In the spring of 1990, when ABC debuted Twin Peaks, the network was still pulling in an estimated 14 million viewers a week for Full House. One of its most popular programs — and, in fact, Twin Peaks’s initial lead-in — was Father Dowling Mysteries, a genteel hour in which a priest and a nun, played by Mr. Cunningham from Happy Days and these guys’ older sister, solved crimes. (Just how long ago was it? There was a prime-time show about the Flash.) You could say TV wasn’t ready for a show as dark, as weird, as insanely idiosyncratic as Twin Peaks. But that’d be like saying prehistoric cavemen weren’t ready for Snapchat. Twin Peaks wasn’t a gradual, evolutionary step in the development of television as an artistic medium. It was the guy responsible for [the incredibly unsettling opening of 'Blue Velvet'] pressing fast-forward with his middle finger.

I was trying not to get too excited about the return of Twin Peaks, mostly because it’s 1.5 years away, but also because Season 2 really left a sour taste in my mouth. But this mailbag from Greenwald sucked me in. It’s going to be a damn fine 2016.

Joe Stracci