I watched the show when it first came out, and as I remember, the general feeling was a split between those who said, "awww, what a cop-out, this show has gotten too weird, forget it, my viewership ends here!" and those like me who were put a little off guard, but were willing to see where it went.  In the end, the supernatural parts I liked the best, as it gave (and still does give, 18 years to the day after Laura Palmer's murder (how geeky am I?)) me the chills and the delicious fear of the unknown!

I think the introduction of the supernatural was what sealed the show's demise (along with no whodunit at the end of the first season) to the general public.  It was too bad there weren't enough fans who loved the show enough to give it the continued buzz it needed to stay stay on.  I think if there had been a such thing as cable tv series back then, it would have done exceptionally well and lasted a lot longer on say Showtime or HBO. Unfortunately it was on ABC and you never knew it was on.  I enjoyed Kimmie Robertson's take (in the Gold Box special features) on how there were still people who wanted to watch it, but never knew when it was on.  "You can see it at 8:00 on Sunday mornings, before you go to church."

The supernatural element is what solidified my interest in the show, though the creepiness of Coop pulling the letter out from under Laura's fingernail also helped (pretty cutting edge for TV back then, I think). It wouldn't be the same show without the supernatural. Without it, the only "magic" left that Lynch loved about the town of Twin Peaks is simply the quirkiness of her residents (which is also good, but just the icing on the cake). The way Lynch pretty much improvised the entire Twin Peaks mythos on a daily basis is what makes the show such an example of genius.

There ain't enough strange sh!t on TV, damnit!

I agree. I can understand some complaints about the writing quality of Season Two. However that's when we got a nice facefull of Leland's dark side (though possessed), not to mention the single-most lengthy exploration of the Lodges during the series with the finale.

Maybe there was more of the supernatural in Season Two than Season One; if so, I guess that would turn off those who don't care for that kind of stuff. But bitter endings for protagonists tend to add to the longevity of stories.

  Well, for my part, I love most of the second season & I just could not live without the supernatural aspects of TP. From pilot down to episode 16 the series are solid gold. The crap part of the second season is episodes 17-24. Then, in ep. 25 it picks up again pretty nicely and the following last eps are great. It's different than it used to be, but still great. Like most us here seem to, I rank the filnal ep as one of my favorites.

In the narrative of TP there's like these two alternate reality-tunnels happening at the same time. In other "dimension" everything has natural explanation and the paranormal stuff is used as metaphor really. Then there's this other "dimension" where there really is some spooky paranormal spirit possession business going on. TP was not the first nor the last having a way like this, but this sort of duality was & is the master idea of the show, for me anyway. It would have been perfect if they could have kept it somewhere there in between of the natural and the supernatural all the way. And that's what they ALMOST managed to do.

So, yes, I like the supernatural elements. The show would not be what it is & not as great without them. Off course, with the natural explanation to WKLP the show makes more sense but without the spirits, lodges, dwarves and giants & the sense of mystery & that hanging in the suspense of WHAT IF, it would never strike me the way it does now.

"What credit card do you want to put that on?"
"Caash, prease."

I don't.

A soap opera about a police investigation without the supernatural could be a good show also, but one of the reasons I love TP just happens to be the supernatural mumbojumbo part.
 

I was around 12 or 13 when I first saw this show. When it finally got to the supernatural stuff I remember being actually kinda thrilled by it. I remember thinking "Whoa, this is cool!". Then of course, I had horrible nightmares ;)

Watching it now as a whole, I think it all fits in quite well. Remember, Sarah was having visions of BOB in Season 1, so the supernatural element was there in the beginning. Plus, when Truman introduces Cooper to the concept of the "Bookhouse Boys", he laments about "something dark, out in those woods" or words to that effect. Even later in Season 2, when he questions the existence of BOB, he's still known from the beginning that something wasn't quite right about those Pacific Northwestern woods...

The reason it probably felt so abrubt when it finally came to the forefront, was because Lynch was forced by the network to wrap the Laura Palmer mystery up, so they could broadcast the episode during the Sweepstakes (a move which ironically, ended up killing the show IMO). So what Lynch was planning for the final ever episode of the show (which had it not solved the murder so quickly, probably could've continued for at least another 4 or 5 seasons), had to be done a few episodes into the SECOND season. At the absolute critical apex of the show's prime.

I think it was always planned that way, but because of interfering network executives, he just had to drop his fate d' accompli a lot sooner than he wanted too. Perhaps this is what makes it so noticeable?

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

I was in college when this who came out, and I remember my friends and I, though completely hooked by the series, being rather thrown for a loop when a heavy supernatural element was thrown in for the first time with Cooper's apparent dream sequence. For the next several days, we were all asking each other, "This is just a dream right? This show isn't going to turn supernatural, is it?" Some of those friends in fact dropped out of the show when it became evident that the supernaturalism was going to be a permanent element, but I kept watching.

After Leland's death, there's a very nice scene where the realist Truman, even though he's long been aware of the "evil in the woods", is trying to wrap his head around the concept of Leland being possessed by a demon and tells Cooper, "I'm having a hard time believing." Cooper replies, and I'm paraphrasing, "How about a man raping and murdering his own daughter, Harry? Is that any easier to accept?" I always kind of interpreted that scene as encouragement to the viewer to read as much or little supernaturalism into the series as suited that viewer's particular tastes. That became impossible, of course, as the supernatural elements ran rampant for the remainder of the series, especially the final episode and then the movie.

The supernatural elements of Twin Peaks were like the spice added to the stew.  As long as you had the meat (the mystery aspect) and the potatoes(the human drama) the spice (supernatural) enhanced everything.

 I always use this comparison with Twin Peaks :: What if the hound in Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskerville's was a real demon? Would that make it any less of a mystery? Would that make it any less of a problem for Sherlock Holmes to deal with? In my opinion, no, the story would be the same.