before devoting the art of memory for an indeterminate amount of time to twin peaks, here are some preliminary words on where the author stands in relation to telvision.
i watched twin peaks season 1&2 as it aired on television when i was in high school (1990-1991). i remember watching with my father, who was the first person to get me really excited about film (when i was around 10 we watched the exorcist together and my life was changed forever). viewing twin peaks had an extreme impact on me. the years after, i rented the vhs tapes and purchased the dvds and rewatched numerous numerous times. i had the laserdisc of the film and watched it many times and loved it (still do). of course the majority of season 2 is quite meaningless, the ones directed by lynch are worth watching more than once, and the last one is a masterpiece.
in college and for many more years, i was only interested in the movies, and with the exception of lars von trier's the kingdom from 1994 (which i saw projected at the castro theatre in about 1997 in sf), i didn't watch any television with the exception of rewatching twin peaks which was always my favourite lynch work.
sometime around 2002-2004 i started watching david chase's the sopranos (1999-2007) and david simon's the wire (2002-2008). both shows had a huge impact on me and renewed my interest in television. over the years i have rewatched these two shows 3-4 times. the sopranos came about because goodfellas was a film i watched over and over and this somehow seemed to be a truly original extension of it. also i was bored in a way with film, couldn't related to what was happening at that moment, like wes anderson.
around the time of season 2 of vince gilligan's breaking bad (2008-2013) my good friend recommended i give it a go as it was beyond words and as good as the two previously mentioned, in his estimation. the program knocked my socks off (and still does). the four shows together remain a standard for the potential of tv (twin peaks, the sopranos, the wire, and breaking bad).
in addition to these fine programs, i have enjoyed the following shows or mini series over the years :
- bbc's tinker tailor soldier spy (1979) and smiley's people (1982)
- alastair reid's traffik (1989)
- alastair reid's armistead maupin's tales of the city (1993)
- allan cubitt's the fall (2013-2016)
- chris carter's the x-files (1993 - 2016)
- jane campion and gerard lee's top of the lake (2013-)
- paul feig's freaks and geeks (1999-2000)
- david milch and michael mann's luck (2011-2012)
- ann biderman's southland (2009-2013)
- ann biderman's ray donovan (first season only, 2013)
- fargo (first season, 2014)
- rod serling's the twilight zone (have only seen various, 1959–1964)
- todd haynes' mildred pierce (2001)
- alan clarke's work for tv. saw much of it when living in boston, beautiful work
- frank darabont's the walking dead (2010-) not the best quality but a guilty pleasure
- sean durkin's southcliffe (2013)
- dennis potter's the singing detective (1986)
- lynda la plante's prime suspect (1991-2006)
- jimmy mcgovern 's cracker (1993–1996), have seen only part, but enjoyed
- steven spielberg and tom hanks's band of brothers (2001) & the pacific (2010)
- joshua brand and john falsey's northern exposure (1990-1995), one of my wife's favs, have only seen some
- louis c.k.'s horace and pete (2016), this show is truly profound
- louis c.k.'s louis (2010-2015), another profound one
- nic pizzolatto's true detective (2014), season 1 is one hell of a show. i personally think both vince vaughn's acting and character ruined season 2.
- ray mckinnon's rectify (2013-2016), first couple of seasons
- paul attanasio (and david simon)'s - homicide: life on the street (1993-1999), have only seen some, enjoyed.
- terence winter's boardwalk empire (2010-2014), only liked the first couple/few seasons
- larry david's curb your enthusiasm (200-2009) and of course seinfeld
- richard price and steven zaillian's the night of (2016), one hell of a show
- todd a. kessler, glenn kessler, and daniel zelman's bloodline (2015-), first season is quite good
these shows i feel ambivalent about or downright don't like. listed here to gives some clues of the viewer's taste and preferences :
- game of thrones (some good moments and actorshippe, overall though i don't know....)
- girls (the agony)
- veep
- the leftovers
- lost (my wife always complains at what a waste it was to be addicted to this show.... it starts good)
- westworld (i don't get it)
- treme (lost interest when john goodman leaves)
- six feet under
- hannibal (i love mads mikkelsen and the books but this show just doesn't work)
- the young pope
- homeland (first season is good)
- house of cards (i like the british version, us version is not bad, has some great actors)
- better call saul
- orange is the new black
- stranger things (overfuckingrated, just popular because of the synth resurgence)
- the office (uk & us, i like parts of it)
- sense8
- dexter
- daredevil, luke cage, jessica jones
- black mirror (couple of the brit ones are good like the pigfucker one)
- love
- the oa (good until it got ruined with the "movements" business)
- lilyhammer (started good)
- the strain (interesting for navigating nyc)
- fortitude
- narcos
- sherlock
- bosch
- goliath
- i love dick (listened to kevin bacon interview and show seemed interesting because of the donald judd element but could not get through the first episode)
- the night manager
- mad men (many good parts and actors, but overall not sure about it)
- sons of anarchy
- luther
- broadchurch
- marcella
- river
- happy valley
- californication
- fear the walking dead (started good, lost interest)
- portlandia (some funny bits but mostly not funny)
- miami vice (loved as a kid but not sure if it holds up)
- many more i cannot recall
