‘Twin Peaks’ Is Way Out of the Academy’s Range : Television: As the networks boast fresh ideas for fall, the academy ignores a direction-setter.

TV or not TV. . . .

PIQUED: Let’s put it this way: TV viewers will remember “Twin Peaks” a lot longer than the standard-issue Emmy Awards show that ignored and humiliated it Sunday night.

What an irony: Here’s the august Academy of Television Arts & Sciences slapping down a true breakout show at the very moment the TV industry is starting a new season boasting that it’s offering viewers fresh new program ideas.

And what show influenced that new direction most? Why, “Twin Peaks,” of course.

Oh, except maybe for “The Simpsons”--which, naturally, also got the short end. Because it’s animated, TV academy rules barred it from competing for best comedy and also best comedy writing.

But “The Simpsons” really showed its stuff with the best comedy moments of the Emmy Awards--those explosively funny animated sequences geared to the telecast.

If the new episodes of “The Simpsons,” which start in October, are as funny as the snippets Sunday, don’t be surprised if the series moves in really tight on the competing “Cosby Show,” or even overtakes it.

Back to “Twin Peaks.” Can you believe that David Lynch’s direction of the show’s classic two-hour pilot actually lost out to an episode of “Equal Justice” (which tied in the directing category with “thirtysomething”)?

Now, “Equal Justice” was a decent series, but the Lynch pilot is one of the finest films in TV history.

Well, glad we got that off our chest.

Now, the numbers game. Fox’s Emmy telecast did OK in overnight ratings for major TV markets, drawing 19% of the audience. That’s not a huge audience, but Fox has fewer and smaller affiliate stations, and its Emmy share was up over its overnight figures for the show the last two years.

Topping the Emmys in the overnights, however, were “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” the premiere of “America’s Funniest People,” “Murder, She Wrote” and Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movie “Sudden Impact.”

FAST FORWARD: Would you believe that Simon & Schuster has a new “Twin Peaks” audio cassette of the immortal messages that FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) speaks into his tape recorder for his unseen secretary, Diane? Try a book shop. Priceless.

“PEAKS” FREAKS: Then there’s the new “Twin Peaks” book “The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer”--the show’s murdered high school beauty--written by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of co-executive producer David Lynch.

BRAND X: Given agent Cooper’s passionate descriptions of good coffee and pie, how about a couple of food products called . . . well, how’s “Damn Fine Coffee” and “Damn Fine Pie”? Hey, I’d buy them.

TIME OUT: No, KTLA Channel 5 hasn’t dumped its “Twilight Zone” reruns. It’s just giving them a rest until the annual Thanksgiving “Twilight Zone” marathon.

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL: “Midnight Caller” is one of TV’s best series, and if it doesn’t click in its tough new 10 p.m. slot Fridays, NBC should move it. It’s a pity that classy co-star Wendy Kilbourne is leaving permanently after the Nov. 2 episode to have a baby. Lisa Eilbacher replaces her in the moody, weekly hour starring Gary Cole as a late-night radio host.

COPS: You can decide Wednesday how you like Stepfanie Kramer’s replacement, Darlanne Fluegel, as Fred Dryer’s new partner in the NBC police series “Hunter.” If you watched “Crime Story,” you’ll recall Fluegel as star Dennis Farina’s estranged wife, Julie.

PLUGGED: Why should a dignified anchor like KTLA’s Hal Fishman have to shill for entertainment shows that follow his newscast, saying, “ ‘Taxi’ coming up next” as he signs off? It’s routine plugola for local anchors. Don’t they know that Walter Cronkite, among others, simply refused to have anything to do with commercial announcements during the news?

BONERS: The TV academy was wrong not to have given an Emmy nomination to Ed O’Neill for “Married . . . With Children,” wrong not to have nominated Gary Cole of “Midnight Caller,” wrong not to have nominated Roseanne Barr for “Roseanne” and wrong not to have nominated Lane Smith for his performance as Richard Nixon in “The Final Days.”

COMER: What a fine young actor Corin (Corky) Nemec is in Fox’s new high school comedy, “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.” In case you hadn’t noticed, he played the title role in the smashing NBC miniseries “I Know My First Name Is Steven,” and he was outstanding in Eddie Murphy’s CBS comedy special, “What’s Alan Watching?”

LITERACY TEST: In a promo for a Bob Costas interview show with Audrey Meadows, KNBC Channel 4 spelled her name “Audry.” Good help is hard to find.

BOOM TOWN: “The New Tijuana” is an hour KCET Channel 28 documentary Sept. 28, narrated by director Luis Valdez and tracing the evolution of the border city.

UNHEALTHY AIR: CBS’ new series about a team of environmental protectors, “E.A.R.T.H. Force,” should be recycled fast.

TITLE REPORT: When the CBS Western series “Paradise,” starring Lee Horsley, returns this season, it’ll be called “Guns of Paradise.” Which may be a tip-off. Hope so. “Lonesome Dove” showed that there’s still a TV audience for a gritty Western.

MOVIOLA: After “Field of Dreams” tonight, CBS continues to count big on its strong film package in the November sweeps--”Fatal Attraction” on Nov. 4, “Uncle Buck” on Nov. 13 and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” on Nov. 20. Of course, a couple of hit series would be better.

ANNIVERSARY WALTZ: “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” debuted 20 years ago Wednesday. Do you remember how it ended in 1977? New management took over the TV station and, in an effort to improve ratings, fired everyone on the newsroom staff except the dumb, egocentric anchor. I tell you, folks, that was some smart series.

Say good night, Gracie. . . .