When I met Josh Minton in 2009, we immediately bonded over our shared love for television. Best Star Trek? The Next Generation. Check. Best version of Larry David? Curb Your Enthusiasm. Check. And you love Twin Peaks? Twin… what? Somewhere a cherry pie hit the floor.

I am not a judgmental person. I accept everyone. But how could someone claim to be a true television connoisseur and never have seen Twin Peaks? There are some things I just can’t accept. I set up what we affectionately called “TV night.” Every Thursday night at 8:00 for 29 weeks, we watched one episode of Twin Peaks. He asked, “Why not just watch 2 or 3 each week to finish it quickly?” I explained, “Twin Peaks is something you don’t rush.” Twin Peaks happens when you are NOT watching it. It seeps into your soul, your mind and, of course, your dreams. That doesn’t happen in a month. He is lucky I didn’t make him wait 4 months between Season 1 and 2 like I had to back in 1990.

This routine led us to creating The Red Room Podcast. Josh came up with the idea of the two of us discussing television on a podcast. We would explore and combine my strict view of television with his loose view. We launched and have been talking about TV as art ever since. It was through that podcast that I finally got to contribute to the world of Twin Peaks. It led me to making my documentary, A Voyage To Twin Peaks, and co-creating The Blue Rose Magazine with John Thorne. So I may have introduced Josh to Twin Peaks, but he introduced me to the world at large. This was how it played out from 2010 to the spring of 2017 when Twin Peaks: The Return hit Showtime. Suddenly, everything switched.

Josh was saying things like, “You can’t just binge these episodes.” Or, “You have to have the sound perfect to watch Part 8. You need to hear that bomb explode. You need to feel Nine Inch Nails.” His study was just beginning. After each part, he was experiencing what I had experienced back in 1990. Twin Peaks was not just something he was watching, but something that was changing him when he wasn’t watching it.

His path was as magical to him as Cooper’s path out of The Black Lodge. So what else could he do but share his own path with the world? That is what this book is. It is basically Josh’s rules for enjoying, processing, and feeling Twin Peaks: The Return. David Lynch is a master at creating art that makes artists want to create their own art. Art that makes you want to create art is what has kept the Twin Peaks community going strong for close to thirty years.

The other part of the show that I love is the fact that there are no answers. Later in this book, Josh will provide his answers. They aren’t ones I agree with. In 2018, that means I should never speak to him again. I should block him and burn his books while I roast a smoked cheese pig over them. This is the beauty of Twin Peaks. Everyone has a theory. Listening, arguing, and disagreeing make it and us better. I am proud that Josh has come up with something that no one else has. I disagree, but I respectfully disagree. I am excited that in a time of divisiveness we are standing brother-in-law to brother-in-law. I proudly sign my name to this theory and his book in complete and public support of his idea.

Yours Truly,
Alan Smithee