Heftly log, doughnuts and 10,000 letters saved Twin Peaks - for now

Mike Boone
TV & RADIO

Letters, they got letters. They got stacks and stacks of letters.

The song-request ditty from the old Perry Como Show must have been ringing in the programmers´ ears at ABC last month, after the network put Twin Peaks "on hiatus". Written response from anguished Peaks fans was so overwhelming that the network is bringing the series back for at least six episodes, beginning Thursday night at 9.

ABC received more than 10,000 letters protesting the disappearance of the quirky series. Among the more exotic postmarks were Glasgow, Dublin, Guam, Adelaide and - I love this one Bogota (where viewers doubtless still lament the passing of Miami Vice).

Some fans made threats. ABC received an ominous "Bring back Twin Peaks - or else" note from Edmonton and, from some nostalgic politico in Milwaukee, an anachronistic "Cancel Twin Peaks and die, you capitalist swine." Both warnings were composed of letters cut out of newspapers and pasted up, ransom-note-style.

There were several Twin Peaks petitions, including one from Phoenix signed by 100 customers at an apparel shop "for the adventurous vixen." The longest letter was from Washington, D.C. - 11 pages of the phrase "Bring back Twin Peaks," printed 1,500 times (doubtless inspired by Jack Nicholson - "All work and no play" riff in The Shining).

Ad-hoc protest groups were formed to lobby on behalf of Twin Peaks: COOP, an acronym for Citizens Opposing the Offing of Peaks (and a play on the nickname of FBI agent Cooper), STP (Save Twin Peaks), TPPS (Twin Peaks Preservation Society) and PEAK (People Emphatically Against Kancellation).

Many universities weighed in with protests from faculty and students. Twin Peaks has supporters at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, Penn, Brandeis, Stanford, Penn State, DePaul, Sarah Lawrence, Bennington, Cornell, Baylor, Boston University and - representing Canadian academe - the Anatomy and Cell Biology Department at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Twin Peaks support was the subject of a formal resolution, No. 52, in the Michigan state senate. ("Whereas many of the people of Michigan are desirous of the immediate return of the series...")

With the auto industry in the outhouse, Detroit´s homicide rate, and the Tiger´s pitching, you´d think Michigan legislators would have had more important things to worry about. (The Bélanger-Campeau Commission probably wanted to come out for Twin Peaks, too, but couldn´t agree on the wording.)

In addition to bags of standard letters, ABC mailrooms in New York and Hollywood also received a number of items pegged to characters and plot lines in Twin Peaks. The list of weird items includes:

A 25-kg fireplace log (like the one Twin Peaks´ Log-Lady carries) with a fan-letter nailed to it.

A rubber hand with slivers of wood inserted under the fingernails.

Many boxes of doughnuts, and also 60 cents in change (so that ABC Entertainment president Robert Iger "can buy a damn fine cup of coffee.")

A set of chess pieces with a note reading "It´s your move, Bob" (a reference to Iger and to Twin Peaks´s villainous Bob character.

Finally ABC relented. The series is returning to its original Thursday schedule slot, opposite top-rated Cheers.

This season, Twin Peaks was a ratings stiff on Saturdays. Unless the numbers pick up, ABC will have a tough time renewing the show for next season. If the axe does fall again, will 10,000 Twin Peaks supporters feel strongly enough to fire off another letter - or another log?

* Twin Peaks: Thursday, 9 p.m., WVYN-22 (ABC)