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Northern
Exposure, perhaps the best example to date of a crossbred television
"dramedy," began inauspiciously as a CBS replacement series in the
summer of 1990 and quickly garnered critical acclaim as well as
an audience sufficient to warrant its return for a short stint the
following year. Its popularity grew, and for its first complete
season, 1991-92, Exposure received ratings in the top twenty, the
Emmy for Best Television Drama, and an unusual, two-year commitment
from the network. During its fourth full year, 1994-95, the show's
future appeared questionable. The mid-season departure of one of
its key players, Rob Morrow, and a move from its established, Monday
night time slot to Wednesday, contributed to a decline in ratings
and reputation. The program was canceled by the network at the end
of the season.
Set in the fictional hamlet of Cicely, Alaska, this unique, contemporary,
hour-long series was created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, whose
earlier brainchild, St. Elsewhere, had also become a surprise
hit. Location shooting in and around the towns of Roslyn and Redmond,
Washington offered scenic panoramas invoking cultural images of
unspoiled American frontier. Into this haven comes the proverbial
"fish out of water," Joel Fleischman (Morrow), compelled to serve
as town doctor in order to repay the state of Alaska for his medical
school tuition. His initial disdain for Cicely's outwardly unsophisticated
inhabitants is exceeded only by his desire to return to his beloved
Big Apple where his ambition, cosmopolitan tastes, and Jewishness
might have free reign.
The frontier theme is extended and personified in many of the town's
multi-cultural, multi-generational denizens. Former astronaut and
wealthy entrepreneur Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin) is forever
devising ways to exploit Cicely's natural wonders. No-nonsense septuagenarian
Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips) operates Cicely's General Store,
where Native American Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows) helps out
while aspiring to be a filmmaker and, eventually, a shaman. Broadway
star John Cullum plays French-Canadian immigrant Holling Vincoeur,
who owns and manages Cicely's watering hole, The Brick. He is assisted
by girlfriend-turned-wife Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary), an ex-beauty
queen some forty years his junior. Joel's receptionist, Marilyn
Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), orients her "boss," a man of science,
to her Native American customs and spirituality while keeping him
in line with the slightest grimace or glare. Chris Stevens (John
Corbett), ex-con and deejay for Cicely's KBHR "Kaybear" radio, peppers
the narrative with eclectic musical selections, self-taught philosophy,
and Greek chorus-like commentary. Finally, Maggie O'Connell (Janine
Turner), a local bush pilot and Joel's landlady, engages him in
a tangled romance reminiscent of 1930s and 1940s screwball comedy.
When Joel exited the scene during the 1994-95 season, Dr. Phillip
Capra (Paul Provenza) and his journalist-spouse Michelle (Teri Polo)
were introduced.
It
is around intermittent characters that some of Exposure's
most ground-breaking episodes and themes have emerged. Chris's African-American
half-brother Bernard (Richard Cummings, Jr.) and Marilyn's healer
cousin Leonard Quinhagak, played by noted film actor Graham Greene
(Dances With Wolves), deepen and enhance the show's representation
of multi-culture. Gender and sexuality are explored through Ron
(Doug Ballard) and Erick (Don R. McManus), proprietors of the local
inn, whose gay wedding was a prime-time first. Ron and Erick's arrival
also helped to provide a larger context within which to recollect
the town's founding by a lesbian couple, Roslyn and Cicely, later
featured in a flashback episode. Eccentric bush couple Adam (Adam
Arkin) and Eve (Valerie Mahaffey) allude to the ongoing battle of
the sexes rendered center stage by Joel and Maggie and, with their
exaggerated, back-to-nature facade and conspicuously consumptive
habits, poke lighthearted fun at Exposure's "yuppie" audience.
The
"fish out of water" narrative exemplified by Joel's gradual softening
toward Cicely, Cicelians, and small-town life is replicated again
and again in episodes about visitors who give of themselves in some
fashion while becoming enriched by their interactions with worldly
wise, innately intelligent, and accepting locals. Humanity's place
within the larger natural environment is another significant thematic
thread running through the program's extended text. Behavior and
temperament are often seen to be influenced by phenomena such as
seasonal winds, Northern Lights, midnight sun, and ice breaking
in springtime. The lesson is clear: nature tames human beings--not
the other way around.
