Apologies if this has been discussed before. I had a quick look for a post and couldn't find one.

Episode 3:

Cooper sits down to breakfast with Harry and Lucy and begins to tell them of his dream. He then begins to tell the story of Mike and Bob... lived above convenience store... tattoo on one arm... Bob vowed to kill again so Mike shot him.

Now, keeping in mind the obvious differences between the dream sequences of the 'closed ending' pilot and Episode 2...

I was wondering if anyone knew of the intention here?

Is he possibly referring to the 'closed ending' in which we see Bob being killed?

Is this some way of tying in the television series to an overseas audience which has seen said 'closed ending'?

Thoughts and ideas, please... 

I don't think it is supposed to "refer" to anything; it's my understanding that an overseas audience never actually saw the extended pilot ending the way it was originally intended because the series was actually picked up by ABC in the states.  The VHS version released by Warner came later, and with it, the extended version.

Here are some other places where this topic has been discussed.  I post these here not to curtail your topic, jamie, just to add to it.

http://www.2000revue.com/community/topic.cfm?topicid=3326

http://www.2000revue.com/community/topic.cfm?topicid=3435

Yeah I remember those. But couldn't find anything there that gave me any ideas.

My point being, I guess, was it an accidental reference that Cooper mentions Bob being killed?

Though the answer may be a simple 'yes' or 'no' the 'implications could be far reaching.  

Are you suggesting that if the writers weren't accidentally mentioning something the audience had never seen, they may have been planting a plot seed for later that was never used (either it fell by the wayside in favor Leland's death etc., or they were going to use that as an emergency wrap up if the show couldn't be completed?)

It's also possible that felt they couldn't explicitly show BOB's confession ep. 2 dream- mainly because BOB is still alive, but also because Coop has to remember what the letters under the nails were spelling- but they had to mention what happened in order for Cooper to follow the clues that he does. In episode 4, Cooper mentions Mike's convenience store clue from his dream that's also not seen.

I never thought about it because I saw the US pilot before I watched the series, and understood this conversation as Cooper writing off everything in the pilot as a dream, for the benefit of those who had seen the pilot and were all "huh?". He follows the line you refer to with an explanation of the random and mysterious nature of dreams, so the audience can infer symbolism or precognition etc.

It's an interesting point, especially since many people are seeing the pilot for the first time again, this conversation seems to be intended for those who have, and not the show's 1990 TV viewers.

I thought it was odd they mention the death of Bob, as if the revelation of his character had not been fully developed into the plot. [Which by the way, would be easy to understand as it appears to me as if a lot of the show had been improvised somewhat.]

And being that Episode 3 is part of the tv series, why would they make reference to parts of the 'closed ending' when no one (watching the tv series) had seen it.

I like your idea though how it was scripted in but possibly didn't develop into what had been intended. 

Thanks Rainbow.