Quirky Becomes Boring In Northern Exposure The Complete Fifth Season.

The Good: Moments of character, Moments of weirdness or culture, DVD bonus features
The Bad: Not funny, Little new on the acting, Stagnant plots, Pacing
The Basics: A pretty lame season of television, Northern Exposure The Complete Fifth Season does little service to the characters or concepts of the television series.


When a television series becomes tedious, sometimes the best thing that a network can do is pull the plug. As time goes by, I find myself appreciating or understanding why networks have done that from time to time. For sure, there was still plenty of potential in Firefly (reviewed here!), but the more I rewatch Twin Peaks (reviewed here!), I can understand how it did not get renewed for a third season. The middle of that second season of Twin Peaks winds and wends in directions that are not just strangely dreamlike, but are just plain bad. This comes to mind when I consider the DVD set Northern Exposure - The Complete Fifth Season because I am at a loss as to how this season survived for the entire twenty-four episodes as well as how it won a sixth season.

In its fifth season, Northern Exposure does nothing of note or significance that viewers of the series have not already seen before. In fact, the only ones who might find any portion of this season palatable are those who have suffered through the earlier seasons; those approaching just this season are likely to find the episodes tiresome and tired. The season has a homogeneously slow pace with few peaks and one long, extended valley. While the show continues its serialized storylines, nothing of note happens in the fifth season and after sitting through my latest viewing of the twenty-four episodes - each almost an hour in length - I find myself at a loss as to what to write about the boxed set because the season blurs together as one dull mass of images. There is nothing superlative in this season and while the show still occasionally delves into the philosophical or the native american indian culture, the fifth season finds the divergences less quirky and more dull; we've seen it before and for those who haven't it just "reads" as weird and quirky for the sake of quirky.

In the fifth season of Northern Exposure, Joel gets ill with Glacier Dropsy around the same time that Ed gets his calling . . . to become a shaman. As Ed begins to train for his spiritual calling, Maurice has a life-sized wax casting made of himself for a museum, Chris continues working at the radio station and trying to fulfill the spiritual needs of Cicely and Maggie spars with Joel while their passions slowly build up again. Maggie solves a minor mystery and becomes a homecoming queen for the local high school. Elsewhere in Cicely, Holling and Shelly prepare for the birth of their baby, who does eventually make an appearance and Ruth-Anne begins to date Walt.

Adam makes an appearance, to thwart Maurice's efforts to have fireworks in Cicely under the pretense that the company he is using are covert government operatives. Ed returns to working on film, even while training as a shaman, Maurice breaks his leg and loses his house to a fire and Shelly and Holling adapt to the presence of Randi. As the season winds to a close, the resident gay couple in Cicely gets married, Maurice tries to make money off a wheelchair race, and Joel finally accepts the magnitude of Cicely's effect upon him.

The only episode worth watching in the entire season is "Hello, I Love You," which has Shelly meeting a time-travelling version of her own daughter at the Laundromat. The episode is clever, allows actress Cynthia Geary to stretch beyond the strangely immature character of Shelly by giving her some real parental depth. Geary, for much of the rest of the season, is forced to play Shelly like a high school brat and the role becomes tiresome to watch, especially after Shelly loses her musical ability which made her remotely interesting at the end of the prior season. "Hello, I Love You" is psychologically interesting and does a good job of showing what could be if parents were given a chance to see the results of their childrearing before their kids are born and the concept is unique to this episode and it works.

Unfortunately, it is probably the only unique thing in this entire season. Maurice continues to try to swindle other businessmen, he retains his homophobia and he is portrayed as an absolute idiot in "Mite Makes Right." In that episode, Maurice pays over a million dollars for a violin and he refuses to consider the advice of a violin protege who insists it must be played or else the violin will be ruined. That Maurice is played as so monolithically stupid and into his investment just for the money reinforces the anti-capitalist messages Northern Exposure tends to have, save that in this case it does not logically track; Maurice is too smart to be so ignorant and not even pay attention to the violinist's view. "Mite Makes Right" is not a bad episode, but it follows on the heels of the one-note "Mr. Sandman," which is too obvious and the concept (people in Cicely begin dreaming one another's dreams) wears thin quickly.

Recurring characters like Bernard and Officer Barbara make their annual appearances, as do Adam and Eve. But the quirkiness that once made Northern Exposure interesting is gone and the series seems to be stretching for stories to tell. This seems as good a reason as any for the appearance of the gruff Walt to give Ruth-Anne a love interest and the plot with Walt becoming addicted to a light treatment is predictable and just bad. Fan-favorite characters like Chris are relegated to few scenes and almost no complete plots. Instead, Chris, Maggie and Holling (and even Joel for most of the episodes) take a backburner to stories focusing on Ed, Ruth-Anne, and Shelly. Unfortunately for viewers, they are not enough to carry the season.

For those interested in who the primary characters of Northern Exposure are, this is how the fifth season finds them:

Dr. Joel Fleischman - His tenure in Cicely rapidly running down, Joel looks to escape even as he realizes how much of a part of Cicely he has become. Irritated by a visit from his parents, he tries to have a dinner party (but fails completely) and he begins to date Maggie outright. He makes an effort to work with the fire department and admits to Maggie he cannot stand children. And when he and Maggie hit a bump, he is swallowed by the giant fish living in one of Cicely's lakes where he is taught a very valuable lesson,

Maggie O'Connell - Slowly warms to Fleischman after trying to solve a mystery of a local store and its weird owners. She builds her own airplane, becomes a homecoming queen (despite being in her thirties), and she buys a clothes washer only to discover she misses the socialization of the Laundromat. She also snags a doctor friend for Joel,

Maurice - Exposed as a shoe-fetishist when others dream his dreams, he tries to swindle a local native american businessman only to be bested in the transaction. He finds his colleagues have become geezers and tries to have Ed organize a film festival. After purchasing a rare violin, he breaks his leg and his house burns down and he is forced to rely upon others in Cicely,

Holling - Nervous (still) about becoming a father, his troubles multiply when Randi is born and he has to admit he renounced his Canadian citizenship decades ago. Things get weird for him with fellow birdwatcher Ruth-Anne when it is revealed his ancestor ate one of Ruth-Anne's during a blizzard. He begins to paint-by-number after Randi is born,

Shelly - Insecure about becoming a mother and shrill after Randi is born with Holling over religion and childcare, she has a brief lull when she meets future versions of Randi on the day Randi is born. She gets irked at Holling for his acting out during birthing classes,

Chris - Continues working at the radio station, save a portion of an episode where he quits because he learns that bloodpressure medication will keep him alive well beyond his initial expected life expectancy. Otherwise, he does sculpture, is frustrated when Bernard's new girlfriend (who is one of Chris's ex's) cannot tell them apart in bed, and he fawns over the Catholic priest who comes to baptize Randi,

Ed Chigliak - Gets the call to become a shaman. As he trains for that (undermined by a Green Man), he continues working on his film work and working at Ruth-Anne's store. He fails to arrange a film festival and when he snags an agent, his agent wants to completely alter his script "The Shaman." He betrays Ruth-Anne and Walt's relationship at a dinner party and still struggles to understand what virtually anyone in Cicely is saying,

Marilyn - Continues to show up to work at the clinic each day, though she uses patient's records to figure out who to date,

and Ruth-Anne - Pursued by Walt suddenly, she begins to question her priorities. After having a spat with Holling, she and Walt hook up. Still, she becomes upset with the residents of Cicely and abandons the store to join a motorcycle gang. Upon returning, she and Walt are outed.

