On the Air

I have long been a fan of David Lynch's work on film and his "Twin Peaks" television series. This very short-lived 6-episode series now qualifies as simply a curiosity - something any true David Lynch fan should probably see once, but that anyone else could probably take or leave. As I read from another reviewer, the only thing similar in tone to this is Steven Spielberg's 1979 semi-flop "1941." I do not dislike either that film or this series, but they won't appeal to a sophisticated comedy connosseur. Both are loud, sometimes obnoxious slapstick pieces with a great eye for historical detail, and plenty of gags involving slipping on banana peels, things falling down, mistaken identity, and other cartoonish props. The highlights of the episodes are the dazzling set design and, not surprisingly, Lynch's injections of bona fide weirdness, such as a mostly-absent narrator who makes the same character introductions each and every episode, and more of Lynch's fetish for red curtains (he seems to put them in virtually everything he makes; there was even a character in "Twin Peaks" whose only known characteristic was an obsession with the curtains in her trailer). But the true sign that this was a Lynch production is a set of conjoined twins that show up almost randomly each episode (like Kenny's deaths in the "South Park" series) and walk around the set saying nothing but "Hurry Up!" over and over again. Other characters even refer to them as the Hurry-Up Twins!! Man, Lynch is one twisted genius.

I knew it wouldn't last, I loved it just too much. Television does that to me all the time. This was such a wonderful bizarre comedy. What there was of it. Miguel Ferrer performed with such serious, straight-faced intensity. Will I ever get to see all seven episodes?

There is a kind of transcendent brilliance here, enhanced all the more by the project never having been finished so it's an open thread that vanishes. It's one of several ideas Lynch pitched for TV while Twin Peaks was hot, for whatever reason this one was given the go ahead.

We have only a small portion, 5 episodes plus 2 with Lynch's involvement for a total of 7. Only a handful of these aired before it was pulled. It's such a weird thing we're lucky we even got this small bit. Unsuspecting viewers would have stumbled upon it for two weeks one summer and then it vanished into air as strangely as it had appeared, and was it a prank of some kind? A glitch in programming? Was it a bit of latenight mischief that some odd soul managed to sneak into the airwaves while no one was looking?

And this is what the actual show is about. A TV show about a TV show being made that should have been harmless entertainment but mischievous forces conspire to throw a crank in the gears. The show goes awry every night - staging gear intrude upon the scene, the diva's entrance is foiled by doors, the suave protagonist of the show made a fool of, producers are flummoxed.

In the episodes without Lynch's involvement, you can see it devolve into farce and slapstick. The result is still the same as in the episodes with Lynch on board - the machinery of narrative collapse on the stage in a pile of magical chance and human buffoonery - but it's writers taking these characters and bumping them around without agency in the collapse.

It's Lynch's portion that you have to see; preferably you'll see it all, how Lynch envisions agency in the pilot, then go through the next few to see how it's harmless fun without his input. He returns again for the last one as writer only but you'll know he's there in spirit.

The protagonist of the show-within is Lester Guy, a sly charmer past his heyday. The real protagonist in Lynch's conception is his blonde simpleton costar, Betty.

Something else is taking place in his episodes. Anxieties of this innocently goofy soul - opening day anxieties in the pilot, not being able to remember the name of her mother in the last - create the dreamlike machine that collapses, spontaneously erupting with visions of that anxiety?

I watched with marvel. Somehow in all the furiously goofy stuff, Lynch manages to evoke a fragile soul who is terribly unsure about her place on that stage where life should have been without blemish, controlled, carefree.

It even adds that we have only this small bit without the James subplots that TV demands to drag its feet through whole seasons. You can imagine that she has a home somewhere that she comes back to, dreaming is she even Betty and does she perhaps have a husband who is going behind her back?

It has rocketed among my favorite works by Lynch and in general. It's the same noir god in the machine that creates Betty's world in Mulholland Drive.

A gem that was too good to make it, just like Twin Peaks. I happen to have all 7 episodes on tape, as they were released briefly in the early 990's to capitalize on Lynch's popularity at the time. I watch them a least once a year, they're a nice antidote to most of the so-called comedies on TV now. Such great performances from Miguel Ferrar, David L Lander, and a hilarious appearance by the old Lynch standby Freddie Jones (Mr. Bytes in "The Elephant Man") as a pompous, over soused Brit from the stage who will remind you of every self-important actor you've ever met. As it goes in the world of TV, it was not meant to be. It is one of those shows that would have been nurtured by HBO or Showtime had they produced it. What makes it so achingly funny is how serious everyone plays it. If you've ever seen "Noises Off", this is as close to a sitcom as that show can ever come.

When I accidentally caught the pilot episode of "On The Air" on ABC in 1992, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was 13 years old at the time and up to this point, no TV show had ever made me laugh out loud. It just wasn't something I did, even when I thought something was funny. Then came "On The Air."

Watching this show for the first time was like taking a trip to some other universe. I couldn't stop laughing, and I'm talking about that annoying, over the top, tears in the eyes laughing. It was totally and completely out of control! It felt GREAT! I had never seen anything even remotely similar to this before and I knew in the first few minutes that I had just discovered my new favorite show. I'm still kicking myself for having missed the opportunity to record it.

I waited faithfully every week for "On The Air" to come on channel 4. Then one week, after only 3 episodes, "On The Air" did not air. In it's place was some stupid game show or something. I don't remember, I was too upset. I paned and started combing the TV Guides to see if maybe the show had been moved to another day or time. Alas, it was not to be. My new favorite show had been ripped out from under without any warning. I NEVER forgot this show after that, and until I found the posts on this site today, I literally thought I could very well be the only person on Earth who remembered this show.

With any luck, the show will eventually be released on DVD in attempts to recoup the losses. I'll be the first in line to buy a set. Why would a station dump such a good show? The only thing I can figure is that, and to use a classic cliché, it was simply way ahead of it's time. If this show were new today (and probably on a network like FOX) it's pretty obvious that it would be a much bigger success. Maybe we should start a petition to re-run the show? Does anyone know how to do this?