Interview: Celebrate Twin Peaks with Kenneth and Ross

By Alexander Jones

Twin Peaks fans have been eagerly awaiting the Twin Peaks: The Complete Mystery Blu-ray since it was announced. During the panel for the show on Saturday night, some mysteries about the show were revealed, such as both the Fire Walk With Me and the deleted scenes from the original show. Meaning, that this is as close as we are going to get to everything about the show ever shot on one single Blu-ray collection. With the added bonus of a visual HD restoration to the package–speaking of the packaging, this includes a wonderful package featuring the ominous face of Laura Palmer in the flesh or more like wrapped in plastic. Take a look at the following interview conducted with CBS General Manager Kenneth B. Ross, along with actress Kimmy Robertson chiming in towards the end in order to get the primer on what to expect for the new Blu-ray box set. 

During that call at the panel you mentioned that you acquired a full 88 minutes worth of footage, and that you also scored it and restored it. So how long did it take between the team getting the new footage, and then getting it ready for the showing on Tuesday?

Ross: David and his team are the ones that did it. I really don’t recall exactly how long the work took because I was so immersed with all the details of working it out, and France was involved and it was CBS, and it was David Lynch, and it was MK2, and this had been going on for years literally. The physical post-production work took about 8-9 months to deliver the elements.

After all this time, this television show has really become iconic, and it has influenced so many other pieces of media from comic books–to other television series. Do you have any idea on what has sparked the new interest on the show? At the panel beforehand there was a good amount of people in attendance.

Ross: I think that you know in the entertainment business, and I think I said I touched on this on the panel so I apologize if I was repeating this, but I there’s a word called ‘classic’ some people say ‘cult’ some people say ‘classic’ some say ‘evergreen’ you know the Sound of Music is still loved today. I was involved in putting the I Love Lucy Christmas special on CBS last Christmas, and it got the highest rating in the time setting. You know a show that was fifty plus years old because people still love Lucy. Kimmy: I watched it. Ross: People love I Love Lucy. This is one of those properties, and there are not a lot of them, but a bunch of them where the love, never the flame, never the fire, never and so what it’s about is it’s showing it in a way that it has never been experienced before which is what we are trying to do–in terms of technology to make the experience as satisfying as possible picture, audio, etc. By showing more than you’ve ever seen before–new high definition scenes, deleted scenes from the series, lastly what the fans have been clamoring for for nearly 20 years–the Fire Walk With Me deleted scenes. Then you have the entire fan base to them. I read a tweet that Brian showed me that made me as happy as I can be when we walked into this room, because I had said all along you come to Comic-Con. I have been a comic collector since I have been a kid. Comic-Con for me was I live in New York, I used to go to to the McAlpin Hotel, I am talking about 40 years ago and buy comic books that were in baggies you know with my friends and that’s what Comic-Con was you know. There was no show business, no Hollywood, no actors, none of that, and now I don’t have to tell you guys what it is; but I knew that this property Twin Peaks was like a pillar of Comic-Con and the Comic-Con community. Just like Star Trek for example. People here would go wild and love it, and the tweet was; I heard Marvel announced something blah blah blah, Twin Peaks is coming out at Comic-Con and this is amazing. That is sort of my answer to your question, it is sort of as relevant as it has ever been. I actually think it’s more relevant than it has ever been because there is so much media drawing from it.

Ross: As you say, think about the shows where the creators you know, I mean David Chase has said that inspires him and on and on and on think about the shows that wouldn’t exist today if not for Twin Peaks having come out and changed the landscape of television.

Kimmy Robertson: I heard Mark Burnett on the radio yesterday or the day before saying Survivor– that he got the guts to do that because of Twin Peaks. Survivor! Mark Burnett!

Ross: Another CBS show!