There are no great performances in Northern Exposure The Complete Fifth Season. In this season, all of the principle cast simply does what they have been doing for the prior years and their performances in this season seem somewhat lackluster, as if the actors know they are not doing anything new and they are peeved about it.

On DVD, Northern Exposure The Complete Fifth Season comes with a slew of deleted scenes, many of which simply offer more quiet, awkward moments to each episode. Given that this is DVD, it is disappointing that there is no branching that allows the deleted scenes to be put back into the episodes. Given that the deleted scenes are now all relegated to the fifth disc, putting the clips back in their relevant episodes is not even remotely possible. There is a season five featurette as well and a "play all" function, but there are no commentary tracks on any of the episodes.

Northern Exposure is a supposedly quirky dramedy set in Cicely, Alaska and there is nothing quite like it on television, either before or after. In the case of how the fifth season presents its stories, this is not a bad thing. Fans of the series will find greater economic and space-saving value in Northern Exposure: The Complete Series (reviewed here!), but those looking at the seasons of Northern Exposure and considering which ones to buy can easily pass "The Complete Fifth Season" by. It is not funny, it is not well-developed and it is not distinctive or even interesting for most of its episodes.

For other fifth seasons of television shows, please check out my reviews of:
Gilmore Girls - Season 5
Frasier - The Complete Fifth Season
Friends - Season Five

4/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Season Four Of Northern Exposure Sinks Again Into More Mediocre Territory, Even On DVD.

The Good: Good DVD bonuses, Moments of character
The Bad: Most of the performances are average at best, Plots stagnate
The Basics: Northern Exposure - The Complete Fourth Season disappoints fans and DVD collectors with its lack of originality.


Northern Exposure is not one of the series' that has managed to hook me the way it seems to captivate a lot of people who watch it. It is, good at its best, but more often than not, it falls short of my expectations based on how great everyone once thought it to be. My point here is that Northern Exposure might have been groundbreaking and different at its time, whatwith being one of the first dramedies on television. But for those who were raised after that and/or are just catching the series now on DVD, it's a much tougher sell. Yes, the envelope has already been pushed and the bar has been raised higher.

With Northern Exposure - The Complete Fourth Season I am very much reminded of this. I have been, admittedly, slow in getting back through the individual seasons of Northern Exposure since watching and reviewing Northern Exposure - The Complete Series (reviewed here!). The thing is, the reason it has taken me so long to get back through it is that the series is not as inspired or exciting as it initially might have seemed.

In the fourth season, the residents of Cicely, Alaska return with Maggie trying to reconcile her past lack of luck with men and Joel discovering his stay in Alaska has been extended due to a faltering economy. Joel goes crazy when the sun doesn't set, Marilyn learns to drive, Holling returns to high school and Maggie fights with an anti-feminist pilot. The white residents are accosted by the Native population during Thanksgiving, Maggie takes Joel home to Michigan for the holidays, Maurice has to approve his son's marriage to the daughter of a war criminal, and he throws a magnificent dinner party to which Joel is not invited. Ed continues to search for his father and Shelly begins to feel the urge to change her relationship with Holling. And Ruth-Anne falls in love with a traveling salesman who returns to Cicely for her.

But what the fourth season of Northern Exposure is arguably most known for is the appearance of the heroic and neurotic Mike Monroe, who lives in a bubble and Joel and Maggie finally have sex. Maggie and Mike hit it off, despite his extreme germaphobia. Maggie draws Mike out of his bubble and in the process, the two develop a close friendship that begins to make Joel jealous. But then, of course, Maggie and Joel find their way to one another for a random sexual encounter which . . . actually does not change everything.

Northern Exposure - The Complete Fourth Season is especially anticlimactic. After leading up to a relationship between Joel and Maggie for over three years when they finally make love and nothing becomes of it, the viewer is left disappointed. After all, it's not that they are the two leads of the series and need to come together, but rather both have had inclinations toward one another for years. They fantasize about each other, they have interest, the viewer is ready for them to become something. When they finally make love, that they don't truly express love for one another . . . it's disappointing.

In prior seasons, Maggie and Joel have been kept apart by their relationships with other characters and Maggie's sudden interest in Mike seems more like an attempt on the part of the producers to drag it all out. Rather than getting to it, they delay it even longer and this is just disappointing after so long the wait. All the hours on DVD until we get to that point delay the seemingly inevitable and in the fourth season, we're ready for it to be there and it's not.

Similarly, Mike Monroe adds little to the eclectic cast other than a character who seems more like weird for the sake of weird. He is played by Anthony Edwards who I just recently saw in The Forgotten and he was fine, but in this role, he is actually wonderful. He plays quirky with panache and realism that works. It makes sense that Peg Phillips finally joins the main cast, but Edwards is just on as a recurring guest star, no matter how memorable he and his character are.

The thing is, the Complete Fourth Season of Northern Exposure is very little new compared to what one might have seen before. The third season was more fresh and original than this one and in fact, it feels in a lot of ways like the show has taken a step backward for season four. Maurice is back to being prejudiced against virtually everyone, though the most compelling moments for his character come when he actually has a character struggle outside simple racism. The only truly incredible thing about Maurice in this season is that her speaks what now seems taboo and fresh again. Yes, there are references in the media and on Boston Legal about how Barack Obama does not "sound black." In this season of Northern Exposure, Maurice makes the same comment about Chris's erudite brother, Bernard. At least in this one regard, Northern Exposure - The Complete Fourth Season was ahead of its time.

But the show, more than the recycled plots with holidays, new characters popping up, and strange occurrences that happen around town in Cicely, Alaska, is mostly about the characters. In the fourth season of Northern Exposure, the principles include:

Dr. Joel Fleischman - When the economy falters, Joel's four years in Alaska are commuted to five. He slowly moves in on Maggie, especially after she shows a preference toward Mike Monroe. He finds himself becoming more and more a part of Cicely and begins to resent when he is not included like one of the natural residents. He also begins to explore his Jewish heritage much more,

Maggie O'Connell - Having (mostly) resolved her conflicts with her past over the men in her life who have died due to being in love with her, she finds herself drawn to the reclusive Mike. She and Fleischman clash, though they each rescue one another throughout the season and eventually they make love without falling in love,

Shelly - She begins to feel her biological clock ticking and her love for Holling grows to the point that she begins to hallucinate. She resolves her hallucinations in a rather unique way and when she does, she soon finds herself bearing the consequences of that,

Holling - In addition to hunting birds with his camera, this season he discovers his sperm is not as immobile as it once seemed when his adult daughter arrives in town. Disappointed in her, he soon finds his love for Shelly is all he truly wants. He also graduates high school,

Maurice - Becomes the bearer of bad news for Joel, condemning him to an additional year in Cicely. His life is saved by Chris when he almost falls off the roof of Rosalyn's Cafe and he works on expanding his communication's empire. He also is forced to come to terms with his actions in the Korean Conflict when his son wants to marry the daughter of a Korean War despot,

Ed - Restarts making movies and he comes to believe he has found his father once again,

Chris - Almost extradited for his past crimes, he continues to be the spiritual center of Cicely. He officiates a funeral for a friend, advised Joel, strengthens his bond with Bernard and puts up with Maurice, whom he saves from a dangerous plunge. As well, he inadvertently kills the pets of a woman he becomes smitten with,

Ruth-Anne - Is wooed by a traveling salesman and accompanies Holling on his bird "shooting" expedition,

Marilyn - She encounters the Flying Man again, who she refuses to marry. As well, she learns to drive and takes a vacation to Seattle,

and (recurring) Mike Monroe - A lawyer by trade and training, he is terribly afraid of germs and as a result lives in a bubble. He looks into Joel's contract, helps defend Chris, and keeps an eye out on the environmental disasters he fears, leading him to leave Cicely. He and Maggie hit it off.

