Happy ‘Twin Peaks’ Is Back? Thank Millennials 

Neither did most fans of the show who I know, really — not the friend who dressed up as James, complete with leather jacket and guyliner, for Halloween; not the 20-something barista who slapped a “damn fine coffee” sticker on my local coffee shop’s tip jar. Like me, these friends and acquaintances found Agent Cooper through their laptops, not their televisions, and burned through

the series in two weeks, not two years. In other words, we’re the new face of the 

fan, and we’re a major reason why the show’s coming back in 2016.

belongs to a particular pantheon of Gen Y cultural touchstones. Late, lamented, and lauded, they’re shows that were canceled before their time, under-appreciated by contemporary viewers or insufficiently visionary network execs. So we’ve claimed them for our own, making Audrey Horne collages the hipster dorm room equivalent of the basic bitch’s 

surge in popularity among those of us who weren’t even alive when it first aired is partly due to the defining difference between our viewing habits and those of our forebears. As live viewing has become just one of many ways we watch TV, the need for shows to actually be on the air in order to be trendy has diminished. It’s become common practice to put off seasons of even hit shows like 

until it had time to shore up a small army of dedicated streamers. So when 

showed up on our stepbrother’s friend’s mom’s account at no extra charge, it didn’t matter that the show was pushing 25. It mattered that we didn’t have to catch a rerun by chance, or take the time to hunt down a physical copy.

The availability wouldn’t have mattered, obviously, if 

(Netflix and Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime, after all, have seven 

are getting a Showtime revival.) David Lynch’s foray into primetime appealed to its 2010s audience for many of the same reasons it was a hit during its original run: the idiosyncrasies; the suspense (who killed Laura Palmer, sure, but more importantly, 

); the uncanny mix of wholesome and freakish that characterizes so much of Lynch’s oeuvre.

For a generation that came of age in the aughts’ saturated TV landscape, though,

resonated as much for its familiarity as its strangeness. Nothing’s exactly like it, but there’s a whole lot that comes close, whether it’s 

launched a genre she calls the “Dead Girl Show,” including series as disparate as 

James Orbesen goes even further, claiming the series enabled “the entire Golden Age of TV,” including 

is practically tailor-made for a generation that, unlike late-’80s audiences, isn’t surprised by weird, auteur-ish, innovative TV, but used to it. David Lynch may have been a decade ahead of 

created by people named David — CONSPIRACY!), but in 2014, he’s not even the only cinematic heavyweight on the small screen. Steven Soderbergh has 

director Cary Fukunaga’s not quite as famous, but he’s gotten almost as much credit for 

‘s first season as Nic Pizzolatto. Accustomed as we are to picking apart 

one frenzied recap cycle at a time, it’s not surprising that young viewers jumped at a show as cryptic and well-crafted as 

final season in 2016, the audience will have its fair share of people who’ve waited 25 long years for more of BOB and the Black Lodge. But there’s also a newer addition to

target demo, an addition that’s intensified the pressure for a 

revival and made the business decision behind it all the more sound. Even though the new generation of

fan hasn’t been into it as long (a stupid, if persistent, measure of fandom), millennials are certainly the generation that kept the memory of 

alive — via posters, via thinkpieces, and via many, many GIFs. You’re welcome.

Well, I am excited but, the actor who played BOB died quite a while ago.

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