NORTHERN EXPOSURE

'''Northern Exposure''' was a quirky, surreal, character-driven American dramatic comedy television series. It was created by Brand-Falsey Productions, which was recognized with a rare pair of consecutive Peabody Awards in 1991-92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, the cultural clash between a transplanted New York doctor and the townspeople of fictional Cicely, Alaska"^[1] and its stories of how "people of diverse backgrounds and experiences strive to accept their differences and co-exist."¹ Critic John Leonard called ''Northern Exposure'' "the best of the best television in the past 10 years."^[2]
A total of 110 episodes of the show were produced. It received a trial run by CBS as an eight-episode summer replacement series in 1990.^2[3] It returned for seven more episodes in spring 1991, then became a regular part of the network's schedule in 1991-92, 1992-93, and 1993-94, three seasons during which the show was among the top 20 in the ratings.^[4][5][6] Its last season, 1994-95, included a gap during May sweeps when CBS broadcast other programming.

Contents

Main characters

Cast

Guest stars and recurring cast members

Production details

Thematic and technical details

Episodes

Awards

DVD releases

See also

References and footnotes

External links

Main characters

Most of the story arcs during ''Northern Exposure's'' six year tenure were character-driven, with the plots revolving around the intricacies and eccentricities of the citizens.

Cast

★ Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) was the central character, a young, New York Jewish doctor who was contractually bound to practice in the remote Alaskan town of Cicely for four years in order to repay a student loan from the state. The comedy centered originally on the clash between Fleischman's neurotic urban mindset and the easy-going, community-minded people around him. As time went on, the show focus shifted to the quirky characters of the town. Morrow left the series in the middle of the sixth (and final) season.

★ Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin) was a patriotic ex-astronaut and millionaire entrepreneur. He had arranged to bring Dr. Fleischman to the town, which previously had no physician. Determined to make tiny Cicely the next boomtown, "the cusp of the new Alaskan Riviera," Maurice was the owner of the local radio station KBHR and newspaper, as well as fifteen thousand acres (60 km²) of local land.

★ Chris Stevens (John Corbett), an ex-felon, was the disc jockey at KBHR, who interspersed the music of his morning show with musings on the nature of life and readings from such writers as Walt Whitman, Leo Tolstoy, Carl Jung and Maurice Sendak (''Where the Wild Things Are''). Chris is also Cicely's only clergyman, ordained through an advertisement in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine.

★ Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner) was a professional bush pilot and property agent. She was originally a debutante from a wealthy Grosse Pointe, Michigan automotive family. A recurring theme within the series involved Maggie's former boyfriends, who had died in bizarre accidents. She maintained a strong love-hate relationship with Fleischman. More often than not, Maggie was assertive, opininated, and confrontational with people in Cicely, but with Joel Fleischman most of all.

★ Shelly Marie Tambo Vincoeur (Cynthia Geary) was a young beauty pageant winner, "Miss Northwest Passage," brought from Saskatchewan to Cicely by Maurice, who hoped to marry her. Shortly after her arrival, she met and fell in love with the much older Holling Vincoeur. Shelly nearly became a bigamist when she almost married Holling, having previously married schoolmate and hockey player Wayne Jones, solely in order to get him to stop proposing.

★ Holling Vincoeur (John Cullum) was a sexagenarian ex-hunter and owner of 'The Brick' bar and restaurant, where he lived on the second floor with Shelly. Born in Quebec and later becoming a naturalized US citizen, he had been best friends with Maurice until they fell out over Shelly. His father and grandfather both lived to be over 100 years old, spending most of their lives as widowers despite having married much younger women. Fearing the same bitter fate, Holling forswore love until Shelly appeared. He claimed to be a direct descendant of King Louis XIV of France and attempted to distance himself as much as possible from his despotic forebears. Holling was the mayor of Cicely for 23 years, until being defeated by Edna Hancock.

★ Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows) was a mild-mannered, amiably tactless, half-Native Alaskan foundling orphan raised by an Indian tribe who worked odd jobs for Maurice. He also worked part-time at Ruth-Anne's general store. A film buff and would-be director, Ed learned everything he knew about life and the outside world from movies, especially those of Woody Allen and Federico Fellini. He was a Shaman-in-training and was occasionally visited by his invisible spirit guide, One-Who-Waits, and by his personal demon, Low Self Esteem, who resembled a leprechaun. Ed wrote, directed and produced his own film about Cicely.

★ Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips) was the septuagenarian owner of the general store. A widow, Ruth-Anne lived alone until late in the series, when she became involved with retired stockbroker and fur-trapper, Walt Kupfer.

★ Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles) was Fleischman's stoic, Native American receptionist. A comic study in contrast with her boss, Marilyn rarely spoke while Fleischman rarely stopped talking.
In the show's last season, two new characters were introduced:

★ Phil Capra (Paul Provenza) was Fleischman's replacement as town physician after his predecessor took to the wilderness. A refugee from Los Angeles, Capra was more gracious than Fleischman in a small town setting, but was even more hapless. Provenza was originally hired to take over the role of Dr. Joel Fleischman. The difference in their appearance was to be attributed to a new haircut, with Maggie O'Connell commenting "It suits you." This idea was rejected to avoid alienating Morrow's fans.

★ Michelle Schowdowski Capra (Teri Polo) was Phil's wife. She worked as a reporter on a newspaper owned by Minnifield. When he started applying editorial pressure, she decided she preferred waitressing at The Brick and had visions of Fleischman's rabbi, Schulman.
Under the increasingly darker production hand of David Chase and due to deliberate neglect by CBS (the show was moved into various time slots as part of the network's future move toward more youth-oriented programming) the show spiraled downward in 1994-95. Unexplained character trait changes, the loss of clashes that had marked Fleischman's tenure, and the departure of Morrow, resulted in a precipitous drop in the show's ratings. Chase's harsher interpretation of the show's characters became understandable several years later when he went on to produce The Sopranos.

Guest stars and recurring cast members

★ Jo Anderson was Roslyn and Jane Harris. She appeared in "Cicely" and "Learning Curve".

★ Adam Ant, a British pop star, guest starred as Brad Bonner. Brad, the lead singer of a heavy metal band, arrived in Cicely instead of his intended destination of Sicily, Italy, in the fourth season episode "Heroes".

★ Apesanahkwat was Lester Haines, the second wealthiest man in the tundra, and Maurice's business rival. He was also the father of Heather Haines, Ed Chigliak's one-time love interest.

★ Adam Arkin was Adam, an abrasive, misanthropic gourmet chef who may or may not have worked for the CIA in the past, which explains how he has so much information about everyone. His character was first introduced as a mythic legend figure, something akin to Bigfoot. People in Cicely spoke of him as a tall-tale figure at first. Adam usually had a chip on his shoulder and offered an offensive rebuttal for anyone who complimented him.

★ Elya Baskin was Nikolai in "War and Peace," a second season episode.

★ Jack Black was Kevin Wilkins, 1/3 of the senior graduating class of Cicely High School.

★ Richard Cummings Jr. was Bernard Stevens, Chris' "half-brother and spiritual doppelgänger." Their relationship extended beyond being merely half-brothers, as they also shared dreams, emotions, and thoughts. They had the same birthday and birth year, making them "twins," despite having different mothers, one white and the other black. Their father was a "travellin' man," whose double life was exposed only after his death.

★ Diane Delano was Sergeant Barbara Semanski, an Alaskan state trooper and gun enthusiast, and the on-again/off-again love interest of Maurice Minnifield.

★ Anthony Edwards was, for a brief time, the hyper-allergic lawyer Mike Monroe, called "The Bubble Man" by the citizens of Cicely at first. Mike came to Alaska to escape the pollution that gave him multiple chemical sensitivity. Maggie O'Connell, attracted by Mike's show of courage in battling his "illness," encouraged him to come out of his airtight house more often, and they briefly became a couple. In an apparent inversion of "Maggie's Curse," Mike's symptoms suddenly vanished, whereupon he left to join a Greenpeace ship at Murmansk.

★ Grant Goodeve was Rick, Maggie O'Connell's first season boyfriend, who died at the end of the second season when an errant satellite fell on him during a camping trip. After his death, it was revealed that he was a compulsive sexual addict who cheated on Maggie with hundreds of other women.

★ Graham Greene was Leonard Quinhagak, the native medicine man and Ed's mentor.

★ Bill Irwin (actor) was, Enrico Ballati, The Flying Man, a circus performer who wooed Marilyn. Irwin, a consummate clown known for his mime and physical comic talents, was perfect for this role which had little dialoge. The character almost never spoke and communicated through hand gestures and body language.

★ Mickey Jones was Tooley in "Heroes," a season four episode.

★ Valerie Mahaffey won an Emmy Award in 1992 for portraying Adam's hypochondriac wife Eve, an heiress to a tungsten fortune. Eve and Adam spent part of each year as jet-setters and part as near-hermits in a cabin near Cicely. She and Adam eventually had a child together.

★ James Marsters was Reverend Harding and a Bellhop.

★ Jerry Morris was Earl the Barber. He was a frequent background extra and was the real owner of the barbershop used in the television series.

★ Moultrie Patten was Walter "Walt" Kupfer, a salty trapper and love interest of Ruth Anne Miller.

★ Yvonne Suhor was Cicely. The town was named after her. She was the lover of Roslyn. She appeared in the third season episode "Cicely".

★ Floyd Westerman was One-Who-Waits, Ed Chigliak's spirit guide, the ghost of a long-dead chief.

