The Past Week: TWIN PEAKS, BETTER CALL SAUL, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

The Past Week: Twin Peaks, Better Call Saul, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Summer of 69: No Apostrophe

A lot has happened in the world of film during the past week, but the developments that most warrant our attention occurred in the realm of television. With beloved cult properties set to return to the small screen after years off the air, new seasons of modern favorites ready to premiere, and comedians taping specials for broadcast, there is much to keep an eye out for. As if this wasn’t enough for viewers, one of cinema’s most celebrated creative partnerships is preparing to make their first original TV production.

Twin Peaks Gets Premiere Date And Teaser

A year after Showtime commenced work on its highly-anticipated reboot of Twin Peaks, the network has finally announced a premiere date for the series. Picking up some 25 years after the conclusion of the show’s second season, the first episode of the third season will debut on Sunday, May 21st. While this admittedly isn’t that long of a wait as far as cult series’ reboots go, the wait will nevertheless be painful for devotees of the David Lynch drama like myself.

However, Showtime has thrown fans a much-needed bone and released a teaser, which can be viewed on Comingsoon.net. It clocks in a little over 30 seconds and has no dialogue, but the opening chords of “Falling”, the show’s impossibly-beautiful theme, and the silent-but-heartfelt presence of Kyle MacLachlan‘s Agent Dale Cooper perfectly conveys the message that Twin Peaks is back and just as we remembered.

Giancarlo Esposito To Return For Better Call Saul

One of the many strengths of AMC‘s Breaking Bad was the depth given to the show’s numerous supporting characters as well as the ability of the actors who portrayed them to convey it. One of the best examples of this was none other than Gus Fring, the Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant head and drug lord who was played by Giancarlo Esposito and served as the primary antagonist for much of the series. An adversary very much worthy of Bryan Cranston‘s Walter White, Fring proved to be as magnetic as he was ruthless, exuding a calm, hypnotic quality right up until his brilliant-but-no-less-bittersweet demise.

But with the emergence of the prequel series Better Call Saul, the character is slated to return and interact with Jimmy McGill (aka Saul Goodman before he became Saul Goodman) in the program’s planned third season. According to Variety, Fring will not only be younger, but less experienced as well, meaning we will get to see another side of him that we only caught glimpses of in Breaking Bad.

Coen Brothers To Produce The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs

It’s common to hear people refer to today as a golden age for television, and it’s not hard to see why. With A-list actors increasingly expressing interest in appearing and even producing them and budgets for shows increasing to levels that rival small film productions, the prominence of the medium continues to grow. This development has been noticed by filmmakers as well, with Martin Scorsese, J.J. Abrams, and, as Comingsoon.net reports, the Coen Brothers.

I’ve been a fan of the Coens’ work since high school – I remember agonizing over the fact that no theaters in my area were playing A Serious Man when it first came out – so pretty much anything they do is enough to get my attention. Although they aren’t strangers to TV per se given their roles as executive producers on Fargo, they have never made a production meant first and foremost for TV. This is why The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a Western anthology from the Coens not attached to any network at the moment, is definitely something to keep abreast of.

Epix To Release Summer Of 69: No Apostrophe

One last bit of news I would like to leave you with is yesterday’s news from Variety that Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally finished taping their stage production Summer of 69: No Apostrophe for Epix, which will air it on May 19th. As a member of the special’s audience last night, I can assure you that it is one of the funniest things you will see this year and one you will not want to miss when it finally comes around!