In the fourth season, none of the acting actually stands out. This season, all of the performers hold the line for their past performances. In other words, none of the players do anything we have not seen them do before. Anyone who has not seen an episode of Northern Exposure might enjoy the way these characters are established by their various performers, but for those who have been watching from the beginning, there is nothing new here. The characters grow in very minimal ways, but the performers do not infuse the characters with anything not already seen in prior seasons.

As with the prior seasons, most episodes have deleted scenes or alternate takes presented on the DVDs. This is pretty much all we can expect of Northern Exposure. There are also three promotional spots presented on the DVDs and they are mildly amusing.

But it's not enough to make one shell out for these DVDs. They are remarkably average television and it is hard to get excited about adding this set to one's permanent collection.

For a slightly better idea of what this boxed set includes, please check out my reviews of the the following episodes included in the set:
"Northwest Passages"
"Thanksgiving"
"Northern Lights"
"The Big Feast"

For other fourth seasons of comedies, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Frasier - Season Four
Weeds - The Complete Fourth Season
30 Rock - Season 4

5/10

For other television reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Just After I Had Given Up On It, Northern Exposure Gets Good - "Season Three!"

The Good: Funny, Charming, Quirky, Good character development, Decent plots, Good acting, Good DVD extras
The Bad: No commentaries, Continued sense of repetition, Same packaging issues as prior seasons
The Basics: When the resident's of Cicely, Alaska return for another boxed set DVD, the humor and drama increase to the point worthy of buying!


For those unfamiliar with my reviews, I've been giving Northern Exposure a shot lately and I was pretty underwhelmed with Northern Exposure - The Complete First Season (reviewed here!) and Northern Exposure - The Complete Second Season (reviewed here!). By the end of season two, I felt the show had pretty much done all it could do with what it was given and it was mostly just repeating itself by that point. So, it might seem strange that I even gave Northern Exposure - The Complete Third Season a viewing.

I'm glad I did.

Cicely, Alaska, is much as it has been with its day-to-day routines and schemes that are disrupted by the funeral of Rick (killed in season two's finale by a satellite). This sets Maggie off on a series of adventures that include being stranded in the wilderness with Joel, finding Rick reincarnated in a dog, her parent's divorcing and not sleeping with Joel in Juneau. Joel, for his part, continues to consider Alaska a prison and he makes an effort for find more Jews in Alaska, counsel Maggie on her loss and aging, avoid reconnecting with his ex-fiancee, and learn about hunting. As well, Shelly and Holling do their usual dance around not being married, Ed becomes a filmmaker, Marilyn falls in love, Maurice discovers his illegitimate son, and Chris works his amazing sexual magnetism on the town. And Adam pops up again . . . .

Honestly, I picked up Northern Exposure - The Complete Third Season because this was the season that the show won a bunch of awards for. After finding the prior two seasons less thrilling and more repetitive than I anticipated, I was a bit skeptical about season three deserving the awards it won (it won Best Drama, Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Writing, and Supporting Actress awards for this season as well as a slew of other nominations). But it is quite a bit sharper than I anticipated and I can see how it would have been deserving of many of them.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Northern Exposure takes place in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska. The town is populated by characters who were supposed to be quirky and different - I found them to be tame. The basic story involves Dr. Joel Fleischman being dragooned to Cicely to pay off his debts for his education. The state of Alaska paid for his medical training and he is compelled to serve in Alaska for five years as the chief medical resident of Cicely. There, he finds himself like a fish out of water (or in the humor of the show, a Jew out of bagels) amid a collection of people quite unlike anything he finds familiar.

In order to better understand the show (and Joel's discomfort), it helps to understand the principle characters. Here is how the third season finds the residents of Cicely, Alaska:

Joel - An uptight, Republican Jew from New York City, he finds himself out of his element practicing medicine in Alaska. Recovering from being ditched by his fiancee, Joel struggles to relate to others, though he does build a more firm bond with Chris and Maggie this season. Plagued by Adam and his crazy wife, Joel finds himself stranded in the middle of nowhere, abducted, knocked unconscious, attempting to hunt, being adopted by a tribe, ballot counting, and trying to get laid at a medical conference,

Chris - The local d.j. finds himself the source of lust among the town's women and plagued (or blessed!) with pheromones that make him virtually irresistible to women. He and his brother Bernard begin sharing dreams, which sends Chris desiring to go to Africa, lamenting his inability to vote, buying into Holling's bar for a time and providing spiritual advice for many of the locals,

Ed - Becomes a legitimate filmmaker. He begins shooting films around Cicely and working with Ruth-Anne at the store,

Holling - The mayor of Cicely and owner of the bar finds himself pondering much of his life. Still in love with Shelly, he finds himself troubled by generations past in his family line, teaching Joel to hunt, in an actual race for re-election, and dealing with the death of a friend. He and Maurice find old tensions resurfacing and an old nemesis pops up to make him rethink his choices,

Shelly - Finds herself most disturbed by the return of her mother, who acts more like a sister. In addition to assisting Holling with his business at the Brick, she finally gets divorced, worries about her fertility, and longs for a real Christmas,

Marilyn - She assists Joel at the doctor's office. This season, she finds herself running an ostrich farm, convincing Joel to be adopted by a nearby tribe and falling in love with the Flying Man,

Maurice - A former astronaut, he is ruled by an ambition to make Cicely into a tourist destination of choice. As a result, he finds himself trying to buy into Marilyn's farm, romancing a state trooper, discovering his illegitimate Korean son, hauling a corpse across the wilderness, and becoming miffed by tourists during the celebration of the Northern Lights,

and Maggie - The local pilot and foil to Joel. She is rocked by Rick's death and shocked to learn he was unfaithful almost their entire relationship. As a result, she longs for family - which abandons her for Christmas - and is miffed when her mother arrives to burn down her house. As well, she finds herself stranded with Joel in the wilderness and at a conference in Juneau, finds herself attracted to a mysterious stranger, and discovers she is aging when she needs glasses.

Northern Exposure won awards in this season for its dramatic presentation and the show seems to have finally hit its stride by accepting itself within a dramatic niche. The prior two seasons, the show seemed uncertain as to whether or not it wanted to be a drama or comedy and it was shaky as either. It wasn't funny enough to be a comedy and it wasn't direct enough to make for an effective drama. In this boxed set, it comes into its own as a drama with characters who are atypical and intriguing.

Instead, this set works well because it finally seems to have something to say and a pretty confident voice to say it with. The show dwells less on Joel and Maggie and their "will they or won't they" relationship and stretches out to explore more of the other parts of the town. Indeed, the season finale barely utilizes the cast as their regular characters, instead recasting them all as people from 1909 who helped found the town. But because the series is not obsessed with focusing on the awkward not-quite-romance between the two leads, it explores some genuinely interesting issues and character twists.

Perhaps one of the most interesting and enduring moments of the season comes in "Seoul Mates." Maurice is troubled by his Korean son and in a conversation with Chris, the two directly tackle Maurice's racism and what it means. Scenes like that were pretty much absent from the earlier seasons.

