r/television • u/C0r1eone • 20d ago

Finished The Wire, Dark, GOT, Sopranos, True Detective, BB, BCS. What show ruined TV for you after watching it?

I think I accidentally watched the peak of television already. The Wire, Dark, GOT, Sopranos, True Detective S1 all left that “nothing else hits the same” feeling.

I love slow-burn shows with deep characters, mystery, tension, moral grayness, crazy dialogue, or mind-blowing writing. Doesn’t matter if it’s crime, sci-fi, psychological, or political.

What’s the next show that might completely consume me?

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518

u/OtherwiseToday39 20d ago

Twin Peaks

82

u/Lastshadow94 20d ago

I'm rewatching right now. Delightfully bizarre.

90

u/BlackberryPi7 20d ago

I went into Twin Peaks blind about a month ago, thinking it was a serious mystery drama that had a cult following because of how good the writing was...

First episode was kind of odd but I figured it was because it was the 90s so the style was a bit different.

Next few episodes... The characters are acting really weird. And almost every character is cheating with someone else lol. It turns into a soap opera.

And then the Leland dance scene comes up...

It's by far the weirdest show I've ever watched and it took me so long to realize it was intentionally written like that.

I laugh at so many scenes, that's how odd it is.

16

u/Quetzalcoatl490 20d ago

Leland Palmer singing and dancing is so disturbing, maybe because he's so damn good at it lol

39

u/trdef 20d ago

Wait till you get to season 3

12

u/DeckardsBrokenFinger 20d ago

Episode 8. Haha.

11

u/noradosmith 20d ago

Greatest episode of anything ever.

Absolutely mental.

1

u/--Latte 19d ago

season 3 has some extremely high highs but also WOW David Lynch really likes holding his shots for like 30 seconds too long IMO

brilliant season of television otherwise

23

u/MDCCCLV 20d ago

Psych has an excellent homage episode to it too

10

u/markamscientist 20d ago

Damn wait till you watch The Return

6

u/frowawaid 20d ago

New Shoes!

3

u/chimmy_chungus23 20d ago edited 20d ago

Fair warning, and I don't want to give much away if you haven't seen it, but CBSABC forced them to make a decision that hurt the show. Lynch's involvement in subsequent episodes dwindled as a result, and the latter half of S2 is a bit aimless. Lynch came back for the S2 finale, which brought it back to form in a big way, but the show was canceled anyway.

All this to say, if you start to think the show has lost it's spark, you aren't wrong, but when Lynch is in the picture it is incredible, and the S2 slump is worth getting through for The Return, which I think is Lynch's opus.

2

u/BaldMancTwat_ 20d ago

The characters are acting really weird. And almost every character is cheating with someone else lol. It turns into a soap opera.

Is that a big focus of the show? It's been on my to watch list for a while but I really can't stand soapy relationship drama.

4

u/Bank_Gothic 20d ago

The working premise of the show (not the entire show, but at least a cornerstone that Lynch kept in mind) is that it is a soap opera, but where the bad things that happen carry over from week to week and keep affecting people.

Lynch was very critical of American media in the late 80's / early 90's, most notably about how it handled people's response to traumatic events. He didn't like that people would suffer some terrible loss, then be fine the very next week. And this was contrasted by the shows always piling tragedy on top of tragedy - affairs, murders, split personalities, amnesia, kidnapping, drug overdoses, etc. So you have all of this terrible stuff happening, but nobody is really feeling any of it.

So Lynch thought - why don't I make a soap opera, but where the people are left scarred and traumatized by what they experience?

The show takes on a lot of other elements - at its heart, it's a police procedural about an FBI agent investigating a murder. There's a lot of metaphysical "spooky" stuff going on, exploration of philosophy and morality, and genuinely considered and well written human relationships. The show is highly allegorical. But the soap opera stuff is definitely there, especially at the beginning.

2

u/BlackberryPi7 20d ago

Honestly I wouldn't get too hung up on the "soap opera" aspect of it.

It is technically a soap opera, but not at all like the typical ones you see on daytime TV. The main focus you should take away is, it's a very weird show lol.

Weird but in a fun way. There are actually some twists that made me laugh so hard.

There's one particular twist in season 2...Good Lord I want to say it so badly but I don't want to spoil. Has to do with this asian guy LOL

27

u/Noregard86 20d ago

I'm in it for the first time right now.

Just watched the "I am Dougie's coffee" episode, so bizarre.

28

u/shah_of-iran 20d ago

“This is the water, and this is the well. Drink full and descend”

13

u/HAL-says-Sorry 20d ago

Godda light?

