Ethical Issues in the Media
Fordham University, CLC
Prof. Joseph T. Dembo
March 8, 1993

Northern Exposure: mixing realities, avoiding the mundane, and keeping on the up and up

By: J. Cuasay

It would seem appropriate then to take an overview of some opinions about Northern Exposure in order to get a sense of how this show sits with the general population. There are many mixed reviews. Most people find it charming or entertaining and are intrigued by its unpredictability. The lukewarm view expressed by Time in their May 20, issue of 1991, saw the charisma of Northern Exposure to be in part due to its premise stating: "The show's popularity is no mystery. Northern Exposure is less a realistic picture of Alaskan life than a big-city yuppie's romantic small-town fantasy." Richard Zoglin, who wrote the article, took issue with the outlandish style of the show finding it a little too far-fetched. However, he did find Rob Morrow's portrayal of Joel - the New York Jewish, fish-out-of-water doctor to be "refreshing." A dissenting voice in Zoglin's article came from an Anchorage attorney in residence for 20 years who felt that the show gave "a good sense of this [Alaska's] isolated state." [1]

To this end, several critics and writers have voiced that Brand and Falsey have done a good job, but the shortcomings should also be taken into account. The very first episode of Northern Exposure prompted the Anchorage Daily News to run a headline with Rob Morrow's picture claiming, "This guy thinks we're a bunch of psychotic red-necks." [2] The headline had been a strong reaction to a line uttered by Joel Fleischman in the pilot episode.

Other indigenous people of Alaska made their opinions known. Tom Bodett, an Alaskan humorist stated, "The characters are lovable in their way, but they're stupider than we are in general. Their doctor always seems to be the smartest one there which is insulting to Alaskans." [3] Added to this is Daryl Graves, a practicing physician in Alaska, who commented that "the show doesn't reflect the medical and social problems of Eskimos trying to hold onto an ancient culture." [4] And finally, there is Perri Klass, also a physician, who notes that "this doctor is a reasonably clever portrait, and his blend of chutzpah and insecurity is conveyed with a good deal of wit against the background of the town where he finds himself marooned. But he's not at all the kind of doctor I want to be." [5]

Television Quarterly in its fourth issue of 1992 published an article written by another doctor in the Alaskan bush, Dr. Joel Rabkin. Rabkin took an overview of the show that was well into its second season by this time. His analyses pointed to a mythical and timeless fascination with Alaska as a boundless territory of imagination, not just in the realm of TV Land, but also in the real world where the license plates of Alaska proclaim it as "The Last Frontier". He identified with the plights of Dr. Joel Fleischman, but wanted to distance himself from his memories of how rude and insensitive he, himself, must have been early on in his training. Though Dr. Joel Rabkin signed on to National Health Scholarship Corp. like the TV character, unlike him, Rabkin looked forward to serving in Alaska - particularly for its mythic character. Rabkin goes on to corroborate that many of the depictions on the show are reasonably accurate. In fact, "The treatment of Alaska Natives on the show fits in that very broad range from the entirely believable to the utterly outlandish. But sometimes the seemingly outlandish closely resembles reality."[6] However, Rabkin is quick to separate this reality between gussocks (the Yupik Alaskan word for Caucasians) and the three different kinds of Native Americans in Alaska. In general, these Native Americans are subsistence hunters and fishermen whose life is seasonal and cyclical and much different than any social and cultural norms of urban or suburban America. In his time spent in the bush, this was the major factor that made Rabkin feel out of place on the whole. Thus, as far as the people in context with their place goes, Rabkin favored the show's portrayals as "quite plausible."[7]

Roslyn is pretty much a ghost town whose big hey-day took place several years ago when it was a coal-mining town and then a logging industry. For the most part it is a small country town with a quiet population of about 800 people. The popularity of the TV show changed all that. The first season brought with it a tremendous increase in the tourist population. On the one hand, this increase in business was quite a blessing, but on the other hand this radical change of pace for the residents wasn't always welcome. During film production residents became frustrated and annoyed by the increase in traffic and the influx of tourists. It made the small downtown area intolerable. In fact, a restaurant owner reported that she lost $8,000 the first summer because production crews had blocked her doorway.[8]

It seems that in the final Spring episode, the TV show had as its climax a sudden release of stir-crazed energy that called for a triumphant mad dash of men through the main street in the nude. Citizens of Roslyn had not been warned and were understandably appalled. The town mayor asked for a formal apology and severely reprimanded the parties involved. Coincidentally, the town also received an $11,000 fire truck as a fringe benefit of the closing season. Unfortunately though, it too didn't fit Roslyn's expectations. That is, it didn't fit in their fire house.[9]

According to the article, during the early eighties between 1980 and 1984, hour-long dramas were in fashion. In fact, during the 1983-84 seasons 13 of the 20 top shows were hour-long dramas. Eight of these made up the top 10 list. Then there was the advent of something new. The Cosby Show made television do a double take. Suddenly, it was popular to do comedy and the networks followed suit with a whole string of half-hour comedies. With the expansion of cable networks and openings in foreign markets for syndicated shows, the long-term viability of half-hour sit-coms came to be known.[10]