The odd thing about Northern Exposure that persists into this boxed set is the way the show often comes up short. For a DVD set flush with deleted scenes and alternate takes, it seems odd when the episodes seem to run out of script and dwell instead. So, for example, one episode ends with Ed and Ruth-Anne dancing on a mountaintop. The shot lasts almost a minute as the camera pans back up into the sky and away. It's long and the mood is tired by the time it's over. I'm all for mood, but it ought to say something. This just felt like "Wow, a helicopter shot!" In other words, it fails to add something to the episode. It is style for the sake of style as opposed to actual statement.

The DVD extras for this set are simply a pretty massive collection of deleted scenes (at least one per episode). There are a few alternate takes, but most of the "Unexposed Footage" this set essentially are bloopers. They are funny for a viewing or two, but I find myself wishing there had been a commentary track on several of the episodes. There were none.

For those who have not been into Northern Exposure before now, this set is perfectly accessible for those who have not been fans prior or who have not enjoyed the previous seasons. Instead, the episodes go out of their way to explain relationships when they pop up and any significant backstory needed. But more than that, the nice thing is that the early awkwardness's of the prior seasons are gone and in their place is a pretty solid show that is entertaining, insightful and overall just plain good. Anyone looking for something that is dramatic with characters who are not your typical ones, this boxed set works out nicely.

And on the acting front, the actors all seem to be well in their niches. The regular cast is strong and they seem universally comfortable with who they're playing. The standout this season on the acting front would have to be John Corbett as Chris in the Morning. Corbett has some real acting challenges, like playing Chris with word salad, some significant dance moves and as both an open mind and quasi-spiritual leader for the town. His character is possibly the most dynamic and well-read on the show and as a result he often is given the most challenges as far as dialogue and he lives up to those challenges, creating a very memorable television character.

Conversely, most of the rest of the cast simply hones their performances without truly straying from their niches. They are decent performers performing well, but for the most part, the third season does not afford them any real acting challenges that we have not seen from them before.

It's easy to see - with this set - why Northern Exposure was popular and this makes a worthy addition to anyone's dramatic DVD collection.

For a better idea on some of the specific content of this set, please check out my reviews on these episodes from the collection:
The Body In Question
Seoul Mates
Burning Down The House
Cicely

For the third seasons of other comedies, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Weeds - Season Three
Psych - Season Three
Friends - The Complete Third Season

8/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Repetition Does Not A Hit Make; Northern Exposure - The Complete Second Season Freezes.

The Good: Moments of character, Moments of humor
The Bad: Repeats much of the same stuff we've seen before, Nothing great on the plots.
The Basics: In a somewhat disappointing season with excellent DVD extras, Northern Exposure does little to progress and more to repeat.


It's a rare thing that I give a television series a second chance when the first season underwhelms me. After picking up Northern Exposure - The Complete First Season (reviewed here!), I found myself largely unimpressed by the series and yet, as part of a sale, I was able to pick up Northern Exposure - The Complete Second Season cheap, so I figured I'd see if the series got any better as it went on. Sadly, on DVD Northern Exposure is just more of the same in the complete second season.

Dr. Joel Fleischman, trapped in his contract in Cicely, Alaska as the town doctor, is dumped by his fiancé, which frees him up to continue his love-hate relationship with local pilot Maggie O'Connell more or less unfettered. Fleischman treats the locals, who this season hallucinate (or simply see a long-dead Indian spirit, depending on perspective), lose their voice, decide to get circumcised, and run naked through the streets. As well, he poses as Maggie's boyfriend for her father and succumbs to her sense of destiny when she dreams his death.

The superlative moments in the second season of Northern Exposure all come in the last three episodes ("Spring Break," "War and Peace," and "Slow Dance"), by which time most viewers who have already sat through season one will likely have been turned off by the repetitiveness of the series. In "Spring Break," there's a wonderful parody of Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love" video with Fleischman dreaming an erotic dream, in "War and Peace," Maurice engages in a duel with a Russian and the result is a hilarious breaking of the fourth wall, and in "Slow Dance," the O'Connell curse returns with a vengeance to dispatch Rick.

The problem, for those keeping score, is that Rick was dispatched in season one. Frustrated with his belief in the O'Connell curse when he fears he might be seriously ill, Maggie dumped her fellow pilot, which left her single at the end of the first season. Yet, come the second season premiere, Rick is back and no explanation is given for his return. This is more troubling on the character front than on the plot front; Maggie is consistently portrayed as a strong, independent woman who does not need a man, be it Fleischman or Rick. Why would she take Rick back if he believed she would be the death of him? This troubling character/plot point merely prolongs what the viewer begins to feel will be the inevitable hooking up of Fleischman and O'Connell. After all, in the second season premiere, Fleischman finds himself single.

As with the first season, Northern Exposure - The Complete Second Season does not seem so eccentric and crazy as many people made it out to be. Instead, it has moments of amusement spread thin between long stretches of slow development and plotless episodes. The show is so much more about setting and characters who seem inorganically different (i.e. eccentric for the sake of being eccentric as opposed to any real motivation for eccentricity). While that may have had some appeal in the first season, come the second it feels largely repetitive.

But the show does manage to be about memorable character. In the second season of Northern Exposure, here is how the series finds the principles:

Dr. Joel Fleischman - Abandoned by his fiancé, Elaine, Fleischman continues his indentured servitude in Cicely while continually sparring with Maggie. He helps Maggie convince her father that he is her boyfriend to get her approval, helps Holling when the senior citizen decides to get circumcised, becomes conflicted about flying to New York when Maggie dreams of his death, and goes crazy with the rest of the town during the ice breakup,

Marilyn - Shows up and supports Fleischman,

Ed Chigliak - Goes in search of his father after trying to help Fleischman through his breakup with Elaine. He also falls in love with a farm girl and enlists Chris's help in wooing her after becoming an investigator in the rash of thefts in Cicely,

Chris Stevens - Loses his voice to a beautiful woman who is passing through town (which is hellish for a d.j.), writes poetry for Ed, exposes two of the town's founders for lesbians, and watches over the dead body of a stranger no one knows,

Shelly Tambo - Becomes a television addict when Holling gets a satellite dish, becomes enamored with the idea of her older beau getting circumcised, and becomes jealous of him when an old friend comes to town and they connect,

Holling Vincoeur - Gets Shelly a satellite dish (and regrets it), prepares to get circumcised for Shelly (and fears it), bullies his customers for a fight while waiting for the spring thaw (and gets it), is plagued by nightmares of a cinematic variety (and pays for it), and spends time reminiscing with an old friend who visits town (and has to explain it),

Maurice J. Minnifield - Works a real estate deal with two homosexuals who are willing to overpay on property he is looking to unload, fights a Soviet with whom he has a past, falls for a state trooper, has an annual affair with an astronaut groupie, and looks out for an unknown dead man in town,

and Maggie O'Connell - Helps Fleischman through his breakup with Elaine, helps restore Chris's voice through her sexual powers, and uses Joel to convince her father her taste in men has improved. This leads her to start dreaming of Fleischman and as a result, she becomes drawn to him and feels guilty when Rick is taken out.

Unfortunately, the moments of brilliance in the show - like the cast suddenly debating how to resolve a scene that is fast moving into a shooting duel - are few and far between and while the acting is good, none of the actors do anything they did not already do in season one. In short, none of the actors grow in terms of their acting ability across these eight episodes. Instead, they simply reprise their roles and let the viewer watch them do more of the same.

That's not bad in all cases. John Cullum, for example, uses the second season and the greater airtime he is allowed to make Holling a more vital and watchable character. Cullum does little new with Holling, but he appears more often, making his character more familiar and he plays the part well.

