Brien Allen
Originally, I had only planned for there to be the two parts to this article. But after those were published, I found two more podcasts that qualified under my initial criteria, that they have a podcast dedicated to The Secret History of Twin Peaks. So I wanted to at least add those to the list and let everyone know about them.
In my preparations for Season 3, I didn’t engage in re-watches of the series or movie. Instead, I delved into the original books, audio tape and trading cards. Maybe I’m just weird, but I find these extra-canonical sources interesting and they make me happy. Again, lots of podcasts out there do episodes dedicated to the series, the movie, and even the Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. Only the hardcore Twin Peaks geeks give love to these outliers, and they deserve a shout out for that.
I’m also going to throw in a few honorable mentions, for podcasts that went deep, well beyond the extracanonical even, in an admirable display of their true dedication to Twin Peaks fandom.
Let’s get started.
Counter Esperanto Podcast: Tangents About Twin Peaks
• Episode 1: The First Secret (11/10/2016)
I’d seen these guys and been interested, but I was admittedly thrown off by the description of their podcast. They are into weird fiction, HP Lovecraft and that kind of thing, and the podcast seemed to be more about that and only tangentially related to Twin Peaks. But I kept seeing the name pop up. And then I heard Karl and Jubel guest on other podcasts. These guys are really knowledgeable. So I dug in, and it turns out The Secret History is what prompted them to start podcasting in the first place. Their first episode was dedicated to it, just didn’t have it in the title. And it continues from there. Karl and Jubel are into the mythology of Twin Peaks and exploring the connections that Frost and Lynch may have had in mind while building it. They do meticulous research and they are true fans of the show. The hosts are longtime friends and it shows in their easy banter with each other. This podcast was actually what I was looking for all along. I highly recommend it.
Books & Nachos
• Episode: Twin Peaks: The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost (5/20/2017)
These guys also put out the Now Peaking podcast, a play on their regular Now Playing show, where they are doing episode recaps. All of the book reviews though are under the Books & Nachos moniker. The hosts, Arnie and Stuart, are definitely fans of show, having dedicated episodes to all of the books (see below). I believe they are the only ones to do so (apologies to Twin Peaks Unwrapped if they did one for “Diane…” and I just missed it). They’re not uber-Twin Peaks nerds, but they have good banter, they keep it light and they keep it moving.
Here are some more podcasts dedicated to the fringes of Twin Peaks canon:
The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper My Life, My Tapes
Spoiler alert: This is my favorite of the Twin Peaks related books, so it gets listed first. Given the number of podcasts dedicated to it, I’m not alone in my appreciation. Many connections to this book in particular have been observed by fans in Season 3. You’d do well to read it yourself or at least buff up your knowledge of it through these podcasts.
• Bickering Peaks – “Special Episode – My Life My Tapes” (3/30/2017)
• Bickering Peaks – “Outtake – My Life My Tapes” (3/31/2017)
• Books & Nachos – Mar 29, 2017
• The Sparkwood and 21 Podcast – Oct 13, 2015
• Twin Peaks Podcast – Episode 33 (4/7/2012)
• Twin Peaks Unwrapped – Episode 64 (8/24/2016)
Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide to the Town
The book is a tough one. I’ve owned it since buying an original copy when it came out, but I’ve never read it cover to cover. A lot of it is fluff and it’s not going to help you decipher the larger mythos of the show. But like the historical parts of The Secret History, this just gives more depth to the world of Twin Peaks. There are one or two nuggets that probably would have become plot points in the original season 3 that never came to be, so they could still play out in the Revival season 3. These podcasts will help you find those bits.
• Books & Nachos – May 3, 2017
• Deer Meadow Radio – Episode 8 – The (NOT SO) Secret History of Twin Peaks – Access Guide I
• Deer Meadow Radio – Episode 9 – Cavemen and (Amer-)Indians – Access Guide II
• Deer Meadow Radio – Episode 12 – There Will Be PACKARDS! – Access Guide III
• The Sparkwood and 21 Podcast – Jul 10, 2016
• Twin Peaks Unwrapped – Episode 66 (9/7/2016)
“Diane…”: The Twin Peaks Tapes of Agent Cooper
It’s probably a stretch to call this an audiobook. It’s a collections of audio clips pulled directly from season 1 interspersed with new clips here and there to fill in some detail. All under the premise that these are the actual clips from Agent Cooper’s tape recorder. Like all of the extracanonical material, there are continuity discrepancies, if we’re being generous. But it is Kyle MacLachlan reading everything, it’s short, and it’s freely available on archive.org.
• Books & Nachos – Mar 14, 2017
Star Pics Twin Peaks Trading Cards
I’ve written an entire article about the trading cards, so no surprise that I’m a fan of them. They were released at the same time as the Access Guide, and serve much the same purpose. They just add a little more depth and texture to the characters and town of Twin Peaks.
• The Sparkwood and 21 Podcast – Sep 19, 2015
Honorable mentions:
These podcasts went above and beyond. Give them some love.
Deer Meadow Radio – Without Executive Producer Guidance, He Points – Season 3 (1991-92) Spoilers! (5/29/2017)
- About the season 3 that might have been if Twin Peaks had not been cancelled. Neat stuff.
There Will Be Drinking Recaps Twin Peaks – Twin Cheeks Porn Parody Recap – 1991 (5/3/2017)
- Yes, of course, there was a Twin Peaks porn parody. It didn’t have much to do with the show beyond borrowing the character names, but these guys took one for the team and reviewed it anyway.
Twin Peaks Unwrapped – Episode 78 – The Return to the Log Lady Intros (11/30/2016)
- Though usually cryptic at best and completely unrelated at worst, the Log Lady intros were put together by David Lynch and are as canonical as anything else listed above.
Twin Peaks Unwrapped – Episode 99 – Georgia Coffee commercials with Takanori Higuchi (4/28/2017)
- Directed by David Lynch and using original actors and sets, the Georgia Coffee commercials are a bit of harmless fun.