In a sense then, Northern Exposure could be seen as the latest development in this history of reversals. When the show was first released during the summer season, its competition was largely re-runs of comedy hits. Though the show defied simplistic notions of what drama or comedy was, the show itself definitely was different than its competitors. Critics were caught off guard and the eccentric show got rave reviews. The viewing public, which had been weaned on David Lynch's Twin Peaks took a liking to the new show. CBS decided to take a risk and requested 8 more episodes from Brand and Falsey. The show caught on and picked up a following. Jeff Sagansky, president of CBS Entertainment summarized the phenomena as follows: "This is a case where the critics and the press helped really push something, at least in the minds of the American public."[11] In agreement with the Wall Street article, The New York Times reported that this placement of hour-long dramas was just what the public needed to alleviate the giant mass of sit-coms that had grown up over the last few years.[12]

Both these articles go on further to discuss the future of such dramas as prime-time network shows move into syndication or are taken up by cable companies. Lessons learned from previous years indicate that hour-long dramas have a slimmer chance of survival. Shows such as Hill Street Blues or Dallas suffered because they had running story-lines that made it cumbersome to keep up with 5 days a week, especially when viewers already knew the outcome. Shows like Miami Vice also ran into problems when their high gloss and fashion were so in tune with the times that they outgrew their audiences as the fashions changed. Currently, the next innovative step along these lines will be the hit show Beverly Hills 90210 which plans to go directly to local stations in 1994 instead of cable. In this way, its promoters hope to avoid the fate that befell Miami Vice.[13]

In any case, what is obvious is that the life of a show must not only take into account its present popularity, but must also look at its long term future. For Northern Exposure these nuances are not without their own nest of problems. On one hand, its creators are, in the words of the New York Times "All over the map." They had their hands full with NBC and I'll Fly Away as well as on ABC with Going to Extremes. While all three shows carry the distinctive markings of these talented creators, each show is different enough to pose quite a challenge to their creative faculties.[14]

Brand and Falsey have stepped back from Northern Exposure, indicating that they intend to "remain loosely involved as advisers after their 13 episode commitment runs out next fall." [15] The troubling thing is that the show had just been contracted to complete 52 episodes. This represented good news on one hand, an increase in budget, which meant an easier workweek with higher pay. On the other, it left the cast and crew in a limbo state of wondering whether or not the remaining episodes would be up to par with the ensemble's expectations.

John Corbett, the actor who plays Cicely's philosophical DJ, expressed his reservations to the L.A. Times. "I'm not going to spend time in my life doing something I don't care about anymore. And if Josh and John abandon ship and I'm stuck here doing something that's lost vision, I'm jumping ship too. Everybody here is too good to stay with something they're not proud of." [16] Janine Turner, while ecstatic about her new found fame as Maggie and happy to have the steady work, also expressed that the request for 52 episodes placed a tremendous strain on her acting ability. Her serious approach to her acting drains her, and she complained to her therapist in NYC that "...there's not even time to cry anymore."[17]

Rob Morrow was perhaps the most distraught person caught in this time of change. When CBS extended the contract with Brand and Falsey and increased their production budget, Morrow followed suit and asked for an increase in pay. Universal Television and CBS then filed a suit against him saying he was in breach of his contract, which had an allotment for an increase in pay over a five-year period. However, Morrow claims that at the time he signed the contract he was in a desperate situation and took on the job at significantly lower pay. He even called his original contract "A Faustian Pact." His newly won popularity brought him into the starlight and considering how much other celebrities make, his asking sum was not unreasonable. Sources had speculated that he was trying to increase his salary from $20,000 per episode to $45,000. This figure is fairly moderate considering the lowest is around $35,000 and the highest has reached $250,000. Though Morrow received a lot of bad press and exaggerated coverage of his dispute, the affair was eventually settled and Morrow returned to the show without missing a day's work or losing the respect, support and understanding of the cast and crew.[18]

Aside from the vantagepoint of production concerns and network decisions, there is also the role of the viewer as a consumer of a product and a target for advertising. Viewer polls tabulated in Variety show some interesting statistics. Around 8 million women between the ages of 18 and 49 watch Northern Exposure every week. About 5.3 million men between 18 and 49 watch regularly. An additional 1 million men also turned to the show after the Monday Night football season ended. With Northern Exposure positioned at the 10 o'clock mark, advertisers hoped to win even more viewers who could catch an episode during half-time or a slow game. Advertisers made use of this knowledge. Although the show was originally encapsulated by feminine hygiene products and ads, advertisers started increasing male oriented ads. The interesting thing about Northern Exposure viewers is that they are mostly adults who are fairly intelligent and have the money to spend. They aren't the typical TV couch potato and thus they are the ideal target audience.[19] "Advertisers yearn for viewers for whom the tube is a periodic activity--generally upper-income, well educated people whose selective approach means that they have not been bombarded with commercials."[20] Peter Totorici, the executive vice-president of CBS entertainment told the NY Times that the "Brand-Falsey mixture is an effective lure for these wayward viewers."[21] That is to say then that there is more behind a popular show than simply giving the public something it can enjoy.

Brand and Falsey show the networks that talent and ingenuity supercede availability of large sums of money or high tech special effects. Good writing and good ideas seem to always pay off. Despite the hard work that it involves and the toes that get stepped on sometimes necessarily other times through carelessness, the work seems to have paid off. The production of Northern Exposure seems to be enmeshed with its folklore and local color. It seems that the place that Brand and Falsey created is the best expression from which an evaluation ought to emerge. In the words of Ron Powers, "Cicely, isn't heaven and it isn't Disneyland-on-the-tundra, but it isn't hell either."[22] That is to say, it's not a simple matter as to whether Northern Exposure is good or bad, but how well it negotiates the different realities it comes in contact with and what priorities it sets up in lieu of them.

This page hosted by Free Home Page