As with the first season of Northern Exposure, season two is packaged in a remarkably unhelpful padded package that tells the buyer nothing about the series. There is still nothing within the show to explain the bulky packaging. But the DVD extras are decent with a plethora of deleted scenes and "unexposed footage" for each episode. The unexposed footage is a collection of outtakes, alternate takes and gaffs that allow the dedicated viewer a virtual film school on the decisions of the director and editor on how to assemble an episode. But there are only eight episodes on two disc and that's not much value for this series.

But there's nothing really new here. Season two plods along and, in some ways, the viewer is simply waiting for Rick to get out of the picture to see how Joel and Maggie will hook up. The tension is there and the direction seems inevitable. Watching much of Northern Exposure - The Complete Second Season calls to mind the Monty Python gag from The Holy Grail with hordes shouting to "Get on with it!" This season does not and ultimately, that's why it's take it or leave it.

I'd vote for "leave it."

For a better idea of what this set contains, please check out reviews of the individual episodes available, which include, "Spring Break," reviewed here!

For other sophomore seasons of quirky or interesting shows, please visit my reviews of:
Once And Again - Season Two
Weeds - Season 2
Strangers With Candy - The Complete Second Season

4.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Northern Lights Oddities Lead To The First Successful Northern Exposure In "Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale For Big People!"

The Good: Decent acting, Interesting plot, Good character development, Funny and weird
The Bad: Strangely predictable in many ways
The Basics: When Fleischman finds himself in the company of the mysterious Adam and Chris finds himself in the company of a mysterious stranger, Northern Exposure gets a great episode!


Some people saw it, I suppose, the potential within Northern Exposure. Honestly, I didn't. When I started picking up the VHS tapes and the DVDs, the appeal of the program was pretty much lost on me. I had been told it was quirky and different and instead, I found it to be surprisingly typical and remarkably average. That feeling persisted until I hit the final episode of the first season. Despite the overwhelming development of a sexual chemistry between the two main characters preoccupying the first few episodes, the season ends on a genuine high note with "Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale For Big People."

Chris, the local d.j. in Cicely, Alaska, has been slacking some with his duties as local entertainer and informer because he has become preoccupied with the massive sculpture he is creating on the beach near the lake where he lives. The size and scale of the project begins to impress even Maurice and while the townfolk wait for Chris to complete it, a mysterious man drives into Cicely on a motorcycle and it becomes instantly apparent he and Chris have a deep connection.

While Chris works on his art and meets with his newly discovered half-brother, Joel is compelled to journey into the wild to give a lonely forest fire ranger a physical. After being teased about the existence of a bigfoot neanderthal man named Adam living in the remote area he will be visiting, Fleischman finds himself out of gas and at the mercy of the real Adam, who is quite different from what everyone thinks!

Right off the bat, it's worth noting that I like "Aurora Borealis: A Fairly Tale For Big People" and part of the reason is that I see its influence now in some other works I've loved for years. There are elements of the Adam storyline that seem like they might have influenced one of my favorite films, The Spitfire Grill (reviewed here!) and after a season of dragging out the not-romance of O'Connell and Fleischman, it's refreshing to see how quickly the relationship between Chris and Bernard is developed.

Perhaps the reason I enjoy this episode so much is that it takes the time to explore some of the other characters and does it quite well. Moreover, when Joel encounters Adam, he is legitimately surprised by what it all means and the skills Adam possesses. As a result, Joel loosens up and we see what he might have been like in his native element. So, unlike the character who has been whining constantly almost since the beginning of the "Pilot" (reviewed here!), here he is articulate and, for lack of a better term, alive. For the first time since the series began, Fleischman appears as a man who wouldn't be so bad to sit and have a meal with.

"Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale For Big People" trades on the surreal, most notably with the dreams Chris experiences and the way he and Bernard interact from almost the first moment they meet. This is one of the advantages of having the video (or DVD) where the title is clearly visible. This episode is, in many ways, a fairy tale and as a result, there are certain conceits that are used to sell the extraordinary plot and the simplifications of some of the resolutions. It also lends an ambiguous quality to the episode that forces the attentive viewer to wonder what it truly real. Both Chris and Joel end up in bizarre circumstances and Northern Exposure is not above doing elaborate dream sequences or reality-bending episodes. Fortunately for those who stick with this series, both Adam and Bernard resurface, so this episode becomes essential to the big picture of the series.

Actually, if I had to sell anyone on Northern Exposure, I would recommend picking up this episode and then jumping ahead to Northern Exposure - The Complete Third Season. It's just better that way: you get the meat of the series without the fat.

And "Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale For Big People" certainly is meaty, especially on the character and acting fronts. Fleischman, always an outsider in Cicely, comes to learn about another outsider, literally outside Cicely. Despite his appearance, Joel comes to understand that he and Adam share some genuine passions for some of the same things and in the process, the viewer comes to understand more about Joel and who he is at his core.

But the episode's focus is very much more on Chris and Bernard. Chris has been portrayed in the series as a somewhat-liberal, spiritually-connected guy who is remarkably laid back. It seems natural then that he would come to so easily accept that Bernard is his half-brother and that his father was living two lives. Moreover, coming to understand this through the use of his dreams - dreams he and Bernard seem to share - makes perfect sense for his character. Seeing the execution of a storyline where Chris's belief system (i.e. in psychology and dreams and liberal-thinking) actively guides the plot and is fully realized makes his character (and by extension Bernard) that much more real.

Part of what sells it all is the quality of the acting. While Rob Morrow is given a new performer to play off of when Adam Arkin appears as Adam, it is Arkin who steals every scene he is in. The usually even-tempered Arkin gives a performance laced with hostility and frustration without ever diminishing his underlying sense of articulation. He manages to be both brutish and classy at the same time and that's a difficult role to take effectively from the script page into real life and sell it. But Arkin does, with distinction.

Guest actor Richard Cummings Jr. makes an impression as well as Bernard Stevens, a character much more grounded in reality than Chris. Yet, his character has dropped everything, bought a hog and driven off into Alaska. Cummings plays Bernard as levelheaded and cool. He might not be the most unique character - though as a black character in an Alaskan town of 500, he instantly has a unique quality! - but he's interesting enough for the viewer to be engaged by him and Cummings ought to be credited for some of that. He plays the coming to understanding that Bernard goes through slowly, with a decent realism.

But it is John Corbett who carries much of the episode as Chris. This is the first genuine episode that gives Chris a chance to shine and the character comes into his own. But Corbett does as well, infusing a serious undertone to the laid-back character he has been playing for only seven episodes before this one. Corbett is careful to not allow Chris to appear at all flaky, even as he leaps on his artwork over his paid job. It, like Arkin's performance, is one that takes what is written somewhat problematically on the page and transforms it into gold on the screen.

And it's refreshing to see a fairy tale for big people that isn't just dumb or oversimplified! Instead, the writers and directors make a generally adult story which results in the first truly worthwhile episode of this otherwise overrated series!

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Northern Exposure - The Complete First Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the premiere season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

8.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Northern Exposure Starts Bland With "The First Episode!"

The Good: Interesting idea, One or two performances
The Bad: Not funny, Characters are not engaging, Plot is almost nonexistent, Not quirky
The Basics: With a surprisingly disappointing pilot episode, Northern Exposure gets off to a rocky start.


Occasionally as I branch out away from the science fiction and heavy dramas that I am most known for reviewing, I decide to take in something that is almost universally described to me as a classic. When it came to picking up Northern Exposure, I found myself more than a little disappointed. Starting with "The First Episode" (which it is only called on this VHS tape; every other incarnation has it listed as "Pilot") the show was never quite what I would call "classic" and it was hardly as quirky as many people described it to me as. For an hour long dramedy, this one got off to an awkward start.

