It’s hard to believe it’s been 35 years since Mark Frost and David Lynch first welcomed us into the strange town of Twin Peaks via the legendary TV show of the same name, where FBI agent Dale Cooper, played by actor Kyle MacLachlan, met supernatural forces, mysterious small-town locals, and the best cherry pie in the US.
For the show’s 35th anniversary, you can delve right back into the world of “Twin Peaks” that Frost and Lynch created (and its subsequent 2017 follow-up, “Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series”) on curated streaming platform MUBI, where both shows are now available to watch for the first time.
With the perfect autumnal vibes, Mark Frost and David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” has become synonymous with this time of year, making it the perfect time for a rewatch (or a first watch if you’re new here). The show’s ‘Lynchian’ cinematic style has a dream-like quality that makes it the perfect form of escapism, just strange and mysterious enough to transport you somewhere else.
What you might not realise is that the release of “Twin Peaks” in October 1990 had such an immense cultural impact that it actually changed TV forever. From the fashion on screen to the show’s soundtrack to even the way it was shot, “Twin Peaks” disrupted the norm in television, rolling out a new approach that changed everything.
For one, before “Twin Peaks” aired, genre-bending in television was rare, and the show’s groundbreaking approach to combining features from crime drama, soap opera, horror, and comedy had audiences immediately hooked. The fact that you could get your fix of almost every genre from one show was unheard of back in the ‘90s: now, thanks to “Twin Peaks”, it’s pretty much the norm.
And that wasn’t the only revolutionary aspect of the show. “Twin Peaks”’ cinematic approach to its direction, building the dark and surreal small town atmosphere that we crave every autumn, was also new. While nowadays, super artistic directing styles in television shows are pretty common, back in the ‘90s, viewers hadn’t seen the dramatic visuals of cinema portrayed on television before, and “Twin Peaks” did it first.
Another way that Mark Frost and David Lynch changed the landscape in television is via its soundtrack. The decision to create an original and highly unique score for the show meant that “Twin Peaks”’ soundtrack is immediately recognisable. It’s honestly so iconic that it’s like a character in its own right. At the time that Frost and Lynch enlisted composer Angelo Badalamenti to create the score, most TV shows didn’t put much thought into their soundtracks: nowadays, a good score is considered key.
The show's impact has also been immortalised via its costuming. Latching onto the grunge style of the ‘90s, the show feels like a time capsule for the era, only dramatised by its surrealism which made costumes even more eye-catching. In 2025, the iconic diner uniforms, Bobby Briggs’ flannels, or Dale Cooper’s tailoring are all still instantly recognizable.
It’s the perfect blend of crime procedural, soap opera, supernatural horror and absurdist comedy that keeps you guessing, laughing, crying, screaming, and everything in between. If you’re down to step back into the world of “Twins Peaks”, head over to mubi.com/culted where you can get 30 days free to stream the entire show.
More on Culted
See: JD Sports handed 286 young people a phone, and made it their 2025 Christmas ad
See: From a sound to a universe: how Grime and The North Face collided
