4. It Set The Benchmark For Many Great Cult Shows That Followed
Pre The X Files, David Duchovny had a recurring role in the second season of Twin Peaks as transvestite FBI agent Dennis / Denise and without that show his own series may not have had such the impact it had. Twin Peaks perfectly blended the supernatural with real world drama, something The X Files did so brilliantly for nine years (with the occasional later hit or miss on occasion). Supernatural, horror and fantasy suddenly became mainstream and two years after the show ended, we were introduced Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. From there you could argue that everything from Joss Whedon's Buffy The Vampire Slayer (with it's blend of horror and high school) to JJ Abrahms' Alias (Spies and Supernatural mysteries) became possible. Talking of JJ Abrams, Alias may have been his greatest show (at least for the first couple of seasons) but it was his follow up show Lost that had the massive audiences, hooked week by week by the mysteries surrounding The Others and the smoke monster alongside dubious pasts and complicated relationships. It all came full circle with Fringe, who even seemed to acknowledge Twin Peaks within it's own universe. That's a lot of great shows for Twin Peaks to rest on it's shoulders, but deservedly so and as such, isn't it the perfect time to go back to the mother of all modern supernatural templates?