When Dr. Joel Fleischman arrives in Alaska, he is immediately a fish out of water. He is a New York City Jew and an elitist whose education was paid for by the good people of Alaska. the terms of his scholarship was a residency for four years following his graduation in Alaska practicing medicine where needed. Joel expects to be stationed in one of the major cities of Alaska but is immediately assigned to Cicely, Alaska. Flown in in a little prop plane, Fleischman feels completely lost amid the residents of the 500 person town.

Joel's sense of bewilderment does not fade when he is met by Ed, a young man who seems a little slow on the uptake, who brings him into town. He is immediately disappointed with the lodging, which is a cabin owned by pilot Maggie O'Connell who immediately rubs Joel the wrong way. Joel attempts to get out of the arrangement by conniving with the local hero and economic developer Maurice Minnifield, a former astronaut, who keeps Joel quite effectively in his place. Plagued as well by an assistant he insists he does not need (Marilyn) who gives herself the job, Joel finds himself hanging out with local philosopher, radio d.j. Chris and spending time at the local bar, owned by Mayor Holling Vincoeur and waitressed by far younger squeeze, Shelly. Despite his best efforts to escape Cicely, Joel finds he is there to stay, at least for now.

The plot of "The First Episode" is ridiculously pilot-esque. This is a pilot and as a result, it is all about beginnings. Far too much of the episode feels like it is a beginning, though, most notably the way characters who have supposedly been around one another for years interact. Writer-director Joshua Brand may not have had the time to work with most of the actors before they started shooting, but it certainly would have helped the flow of this episode.

This is especially noticeable in the relationship between Holling and Shelly. The two do not have the sense that they have been together long, nor that they are truly all that attached to one another. This is especially problematic in this episode because Holling and Minnifield have had a falling out over Shelly that has resulted in them not speaking to one another for some time. In order to make that level of feud credible, the pair needs to demonstrate some genuine affection for one another - the episode lacks the sense of romance between Holling and Shelly in any palpable way.

The other severe problem with the episode in terms of characters is in the performance of Darren E. Burrows. Burrows plays Ed Chigliak, a Native youth who simply does not pop. I understand that there is an intended disconnect between Ed and Joel, that Joel is unlike anyone else Ed has ever met, but Ed just seems painfully slow. It's unclear if that is supposed to be his character, though and as a result, it just seems like Burrows is on very shaky ground as an actor. He seems awkward and stiff as opposed to either truly dim or alienated. The result is a performance that is difficult to watch because the viewer wonders why the director did not give the young man another take to get it right!

That said, many of the other performances are wonderful or at least adequate. Elaine Miles plays Marilyn with exactly the sense that one suspects Ed was supposed to be played with, a quiet, Native American archetype who "gets it" but is not all that expressive. John Corbett has a bit role in this episode, but it's still a better performance than he gave years later in The Messengers. Similarly, both Barry Corbin and John Cullum (Minnifield and Holling) begin small but with memorably decent performances.

The two we are supposed to watch from the beginning are Janine Turner and Rob Morrow as O'Connell and Fleischman, respectively. Right off the bat the two have wonderful on-screen chemistry, even if their characters are antagonistic toward one another. Before this, I had seen neither in anything and the truth is from their first scenes together, they had something that worked. They play well off one another and instantly and effectively set up a "will they or won't they" type relationship, despite the fact that both Joel and Maggie are seeing other people. But the truth is, Turner has more on-screen chemistry with Morrow than she does with Grant Goodeve, who plays Rick.

But the true disappointment for me with this episode was that it wasn't what everyone had described Northern Exposure as. It wasn't zany, it wasn't particularly well-written (it's average there), the characters were not irresistible and the setting was not impressive. In short, this pilot fell well below my expectations, making me a little surprised it was picked up as a series (perhaps that's why the first season is only eight episodes!). Maybe the show was trading on the celebrity of creator Joshua Brand, though it does seem this was his breakout hit.

Regardless, "The First Episode" sets up the principle characters and relationships, but the truth is it's not needed to understand the series. Because Joel complains in virtually every episode (at least in the first season) about how he's indentured in Cicely against his will, viewers who skip this and go to other episodes will not be missing out on anything. And the truth is, what other episodes do better than this one is establish the sense that Cicely is a community and Joel is an outsider who is infiltrating that community. In this episode, the bond between the Cicilians is not there to give the sense that Joel is interrupting anything real.

The result is a hit-or-miss episode that is not comedic. Sadly, unless one considers fifty minutes of complaining drama, it's not truly dramatic, either. In short, this is a very shaky start and for those looking for quirky and different, well, this feels almost twenty years out of date (because it's almost twenty years old). There are weirder characters in, for example, Boston Legal (reviewed here!) and virtually every other David E. Kelly production. And there we either get a laugh or a social statement or a genuine sense of something dramatic.

Here, we just get Joel Fleischman kvetching!

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Northern Exposure - The Complete First Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the premiere season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

For other pilot episodes, be sure to check out my reviews of:
"The Cage" (Star Trek)
"Pilot" (Millennium)
"Welcome To The Hellmouth" (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

3/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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You Can Leave, But Just Don't Go: Northern Exposure The Complete Sixth Season Sinks!

The Good: Performances are mostly fine, Moments of character
The Bad: Drawn out exit of Morrow, Character development is terrible, Plots are repetitive and droll, Prevalence of "alternate universe" episodes.
The Basics: As Dr. Fleischman makes his departure from Cicely, Northern Exposure Season Six degenerates into something untenably bad.


Watching classic television shows, it makes me wonder sometimes how the phrase "jump the shark" did not come into the popular vernacular much, much sooner. So many television shows that people called "great" go out with such a whimper as opposed to ending while at their peak or while there is still a respectable level of quality. Shows like Homicide: Life On The Street had to retool completely for its seventh season (reviewed here!) and in the sixth season of Northern Exposure, the show starts falling down and it just keeps falling. Rather obviously, Rob Morrow planned a departure from the show and the series worked to contain the fallout. But, given how awkward the season begins, the departure of Rob Morrow was not the only problem with the show, but it was the death knell.

Part of the problem with the sixth season of Northern Exposure is that Morrow as Fleischman just keeps leaving. As a result, when the character finally makes his last departure, it is anticlimactic. At least as bad is that he is replaced with two characters - the new Doctor, Phillip Capra, and his wife, Michelle - who do not truly pop. The sign that the show was terminal before the Morrow problem, though, was certainly the sheer volume of "alternate universe" episodes. Northern Exposure innovated well the idea of realities outside the main cast's lives - flashback episodes wherein the main cast played historical figures, dream episodes and the like - but when they continued to do episodes like that, especially early in the season before the characters could be re-established in the new season - it robbed the season of actual, genuine, character development.

After a story involving the history of Cicely in the wake of the Russian Revolution and Joel encountering the Ghosts Of Yom Kippur Past, Present & Future, Joel and Maggie have a serious falling out. In the wake of their break up, Joel heads north and begins to live off the land in a remote portion of Alaska. This forces Maurice to bring Dr. Capra and his wife to town. After a few weeks of settling in with Michelle, Dr. Capra begins to become a part of the community, buying land and even getting involved with the one Italian neighborhood in the village. And when Joel's term in Alaska is up, he makes his exit through an unlikely quest and supernatural methods.

