| Northern Exposure | |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedy-drama[1] |
| Created by | Joshua Brand John Falsey |
| Starring | Rob Morrow Barry Corbin Janine Turner John Cullum Darren E. Burrows John Corbett Cynthia Geary Elaine Miles Peg Phillips Paul Provenza (1994-5) Teri Polo (1994-5) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 110 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | 1990-1993: Joshua Brand and John Falsey 1994-1995: David Chase, Diane Frolov, and Andrew Schneider |
| Running time | Approx 45 minutes per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | July 12, 1990 – July 26, 1995 |
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.
Contents |
The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a transplanted New York City doctor and the townspeople of fictional Cicely, Alaska"[2] and its stories of "people of different backgrounds and experiences" clashing but who ultimately "strive to accept their differences and co-exist."[2]
It received a total of 57 award nominations during its five-year run and won 27, including the 1992 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, two additional Primetime Emmy Awards, four Creative Arts Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globes.[3]
The series was created by Brand-Falsey Productions. Critic John Leonard called Northern Exposure "the best of the best television in the past 10 years."[4] Simon Pegg has stated that the series was one of the influences on the British sitcom Spaced.[5]
The show started as an eight-episode summer replacement series on CBS in 1990.[4][6][7] It returned for seven more episodes in spring 1991, then became a regular part of the network's schedule in 1991-92, where it was among the top 10 among 18 to 49-year-olds,[8] as well as in 1992-93, and 1993-94. Its last season, 1994-95, included a gap during May 1995 sweeps when CBS broadcast other programming.
Northern Exposure began with a focus on Joel Fleischman as an audience-identification character for urban "lower 48" viewers, with storylines revolving around his fish-out-of-water difficulties adjusting to Alaska, and his hot-and-cold romantic involvements with Maggie O'Connell. As Northern Exposure continued, supporting characters such as Chris, Ed, Holling, Shelly, Maurice and Ruth-Anne (along with recurring characters such as Adam and Eve, Barbara Semanski and Bernard) received more development.
Rob Morrow (Joel Fleischman) and his representatives spent much of Seasons 4 and 5 lobbying for an improved contract, and intermittently threatened to leave the show. The producers responded by reducing Fleischman's role in the storylines, and introducing characters such as Mike Monroe (season 4) and Dr. Phil Capra (season 6) to partially compensate for the absence of Morrow.
In the show's last season, two new characters were introduced in an attempt to fill the void left by Morrow's departure:
Major recurring characters include Apesanahkwat as Lester Haines (a native millionaire), Anthony Edwards as Mike Monroe (allergy sufferer and ecological watchdog), James L. Dunn as Hayden Keyes (ex-con on the fence), William J. White as Dave the Cook (an employee fixture at The Brick), Graham Greene as Leonard (the official local shaman), Adam Arkin as foodie and master chef Adam, and Valerie Mahaffey as his chronically hypochondriacal wife Eve; Mahaffey was the only actor from the series to win an Emmy Award.[3]
Although the town of Cicely is widely thought to be patterned after the real town of Talkeetna, Alaska,[10][11] the main street of Cicely and the filming location was actually that of Roslyn, Washington. "Northern Exposure II" (the main production facility) was located in Redmond, Washington in what is now the headquarters of Genie Industries, behind a business park.
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.
According to The Northern Exposure Book, the moose in the opening titles was named Mort and was provided by Washington State University, where he was part of a captive herd. To film the opening sequence, the crew fenced off Roslyn, set him loose, and lured him around with food.[12]
Notable episodes in the series include the pilot (nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Writing"[3]), the third season's last episode "Cicely" (which was recognized with a Peabody Award,[2] three Creative Arts Emmy Awards, and a Directors Guild of America Award), and the fifth season episode "I Feel the Earth Move" which featured the first same-sex marriage story arc on U.S. prime-time television.[7]
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. During one of their thank you speeches, Brand and Falsey said that they appreciated the drama awards, "but it's a comedy."