A
"cult" favorite, Northern Exposure has inspired several fan
clubs as well as its own internet newsgroups and other cyberspace
bulletin boards--forums for spirited discussion by an international
following. Although its network run was short-lived, it has extended
its audience in syndication and has clearly made its mark with innovative
storytelling and character-driven themes crystallizing new and ongoing
debates about cultural values weighing heavily on a viewing public
facing the uncertainty of a new millennium.
-Christine
Scodari
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Northern Exposure
CAST
Dr.
Joel Fleischman ....................................Rob Morrow
Maggie O'Connell ......................................Janine
Turner Maurice Minnifield.......................................
Barry Corbin Chris Stevens............................................
John Corbett Ed Chigliak .......................................Darren
E. Burrows Holling Vincoeur.........................................
John Cullum Shelly Tambo..........................................
Cynthia Geary Marilyn Whirlwind........................................
Elaine Miles Ruth-Anne Miller .........................................Peg
Phillips Rick Pederson (1990-1991)..................... Grant
Goodeve Adam (1991-1995).......................................
Adam Arkin Dave the Cook (1991-1995)................... William
J. White Leonard Quinhagak (1992-1993)............. Graham
Greene Bernard Stevens (1991-1995)....... Richard Cummings,
Jr. Mike Monroe (1992-1993).................... Anthony Edwards
Walt Kupfer (1993-1995)......................... Moultrie
Patten Eugene (1994-1995) ............................Earl
Quewezance Hayden Keyes (1994-1995)......................
James L. Dunn Dr. Phillip Capra (1994-1995)....................
Paul Provenza Michelle Schowdoski Capra (1994-1995)............
Teri Polo
PRODUCERS Joshua
Brand, John Falsey, Charles Rosin, Robert T. Skodis
PROGRAMMING
HISTORY 88 Episodes
CBS
July 1990-August 1990 Thursday
10:00-11:00 April 1991-December 1994 Monday
10:00-11:00 January 1995-March 1995 Wednesday
10:00-11:00 July 1995 Wednesday
9:00-10:00
FURTHER
READING
Chunovic, L. The "Northern Exposure" Book. New York: Citadel,
1993.
Crawford,
Iain. "Reading TV: Intertextuality in Northern Exposure." The
Mid-Atlantic Almanac: The Journal of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American
Culture Association (Greencastle, Pennsylvania), 1994.
Dempsey,
John. "Northern Could Get Double Exposure." Variety (Los
Angeles), 30 November 1992.
Di
Salvatore, Bryan. "City Slickers: Our Far-Flung Correspondents."
The New Yorker (New York), 22 March 1993.
Kasindorf,
Jeanie. "How Northern Exposure Became the Spring's Hottest
TV Show." New York, 27 May 1991.
Pareles,
J. "Radio Days in Cicely, Alaska: Anything Goes." New York Times,
3 May 1992.
Pringle,
Mary Beth, and Cynthia L. Shearer. "The Female Spirit of Northern
Exposure's Cicely, Alaska." The Mid-Atlantic Almanac: The Journal
of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association (Greencastle,
Pennsylvania), 1994.
Rabkin,
Joel. "Their Alaska and Mine." Television Quarterly (New
York), Winter 1992.
Scodari,
Christine. "Possession, Attraction, and the Thrill of the Chase:
Gendered Myth-Making in Film And Television Comedy of the Sexes."
Critical Studies in Mass Communication (Annandale, Virginia),
1995.
Taylor, Annette M. "Landscape of the West in Northern Exposure."
The Mid-Atlantic Almanac: The Journal of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American
Culture Association (Greencastle, Pennsylvania), 1994.
Wilcox,
Rhonda V. "'In Your Dreams, Fleischman': Dr. Flesh and the Dream
of the Spirit in Northern Exposure." Studies in Popular Culture
(Louisville, Kentucky), 1993.
Williams,
Betsy. "'North to the Future': Northern Exposure and Quality Television."
In, Newcomb, Horace, editor. Television: The Critical View,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1976; 5th edition, 1994.
Zoglin,
Richard. "A Little Too Flaky in Alaska: Northern Exposure."
Time (New York), 20 May 1991.
See also Dramedy
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