When O'Connell returns to Cicely, she runs for mayor and butts heads with Ruth-Anne. More serious is that Chris realizes he has a severe crush on her and though she initially rejects him, the two begin moving toward an actual relationship. As Capra and Michelle negotiate their relationship, Ed tries to stand on his own and Maurice finds himself reunited with Officer Barbara Semanski.

Northern Exposure moves toward its inevitable end with little enthusiasm, though the show continues to upend the main characters. While Holling and Shelly have remarkably little to do in the sixth season - despite the appearance of another apparently illegitimate child of Holling's - the rest of the main characters have severe changes in their arcs. The two new characters are not nearly as interesting as one might hope and ironically, Teri Polo as Michelle easily outshines Paul Provenza's Dr. Capra. Outside the "alternate universe" experiences, most of the show treads where it has gone before and while things happen to the characters, they do not truly develop, grow or change.

The main characters in the sixth season of Northern Exposure include:

Maggie O'Connell - After years of an on and off relationship with Dr. Fleischman, they move in together and then figure out they cannot get it to work. When she and Joel break up for good, she runs for Mayor and wins. As well, she buys the abandoned local movie theater and becomes an entrepreneur. After a disastrous attempt to get trash pickup in town, she gets the lead in the town play, opposite Chris. In addition to bowling, she begins to open to Chris's advances,

Dr. Joel Fleischman - After realizing how poorly he treats his peers, he goes A.W.O.L. After being sure that Dr. Capra will take care of his community, he makes his way back to the place he has always wanted to be,

Chris Stevens - Despite being devastated that Joel has abandoned Cicely, he gets his Masters degree in Comparative Literature. After trying to champion Maggie's trash initiative, he aids her in bowling, acts opposite her and ultimately learns to dance to be closer to her,

Holling - Reluctantly takes on his "illegitimate son" and thwarts Maurice's attempts to take over his daughter's life,

Shelly - Settles in to being a mother and gets a little jealous when she is cast as a waitress in the town play,

Marilyn - Adapts to Dr. Capra's presence and learns that Joel actually has the ability to change,

Ruth-Anne - Hires Walt as a favor, but realizes she cannot work with the man she has fallen in love with,

Dr. Phillip Capra - Moves in to Cicely, then begins to rediscover his Italian roots. He and his wife Michelle have a falling out when he tries to control her life and activities,

Michelle Schodowski Capra - Not used to the cold in Alaska, she becomes impatient with Phil's sudden agoraphobia. She is a writer and happily becomes a reviewer for the local paper, which causes problems with the Vincour's. She chooses the simplicity of becoming a waitress over sticking close to Phillip,

Ed - Continues his Shaman training and even dates the Chief's daughter. His film career fizzles and he does a little work as a private eye. He has a falling out with Maurice and problems with Ruth-Anne, though he helps Capra assimilate better,

and Maurice Minnifield - Distressed over the dropping population, he takes out his anger on Ed. When the rogue violinist resurfaces, he is reunited with Officer Semanski. He is pissed when Chris has a party in his home and he invites most of the town up to Tranquillity Base, his cottage away from Cicely in order to end the series.

Northern Exposure is neither funny nor dramatically significant in its sixth season. It is merely an ending of a series that had overstayed its welcome. Not at all essential, even for fans of the show.

For other final seasons of television shows, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Frasier - Season 11
The West Wing - The Complete Seventh Season
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season Seven

2.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Lackluster Exposure: DVD Extras Save Northern Exposure - The Complete First Season.

The Good: Interesting characters, Decent enough acting, DVD Extras
The Bad: Nothing really happens, Not especially funny or engaging, Packaging
The Basics: In a close call, the DVD bonus features encourage me to recommend this overrated series for those who might never have seen Northern Exposure before.


Friends, associates and well-wishers through the years (though I'm rethinking that last category as I judge my latest DVD set) have recommended Northern Exposure to me. There has been a pretty constant flow of people recommending it to me and with the DVD release of the series (I'm getting to it now because my local library got it, so I didn't have to invest in it!) it seemed like the right time to see what all of the fuss was about. With the advent and demise of Men In Trees, a dramedy set in Alaska, the basic premise of Northern Exposure was easy to grasp. In the first season of Northern Exposure, Dr. Joel Fleischman arrives in Cicely, Alaska to work off his student loan.

Dr. Joel Fleischman, a New York Jew, arrives in Cicely, Alaska where he is indentured for four years to pay the state of Alaska back for paying for the good doctor's education. In Cicely, Fleischman finds himself in the company very different from people like those he knows. Irritated by the local pilot, Maggie, Fleischman is befriended by the local d.j., takes one of the local Indians under his wing, and is kept in town by the developer and former astronaut Maurice Minnifield.

Over the course of the first season, a paltry eight episodes on the front and back of two DVDs, Fleischman occupies most of the a-plots, wherein he does such things as: arrive in Cicely, works to convince Ed's Uncle to get modern medical treatment, disposes of a windfall inheritance from one of the locals, schemes with Maurice to lessen his workload by trying to sell some Japanese businessmen on a golf course in Cicely, deals with a flu outbreak, and teaches a childbirth class. Most of the plots force Fleischman and O'Connell (Maggie) together where they antagonize one another in a way reminiscent of the protagonists of Moonlighting. In short, there's the sense that the leads of Northern Exposure, kept apart by their love interests the first season, will eventually move from a love-hate relationship to a romantic relationship.

Northern Exposure is a supposed dramedy - it definitely falls more toward the side of drama than comedy - that is almost entirely dependent upon its setting for its originality. Cicely, Alaska is uncharted television domain and as a result, the setting is what provides most of the originality for the series. Otherwise, it's a pretty standard "fish out of water" series with Dr. Fleischman being set down in a place that he is unfamiliar with. In fact, setting is so important in Northern Exposure that it draws instant comparisons to Twin Peaks, another series with eclectic characters that traded on a unique and distinct setting. The comparison is so close that in "Russian Flu," there is a parody of Twin Peaks when Fleischman has a flu-dream.

The main difference between Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure is that Twin Peaks had a purpose. For all of the convoluted plots and weird characters, the series was always going somewhere. The mystery of who killed Laura Palmer motivated the protagonist and drove much of the series. The problem with Northern Exposure is there is no such motivation. Instead, this series rambles and lacks a sense that it is going somewhere. The episodes are largely episodic instead of serialized, which further weakens it on DVD; there are no real consequences that are built upon. The characters do very little in the way of learning and growing. And while the viewer might feel there is an inevitability to the relationship between Fleischman and O'Connell, the series is wisely taking its time in getting there. Wise, but also troubling because the series does not make much in the way of a statement.

