Everyone has heard ofMulholland DriveandTwin Peaks, but can you be considered a trueDavid Lynchfan if you’ve never seen his 1992 sitcomOn the Air? Don’t worry — it’s extremely unlikely that anyone else has seen it either, considering the show ran for only seven episodes, with just three of those airing in the United States. ButOn the Airis no longer a cryptic piece of lost media —it’s now available to stream completely for free, which means you have the perfect opportunity to one-up all of your pretentious, film-loving friends.
Created by Lynch along with hisTwin Peakscollaborator, Mike Frost,On the Airran from June 20 to July 21, 2025. Three out of the seven episodes were broadcast in the U.S. on ABC, but thefull duration of the show’s first and only season was aired in the United Kingdom and other European countries.
Since its cancellation,On the Airhas remained largely in the shadow of the far more popularTwin Peaks, which premiered around the same time. However,all seven episodes of the underground seriesare now available for free on the Internet Archive, rescuingOn the Airfrom becoming truly lost in the depths of the internet.
In many ways,On the Airwas a Lynch classic:absurd and often satirical, yet still containing hopeful glimmers of human spirit. The series followed a fictional television network from the 1950s, Zoblotnick Broadcasting Company, in their generally disastrous attempts to produce a live variety show. Though he rarely discussedOn the Air— possibly out of embarrassment due to its failure —Lynch did have this to say regarding the show:
“Absurdity is what I like most in life, and there’s humor in struggling in ignorance. If you saw a man repeatedly running into a wall until he was a bloody pulp, after a while it would make you laugh because it becomes absurd. But I don’t just find humor in unhappiness – I find it extremely heroic the way people forge on despite the despair they often feel.”
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What Happened toOn the Air?
Although Lynch’s undisputed masterpieceTwin Peakswas canceled due to negative critical and executive reviews,it managed to attract a devout cult following from everyday audiences, thus ensuring its longevity and eventual revival in 2017.
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Conversely,On the Airseemedto fail on both of those fronts. The show never gathered a substantial number of viewers, and those who did watch it had mostly lukewarm or outright dismal reactions. Some thought it was just too weird — an admittedly common reaction to Lynch’s works — but even those who appreciatedOn the Air’s offbeat humorfound it repetitive and exhausting as the show progressed. “In fact, each episode repeatedallof the gags, which is the show’s biggest problem,” one critic wrote.
On the Airdid earn a few fans, as few and far between as they were. “Visual gags combined with wild sound effects and violent slapstick to give the show a style quite unlike other television programmes,” another viewer described. “Seven out of ten for effort. Ten out of ten for weirdness.” In other words, it may not be as refined as his later works, butOn the Airis undoubtedly Lynchian all the way through.
Modern viewers have also noted some visual and narrative elements that can be seen in Lynch’s later works, suggesting thatOn the Airwas ultimately a more experimental project, allowing Lynch to stretch his directorial muscles. The lead inOn the Air’s fictional variety show, for example, is a down-on-his luck filmmaker, seemingly sparkingLynch’s fixation with depicting the act of filming itself, which he goes on to explore further inMulholland DriveandLost Empire.
In one episode, several characters are shrunk down to a height of just a few inches — a mechanic that would return, albeit in a far more chilling context, inMulholland Drive. Even if the show itself isn’t particularly monumental, it is interesting, at the very least, tosee Lynch’s progression from an indie director to a renowned filmmaker, and to see the roots of some of his most beloved projects.
On the Air
