Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Ratings: “Twin Peaks” Cable Revival Piques Little Interest with Just Half Million Viewers

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The “Twin Peaks” experiment at Showtime is not working out. Sunday’s ratings for the big two hour comeback were terrible– just 506,000 total viewers. A small percentage of them were in the key demo–just 0.2.

Among scripted shows, “Twin Peaks” was substantially outranked by “the Leftovers” on HBO and “American  Gods” on Starz.

What a mess. There are 16 more one hour episodes coming. I’ve watched the third and fourth installments and they are no better than the first two, even with guest appearances by David Lynch, David Duchovny, and Ray Wise as Leland Palmer.

Showtime didn’t show press advance episodes or provide anything other than stories about the “cult” of “Twin Peaks.” It was all shrouded in mystery and depended on people remembering what happened 25 years ago when the show was cancelled.

But what everyone involved forgot was that “Twin Peaks” was cancelled for a reason: it got bad fast. The original series about Laura Palmer’s death was perfection. But once that mystery was solved, the show just became a joy ride for weirdness. It ended in smoke and ashes.

The new “Twin Peaks” so far is notable for style only. The plot, if there is one, makes no sense. For long term viewing there is nothing to hang your hat on, no hook. It’s simply bizarre. As I wrote Sunday night, what we’re missing is a real incident like Laura Palmer’s murder, the arch characters, the banter, the off kilter ornamentation of cherry pie. And fun. There is no fun in the new “Twin Peaks.” Just people talking backwards.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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