The show's other awards include:
Emmy Award:
Golden Globe:
1995
American Cinema Editors - Eddie nomination for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Television - Briana London - For episode "Lovers and Madmen"
Environmental Media Awards, USA - Award for Ongoing Comittment - Josh Brand and John Falsey
Screen Actors Guild Awards -nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
1994
BMI TV MUSIC AWARD: Northern Exposure - David Schwartz
Casting Society of America, USA - Artios nomination for Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic - Megan Branman
1993
American Cinema Editors - Eddie nomination for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Television - Briana London - For episode "Cicely"
American Society of Cinematographers, USA - ASC Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Regular Series' - Frank Prinzi
BMI TV MUSIC AWARD: Northern Exposure - David Schwartz
Casting Society of America, USA - Artios nomination for Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic - Megan Branman
Directors Guild of America Award - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Shows - Night -- For episode "Cicely" Robert Loeser (second assistant director) (plaque) Patrick McKee (first assistant director) (plaque) Jack Terry (II) (unit production manager) (plaque) Robert C. Thompson
Directors Guild Award - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Shows - Night - For episode "Kaddish for Uncle Manny" Michael Lange
Electronic Media Critics Poll - Best Television Series
Environmental Media Awards, USA - EMA Award TV Drama - For episode "Survival of the Species"
Retirement Research Foundation, USA - Wise Owl Award - Honorable Mention Television and Theatrical Film Fiction -- Joshua Brand (executive) John Falsey (executive) - For episode "Three Amigos"
1992
BMI TV MUSIC AWARD: Northern Exposure - David Schwartz
Casting Society of America, USA - Artios for Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic - Megan Branman and Patricia Carnes Kalles
Electronic Media Critics Poll - Best Television Series
Grammy Award NOMINATION: Northern Exposure Theme - David Schwartz
Peabody Award - Presented to Falsey-Austin Street Productions for NORTHERN EXPOSURE and "I'll Fly Away" for presenting episodic drama on television with intelligence, sensitivity and humor.
PGA Golden Laurel Awards - Television Producer of the Year Award - Joshua Brand and John Falsey
Retirement Research Foundation, USA - Wise Owl Award - Honorable Mention Television and Theatrical Film Fiction -- Joshua Brand (executive) John Falsey (executive) - For episode "A Hunting We Will Go"
Television Critics Association - Program of the Year
Viewers for Quality Television - JOHN CULLUM, Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Viewers for Quality Television - ADAM ARKIN, Best Specialty Player
Young Artist Awards - nomination for Best Young Actor Guest-Starring or Recurring Role in a TV Series - Grant Gelt (Goodbye to All That)
1991
Casting Society of America, USA - Artios win for Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Pilot - Megan Branman, Patricia Carnes Kalles and Lynn Kressel
Casting Society of America, USA - Artios nomination for Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Episodic - Megan Branman and Patricia Carnes Kalles
Electronic Media Critics Poll - Best Television Series
Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker gave the first episode a B+, writing that the show “may well prove to be summer television’s most likably eccentric series.”[13]
It has not been rated on Metacritic.[14]
Ausgerechnet Alaska (1992)
More Music From Northern Exposure (1994)
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released all six seasons on DVD in Regions 1, 2 & 4. The Region 1 DVD releases have caused controversy among the show's fans, due to their high prices and for the changes to the soundtrack introduced in order to lower their costs.[16] The release of season 1 contained the original music, but retailed for $60 due to the cost of music licensing. Subsequent seasons replaced most of the music with generic elevator-style 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.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| The Complete First Season | 8 | May 25, 2004 | May 21, 2001 | February 18, 2004 |
| The Complete Second Season | 7 | November 30, 2004 | May 9, 2005 | July 13, 2005 |
| The Complete Third Season | 23 | June 14, 2005 | January 30, 2006 | March 8, 2006 |
| The Complete Fourth Season | 25 | March 28, 2006 | July 31, 2006 | September 20, 2006 |
| The Complete Fifth Season | 24 | November 13, 2006 | January 22, 2007 | February 21, 2007 |
| The Complete Sixth Season | 23 | March 6, 2007 | June 25, 2007 | July 4, 2007 |
| The Complete Series | 110 | November 13, 2007 | October 8, 2007 | November 11, 2009 |
Brand and Falsey also created St. Elsewhere (1982–1988), A Year in the Life (1987–1988) and I'll Fly Away (1991–1993), the latter of which shared in one of the Peabody Awards given to Northern Exposure;[2] Brand created Going to Extremes, a 1992 series about medical students on a tropical island, which lasted a single season.
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, head writers of Northern Exposure, created The CW's comedy-drama Easy Money, which premiered on October 5, 2008. The series had a similar fish-out-of-water feel, but failed to gain much interest and was cancelled not long after its premiere.
Television series with premises similar to Northern Exposure include:
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