, it’s another example of such, whose heyday came and went quickly.
Anyway, as I intend to every year, I’m going to end this post with a reminder of what series I will, or already have covered for the blog:
The Simpsons (currently on season 11)
Buffy the Vampire SlayerThe West Wing (season 4 coming soon!)
The Sopranos (season 4 coming soon!)
The Wire
ER
M*A*S*H
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Cheers
All in the Family
Saturday Night Live (seasons 1-5)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Seinfeld
Friends
Deadwood
Star Trek (TOS)
The Golden Girls
I Love Lucy
Twin Peaks