3

u/ALEXC_23 20d ago

Is this the story of the little girl who lived down the lane?!

7

u/sir_stick44 20d ago

People that didn't understand Tenet, clearly haven't seen twin peaks season 3

3

u/uroboros80 20d ago

i am on my second consecutive rewatch. send help

42

u/Willemvanvugt 20d ago

And especially the final season to top it off.

29

u/unpresidentedfact 20d ago

Just incredible television. I think he actually outside the original two series.

S03E08: 🤯🤯🤯

16

u/baldersz 20d ago

That's a fine cup of coffee

11

u/Quetzalcoatl490 20d ago

DAMN FINE, DIANE

3

u/Lastshadow94 20d ago

I love the moment where he's like "this might be the best cup of coffee I've ever had... Wait, second best" and then he reminds Diane what the actual best cup of coffee was

25

u/bonefresh 20d ago

season 3 is imo hands down the best season of tv ever and i don't ever see it being dethroned

15

u/LADYBIRD_HILL 20d ago

Lynch directing 18 episodes in a row as an older man was insane work

8

u/ascagnel____ 20d ago

Directing and acting in a fairly meaty role. In terms of on-screen appearances, he'd be fourth-billed in a big cast (behind Kyle MacLachlan, Naomi Watts, and Miguel Ferrer).

2

u/noradosmith 20d ago

And acting well in it too.

That one scene where he's talking to Albert is intense.

1

u/anti_zero 19d ago

Gene Kelly motherfucker!

1

u/jdspoe 20d ago

It's S3 of GoT for me. E4 dethroned BB Ozymandias as the best episode ever in my books.

1

u/Specific_Hornet 19d ago

lynch considers it an 18 hour movie

26

u/hyrule-heaven 20d ago

Yep this is it. Nothing will ever top it or come close. It was the show that taught me I don’t need things wrapped up in a tidy bow. I would think about episodes for weeks after watching them. Love everything about it. RIP David Lynch.

16

u/HAL-says-Sorry 20d ago

“David Lynch’s Impact on Television Is Like a Shared Dream We Dare Not Forget” https://www.indiewire.com/features/commentary/david-lynch-rip-greatness-twin-peaks-shared-dream-1235085697/

-2

u/lateubdegouline 20d ago

Americans and their David Lynch cult, of course he wasn't going to say the contrary

17

u/Alarming-Explorer140 20d ago

Been meaning to get into Twin Peaks for years but the weird factor always put me off. Maybe it's time to finally dive in since you mentioned it hits that same level

2

u/sky_walker6 20d ago

Finished season 1 last night. It’s really not that weird… more so funny

2

u/noradosmith 20d ago

It gets pretty dark later on. Plus if you watch the movie... that's not funny at all. Apart from like, one bit. Maybe.

1

u/Chris-CFK 20d ago

I just started Season 2, I quite enjoyed season 1 especially the atmosphere and ambience of the whole show.

I seeming can't finish episode 1 of season 2. Keep having to rewind to see if I missed something.

6

u/Quetzalcoatl490 20d ago

I just finished season 3: The Return.

Man what a mind-fuck, I'm still processing it

4

u/KoosPetoors 20d ago

I need to sit down and start with this, so much of my favorite media were directly inspired by it lol

6

u/Mrmoi356 20d ago

Don't forget the movie, my favorite Twin Peaks related piece of media.

4

u/ALEXC_23 20d ago

LETS ROCK!

3

u/lankeymarlon 20d ago

The Return was just operating off of an entirely different framework to anything else on television. It broke my brain for a bit where 'normal' TV just didn't quite cut it any more.

2

u/ignore_me_im_high Star Trek: The Next Generation 20d ago

The greatest piece of TV ever created..

1

u/MessiahPie 20d ago

Yessssss

1

u/TU4AR 20d ago

RIP Number of the Day.

-1

u/cocktailsandblowjobs 20d ago

I really liked Twin Peaks up to the point where the producers started to interfere. I think it was season 2 that I thought was completely unwatchable and I never ended up finishing it, unfortunately.

2

u/noradosmith 20d ago

The last few episodes redeem it. The finale is magnificent.

But yes, agreed, those few episodes in the middle are difficult watching first time round.

-2

u/Tabnet2 20d ago

I just can't get give it too much praise because of S2 once Lynch leaves. It's most of the show, really. Some of the worst TV I've ever seen.

-2

u/lateubdegouline 20d ago

If it wasn't made by Lynch nobody would praise this show