Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks is an American television series that first aired on the ABC network in the United States on 8 April 1990. Despite its critical acclaim the show was cancelled at the end of its second season in 1991 and remained off-air until its third series, titled Twin Peaks: The Return, was aired on the premium television network Showtime in 2017. The show was created by renowned filmmakers David Lynch and Mark Frost, whose television successes included police drama Hill Street Blues, and it was widely promoted as the series that would “change television.” The program, set in the fictional northwestern US town of Twin Peaks, was focused on the central mystery surrounding the murder of local schoolgirl Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) and the efforts of FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in solving the case. The show featured a cast of inhabitants of the town and was renowned for quirky characters, dream sequences, and surrealism, which were seen as hallmarks of David Lynch’s cinematic work. The question of “who killed Laura Palmer?” constituted the key narrative enigma for the first season of the show. When this mystery was resolved at the midpoint of the second series, audience interest waned, and the show’s declining viewing figures led to its cancellation. The program’s original run ended on a cliffhanger where lead character Dale Cooper became possessed by the evil spirit BOB (who was responsible for Palmer’s death while possessing her father Leyland Palmer [Ray Wise]). In 1992, David Lynch directed the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, which involved a return to Twin Peaks to depict the events leading up to Laura Palmer’s murder. The film was initially viewed as a disappointment, especially for those who wanted resolution to the show’s cliffhanger ending. Fire Walk with Me has since been reappraised and is now widely viewed as a groundbreaking piece of filmmaking. In 2016, David Lynch and Mark Frost began teasing a Twin Peaks–related announcement on their social media, with The Return of the series on Showtime announced soon after. While some setbacks were encountered when Lynch temporarily departed due to conflicts over budget and artistic vision, Twin Peaks: The Return aired in 2017 and was widely hailed as a return to form for the series. Throughout its history, Twin Peaks has attracted a loyal fanbase and critical attention on issues, including authorship, aesthetics, narrative, and genre.

British Public Television Police Drama: an Ordo-Baroque Template for European Complex Governance (with a Case Study of the BBC Meta-Police Series Line of Duty)

In this article, Elizabethan and Jacobean Baroque drama is considered as a comparative, structuring reference and as a control parameter for understanding contemporary British public television police drama as a genre in its own right. The argument for its autonomy and specificity lies not primarily with formal arguments, but with its intimate connection with representations on government and governance, as practices and world-models aimed at the management of complexity. Starting from the above, I premise that the public police drama format is highly relevant for Europe at large, not only as a fictional means of comprehending complex government, but as an emerging forum of actual public deliberation on the means and goals of complex government. The logical extension of the current study would be a future analysis of the manner in which the suggested template of police drama was absorbed in the continental television and government culture. For the moment the argument is restricted to pointing out the premises offered by the British original format for a poetics of complex order and of multi-level governance essential for the configuration of a European political imaginary.

Learning how to manage by watching TV

Purpose The transfer of management knowledge is usually seen as a formal process involving business schools, training courses and books. This paper aims to investigate the managerial content of TV drama programmes, considering the mechanisms that determine this and showing how this changes over time. The paper also shows how the content forms part of management discourse and how it may be used by viewers to understand what good and bad managers do and to modify their behaviour accordingly. Design/methodology/approach Two links are discussed: between the economic system and cultural products and between cultural products and the individual. Police drama series are used as an example to show how current management practices are mediated through popular culture and how they are legitimised. Findings The management styles and practices observed in police drama series have changed over the past 40 years to reflect the most recent trends. Bureaucratic management styles are shown in a negative light, whereas teamwork is shown positively. New trends such as the heavy use of consultants are also represented in recent programmes, providing evidence of how popular culture can make management practices part of managerial discourse. Originality/value Films and TV programmes are analysed by management scholars, but usually to illustrate a particular theme. This paper does not take the managerial content as a given but identifies mechanisms through which it is determined and shows how it changes. Additionally, it shows the relationship between content and viewer. It provides evidence of the role of popular culture in the transfer of management knowledge and of how management related contents change over time.

Postcolonial TV: El tiempo entre costuras [The Time In Between] (Antena 3, 2013–14); El Príncipe (Telecinco, 2014)

Chapter 4, the last on Spain, deals with post-colonial TV, a subject as yet little studied. Having explored the halting media relationship between the Spanish metropolis and its one time Moroccan protectorate, the chapter gives a close account of two exceptional series. The first is a lush historical romance set in the 1930s, which takes the woman’s work of sewing as a metaphor for international relations. The second is a gritty police drama exploring the drug and terror gangs in the contemporary Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Both series are shot and set in North Africa, a region that embodies a bloody heritage for Spain and which recent cinema has failed to investigate.

Police Dramas on Television

Since the inception of television, portrayal of crime and justice has been a central feature on television. In particular, the police are featured as prominent characters in many fictional crime programs. Some television cops, such as Joe Friday, Columbo, and Kojak transcend the genre and become enshrined within popular culture. Sometimes referred to as a police procedural, the police drama is a staple of both current and past television programming. In fact, almost 300 police dramas have aired on American network, cable, and syndicated television, with several new shows premiering each year. The vast majority of these shows are short-lived and are largely forgotten. However, some police dramas capture large viewing audiences and/or achieve critical acclaim. Sweeping changes within society have resulted in shifting portrayals of the police on television. Early portrayals focused on a law and order approach, in which the police were moral agents who represented a conservative, pro-establishment point of view. These types of shows represent the so-called “authentic” police drama. The authentic police drama features storylines and characters that engage in somewhat realistic investigative practices and depict relatively common criminal events. The classic example of an authentic police drama is Dragnet, while more recent versions would include shows such as the very popular Law and Order franchise. The 1970s represented the golden age of the police drama, with numerous shows that can be described as gimmicky, with police appearing as super-cops who could singlehandedly fight corruption and achieve justice. Moreover, demographic shifts in the field of policing led to more diversity in media depictions of police, with shows that featured female and African-American characters. In the 1980s, the portrayal of police became even more complex with the appearance of Hill Street Blues, a genre altering show that introduced serialized storylines and characters that were depicted with distinctly human characteristics, with real emotions and flaws. Moreover, the standard law and order approach was challenged, as a more liberal explanation of crime emerged with social inequality as a cause of criminal behavior. Contemporary police dramas, especially shows that appear on network television, tend to focus on a law and order approach. The emergence of cable networks has allowed the police drama to push the limits of television by depicting the police in a more realistic fashion.

Doing it Live! Planning and Preparing for a Live Drama Episode

Over the last decade there has been a move towards live episodes of popular television dramas and soap operas in the UK being used to celebrate programme and channel anniversaries. This paper, written by a member of the production team is focused on the ‘behind the scenes’ preparation and subsequent broadcast of the live episode of British police drama The Bill on September 22nd 2005. This live episode became a landmark broadcast as it was the first time that dramatic stunt sequences had been performed live. This article will be supported with examples from the original planning documentation and rehearsal photographs and will examine the production culture in the planning and preparation of the episode. It will also reveal some of the trickery used to execute the stunts, will discuss the difficulties experienced during the live episode and how problems were overcome.