Twin Peaks and the Rise of ‘Peak TV’

The American Conservative



It’s an irony of our times that in today’s era of new-as-the-Internet technologies like Netflix, Amazon, Redbox, ITunes, and OnDemand, when it comes to TV, everything old is new again. This year’s Television Critics Association has announced that NBC will be reviving Will & Grace for an 8-episode “event” next year, while ABC resurrects a Roseanne revival. Syndicated classics of the1970s early-evening, like To Tell the Truth, Match Game, and Gong Show will fill the lazy, crazy days of summer on ABC’s Game Night. Fox’s two signature dramas, 24 and The X-Files, had already been brought back for limited-series “events”, and until it was made redundant by 81-year-old Larry Hagman’s death from a heart attack in late 2012, TNT reached back to the last days of disco and the go-go ‘80s with a Dallas revival, starring originals Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, and Hagman. Other shows like Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, and Wonder Woman were rebooted with just as significant differences from their dated originals.     



Cont....