Joel Fleischman
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Joel Fleischman, M.D., is a fictional central character of the television series Northern Exposure, played by actor Rob Morrow.
Joel is a Russian-Jewish-American native of New York City, who agreed to practice medicine in Alaska for four years as a condition of his scholarship in medical school. Initially assigned to Anchorage, Alaska, he finds himself tied against his will to the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska, where moose wander on the main street and bagels are unknown.
The clash of Joel's big-city background with Cicely's frontier culture and his relations with its colorful people are key elements of the show. Joel's rationalism is also a contrast to the various magical realism happenings around the town.
Originally Joel has a fiancée in New York when he arrives in Cicely; she breaks up with him via a letter, devastating him. Throughout the series, Joel has a love-hate relationship with Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), at one point being engaged to her.
Towards the end of the series run, however, Joel is seemingly won over by the lure of the Alaskan wilderness, and decides to stay on as a "bush doctor" helping those in remote areas. When the state of Alaska releases him, he embarks on a quest to find the fabled "Jewel City" of the north, only to realize it is his beloved New York. His final appearance on the show is on a ferry approaching Manhattan Island.
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