36 Years Ago, ABC Issued A Death Sentence To Network TV’s Greatest Mystery Thriller

Published Sep 12, 2026, 12:01 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. While ABC has aired some of the best shows in TV history, the network also shot itself in the proverbial foot when its executives inadvertently killed one of the greatest cult classics in the history of the medium. There are some TV shows that change the course of the medium’s history, whether or not viewers realize it at the time. When the HBO prison drama Oz debuted in 1997, critics recognized the brutal, R-rated series as a classic, but they couldn’t have predicted that it would pave the way for The Wire, The Shield, and The Sopranos. Without those HBO hits, viewers would never have gotten Breaking Bad, Ozark, True Detective and Mare of Easttown, since their success set up later gritty character studies and crime dramas from other networks and streaming services. Similarly, there is one quirky murder mystery from the early ‘90s that inadvertently paved the way for everything from Desperate Housewives to The X-Files. When the legendary indie director David Lynch was hired to co-create a twisted soap opera/police procedural with Mark Frost for ABC, no one could have predicted the outcome. The series was Twin Peaks, and despite how unprecedented and unpredictable its blend of offbeat comedy, intense psychological horror, melodramatic high school drama, and crime thrills was, the show became a massive mainstream hit when it debuted on ABC in 1990. Twin Peaks won both critical acclaim and mainstream popularity, as America was enraptured by the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer. However, this success wasn’t enough for ABC and, in one of the greatest fumbles in the medium’s history, the network’s top brass killed the classic by forcing its proverbial hand. ABC’s Laura Palmer Demands Spelled The End For Twin Peaks By pressuring Lynch and Frost to solve the Laura Palmer case as a conventional murder mystery midway through season 2, the network basically dug the show’s grave and ended Twin Peaks before its time. To be clear, the actual revelation of Laura Palmer’s murderer was one of the greatest TV twists of all time, and a uniquely daring subversion of expectations that proved the series was more challenging, morally complex, and darker than its often playful tone sometimes suggested. However, the fact remained that Twin Peaks was never meant to be a straightforward murder mystery series, and treating it as one derailed the broader story of the series. Ironically, by the time viewers were halfway through season 2, most of the show’s fan base were more interested in the subplots of Twin Peaks than its original storyline. While the death of Laura Palmer could never have been forgotten, it also didn’t need to be resolved definitively midway through the show’s sophomore outing. Twin Peaks Was Never Meant To Be A Conventional Murder Mystery Image via MovieStillsDB If Twin Peaks were an Agatha Christie adaptation, ABC’s demand that the series get to the answer might have made sense. However, by the time Laura’s killer was revealed, the show had invested screen time and story focus into subplots like Josie and Catherine’s battle over the mill, Audrey’s one-sided relationship with Dale, and the love triangle between James, Donna, and Maddy, as well as Bobby and Shelly’s attempts to cover up their attack on Leo. These storylines developed into a sprawling epic soap opera that had the entire town of Twin Peaks as its focus, rather than any specific individual mystery. There is no knowing how long mainstream viewers might have been willing to continue watching this strange, unpredictable series if the show hadn’t rushed the resolution to Laura’s death, but one thing is undeniable. In demanding an answer to Laura’s murder, ABC short-changed Twin Peaks season 2’s potential and ironically ended up cutting the show down in its prime. Release Date 1990 - 2017-00-00 Network ABC, Showtime Showrunner Mark Frost Cast Piper Laurie Katherine Martell Directors Lesli Linka Glatter, Caleb Deschanel, Duwayne Dunham, Tim Hunter, Todd Holland, Tina Rathborne, Diane Keaton, Graeme Clifford, James Foley, Jonathan Sanger, Mark Frost, Stephen Gyllenhaal Writers Mark Frost, David Lynch, Harley Peyton, Robert Engels, Barry Pullman, Scott Frost, Tricia Brock Creator(s) Mark Frost, David Lynch