★ William J. White was Dave, the Native American cook at the Brick.
See also: List of Northern Exposure cast members

Production details

The town of Cicely is patterned after the real town of Talkeetna, Alaska. The main street of Cicely and the filming location was actually that of Roslyn, Washington. The Roslyn vicinity is currently being developed as the large, master-planned resort of Suncadia. Until recent years, an annual gathering of ''Northern Exposure'' fans was held each year in Roslyn. Known as Moosefest, it was traditionally held the last weekend of July, and often featured some former cast members. An "informal" Moosefest was held in 2006, and others are planned for 2007 and 2008.^{[7] [8]}
Prior to producing ''Northern Exposure'', Joshua Brand and John Falsey created the popular television program ''St. Elsewhere''. Series producer and writer David Chase went on to produce, amongst other things, ''The Sopranos''.
The moose in the opening titles was provided by the Columbus Zoo near Columbus, Ohio. Apparently, they didn't have any local moose tame enough to co-operate in the filming.

Thematic and technical details

''Northern Exposure's'' flavor came from a combination of various influences. The show’s creators, Joshua Brand and John Falsey, were members of the Esalen Institute in California where an eclectically "spiritual" worldview was presented, best exemplified in the writings of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung and American anthropologist/mythologist Joseph Campbell (whose works are frequently referenced in the series). There are also fantasy elements inherited from the works of Carlos Castaneda and the magical realism novels and stories of Latin American author Gabriel García Márquez. Both creators were also conversant with classical Russian Literature. This characteristic is evident in the satirical elements from the show that are hallmarks of the Russian literary grotesque style of such authors as Gogol and Dostoevsky.
The show made frequent use of dream and fantasy sequences and other dense imagery. There were many similarities with the television program ''Twin Peaks''. In episode 5 of the first season, there are multiple references to key elements of Twin Peaks, such as cherry pie, coffee and the Log Lady character. The scenes were shot using music similar to Twin Peaks and the same slow, ethereal direction and self-consciously obtuse dialogue popularized by David Lynch.

Episodes

See List of Northern Exposure episodes

Awards

Over the course of Northern Exposure's run, the series was nominated for over fifty Emmy Awards and multiple Golden Globe awards. In addition, Joshua Brand and John Falsey received two Peabody Awards, in 1991 and 1992, sharing the latter award with CBS and Finnegan-Pinchuk Company.
The show's other awards include:

★ Emmy Award (1992), Joshua Brand and John Falsey, Outstanding Drama Series.

★ Emmy Award (1992), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Valerie Mahaffey.

★ Emmy Award (1992), Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Drama Series for "Seoul Mates."

★ Golden Globe (1993), Best Drama series.

★ Golden Globe (1994), Best Drama series.

★ Directors Guild Award (1993), Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Shows, "Cicely"

DVD releases

The DVD sets, which were released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment, have caused controversy among the show's fans, both for their high prices and for the changes to the soundtrack introduced in order to lower their costs.[1] The release of season 1 contained the original music, but retailed for $60 due to the cost of music licensing. Subsequent seasons replaced some of the music resulting in a lower cost release. The first and second seasons were also re-released together in packaging that matches the third through sixth seasons.

Title	Region 1	Region 2
The Complete First Season	May 25 2004	May 21 2001[9]
The Complete Second Season	November 30 2004	May 9 20059
The Complete Third Season	June 14 2005	January 30 20069
The Complete Fourth Season	March 28 2006	July 31 20069
The Complete Fifth Season	November 13 2006	January 22 20079
The Complete Sixth Season	March 6 2007	June 25 20079
The Complete First & Second Seasons	May 9 2006[10]	N/A
Seasons 1, 2, 3, & 4	N/A	November 20 2006[11]
The Complete Series (Seasons 1 - 6)	November 13 2007	October 8 2007[12]

See also

★ ''Men in Trees'', a more recent series with similarities to ''Northern Exposure''

References and footnotes

1. http://www.peabody.uga.edu/archives/
2. Producing Northern Exposure from the website for the book ''Two Aspirins and a Comedy'' (ISBN 1594511551)
3. Review/Television; As Networks Go Rural, CBS Goes a Bit Further, an April 1991 article in ''The New York Times''
4. http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/ratings/1991_1992.htm
5. http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/ratings/1992_1993.htm
6. http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/ratings/1993_1994.htm
7. http://www.moosefest.org/About.html
8. http://www.moosefest.org/index.html
9. The Region 2 DVD has different cover art
10. DVD available only in region 1
11. DVD available only in region 2
12. http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B000TV5LIG/ref=s9_asin_image_1-1966_p/203-2259675-0978346?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1FVZXGJEB2DWHQFMXBRQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=139042191&pf_rd_i=468294

External links

★ Northern Exposure DVDs at Universal Studios