Northern Exposure - The Complete First Season on DVD is redeemed by only two things. First, the characters are genuinely interesting and there is a good mix of individuals. The principle characters in the first season are:

Dr. Joel Fleischman - An uptight Jewish doctor who is condemned to Cicely, Alaska after the state of Alaska invests in his education. Pining for New York City and his fiance, a lawyer named Elaine, Fleischman whines and complains his way through the daily chores of visiting with the natives of Cicely and curing them of what ails them,

Marilyn - Fleischman's de facto assistant who created her own job and stoically keeps an eye on the new doctor,

Ed Chigliak - An Indian guide who introduces Joel to Cicely and guides him around the town. Ed has a passion for movies and begins to explore what it would take to make a movie about those around him,

Chris Stevens - The local d.j., an educated young man who spins records, talks to the residents of Cicely, and educates them on which poets were gay. Chris gets two solid episodes when Maurice adopts him so he'll have someone to pass his legacy to and when his half-brother arrives in town,

Holling Vincoeur - Mayor of Cicely and the owner of the local cafe where everyone eats. Holling is in his sixties and comes from a solid family that has extreme longevity and his romantic interest in Shelly keeps him busy,

Shelly Tambo - Holling's young lover, she is thrilled by the older man and believes she might be pregnant with his child, prompting the pair to head for the altar. Shelly was once coveted by Maurice, though she left him for Holling and her big surprise comes late in the season,

Maurice J. Minnifield - Former astronaut and now the business developer who sees the Alaskan frontier as the "new Riviera" and he has managed to get Joel into the community to help develop that vision. Maurice is conservative, somewhat repressed, and always scheming. He is also essentially human, having a brush with mortality, a musing on art in the community and begins to mend his broken friendship with Holling,

and Maggie O'Connell - Plagued by a string of relationships that resulted in the deaths of her partners, O'Connell is gun-shy but dating a fellow pilot, Rick. Antagonized by Fleischman, she nevertheless finds herself pushed together with him when the two inherit land from a dead hermit, she helps him fix up his cabin as his landlord, and the two travel to a nearby town to teach a pregnancy class.

Largely, the series is not funny, though it has quirky moments and most of the characters are more interesting than the standard television characters. A lot of the humor and weirdness of the series comes in the form of dreams and visions, which are generally well-constructed.

The second thing that saves this DVD experience (the case is padded and that's annoying and not a specific reference revealed in the first season) are the DVD extras. With only eight episodes, it's hard to get excited about shelling out on the series, but the episodes are packed with bonus features. Every episode has both deleted scenes and "undeveloped footage." The deleted scenes are, of course, the pieces that were shot, developed and prepared for broadcast that were cut for time or content. The undeveloped footage is a whole series of scenes, clips and sometimes just lines or alternative takes that the editors of the episodes knew were not going to make it into the episode before they ever had it developed. The undeveloped footage gives a wonderful and rare sense of how episodic television is assembled and the ease with which one may compare scenes in the undeveloped footage and the final cut makes for an intriguing viewing experience.

That is, if one cares enough about the series to bother. Northern Exposure is good, but it's not the "light the world on fire" series everyone sold it to me as. The characters are interesting and the setting is good, but I've already gotten a lot more mileage out of my DVD set of Wonderfalls (reviewed here!) than I have out of the Northern Exposure DVDs. Even a series pre-emptively axed like Wonderfalls, which I mention because it has some similar structural conceits, has more of a sense of originality and feel like it is going somewhere than Northern Exposure does in its first season. Once the viewer understands the setting of Cicely, Alaska, which might take the entire first season, the show becomes something of a one-trick pony.

But while the plots do not go anywhere new and different in television and the characters are as quirky as they can be without divine influence or superhuman powers, the acting in the first season of Northern Exposure is good. Even that is hard to judge, though. For example, Darren E. Burrows plays Ed and his performances are often very broken and stiff, which seems like it might be the character, but there's an uncertainty and erraticness to the performance that undermines that argument. Ed is a "live and let live" kind of guy, yet often his body language and delivery of lines is very stiff, which makes me question Burrows' choices as an actor (or the directors).

Rob Morrow is consistent Dr. Fleischman, annoying and whining his way through the series. He has an energy and arrogance to his performance that works well for the character. Similarly, Janine Turner does well as the alternately laid back and hot-tempered Maggie, who plays off Morrow well. Morrow and Turner actually have decent on-screen chemistry which makes their conflict and supposed eventual hooking up seem much more realistic.

The two gems of the first season are John Corbett as Chris and Barry Corbin as Maurice. Relegated to mostly bit roles that seem like cameos, John Corbett creates a distinctive and interesting hippie-like character for Chris. Corbett plays laid back and easy going with an intelligence and skill that works perfectly.

But it is Barry Corbin that steals the show. As Maurice, Corbin is authoritative, knowledgeable and completely in control. Corbin has a bearing and dignity that make him a believable leader and he pulls off the role of Maurice wonderfully.

Is it enough? Barely. I'm ultimately recommending the first season of Northern Exposure because it is good (though not great) television and it is entertaining. The DVD boxed set is a value for those who are into the series or those who want to take a chance on one season of the show. The deleted scenes and undeveloped footage are entertaining and are almost enough to make up for the annoying way that the Universal credit logo rolls before each episode.

For a better idea of what the series is like, check out my reviews of two of the episodes in this set! This set includes:
"The First Episode"
"Aurora Borealis: A Fairy Tale For Big People"
Thanks for reading!

For other first seasons of eccentric shows, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The X-Files - The Complete First Season
Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 1
Boston Legal - Season One

5/10

For other television reviews, be sure to check out my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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All Together Now In One Place: Northern Exposure - The Complete Series!

The Good: Somewhat less annoying packaging, Setting, Interesting characters, plots, Decent acting, DVD extras!
The Bad: Why didn't they start with this?! On balance, show is remarkably average.
The Basics: An entertaining but inconsistent show gets (mostly) decent DVD treatment which ought to please the fans, but not so much general audiences.


I have been steadily winding my way through Northern Exposure and that task just got much easier with the release of Northern Exposure - The Complete Collection on DVD. Now, all in one place, is the entire six season series in one DVD set. Unlike some collections, this is not a bundle pack of the old issues, rather a completely new packaging of the previously released discs. This makes it analogous to the new Angel Complete Series Set (reviewed here!). For those who already have the previously released individual seasons, there is nothing new in this set that you do not already have (save the bag package). Like the complete series set for The West Wing (reviewed here!), this boxed set takes up at least as much room as the original release, though I like this DVD bag as opposed to the annoying pillowed packaging the individual seasons came in.

For those who have never heard of Northern Exposure, it is a dramedy, one of the earliest programs that defied the clear-cut boundaries between drama and comedy. It began as a series filled with dry humor that seemed to defy the one hour format and evolved into more of a cross-culture, wacky situation drama that was often too complicated to fit into a half hour. So, the fifty-minute shows now appear wonderfully difficult-to-define on 26 discs representing the entire series.

Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of Northern Exposure; friends of mine told me I'd love it and I generally haven't. The first two seasons are repetitive and not at all as original or interesting as I was told and the last season guts the concept of the show and doesn't truly work, either. And in between, the show is intriguing at times, fun at others and touching at still others, but what it is not is consistent. The show has pretty variable seasons and episodes and while the third, fourth and fifth seasons are worth watching, it's a tough series overall to sell.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Northern Exposure is a dramedy that follows life in Cicely, Alaska. Dr. Joel Fleischman, an uptight, conservative New York Jewish doctor finds himself confined to Cicely, Alaska for a term of five years for . . . his education. While going to medical school, Fleischman was given grants from the state of Alaska with the understanding that when he completed his training, he would become a doctor in residence in Alaska for five years. Fleischman is sent to the remote town of Cicely, which is not what he expected and certainly not what he wanted when he took out the loans.

Fleischman finds himself in a laid-back northern wasteland, living in a cabin and working in the town among people very different from himself. While Fleischman treats the residents of Cicely, he gets to know them and he forms relationships with the townspeople who are unlike anyone he knows back in New York.

Over his years in Cicely, Joel begins to loosen up with the natives and he does such things as join one of the Native American tribes, bring back a mystical woodsman named Adam, and carry on a love-hate relationship with local pilot Maggie O'Connell.

Indeed, Northern Exposure might begin as focused on Joel, but it soon begins to become a truly ensemble work focusing on Cicely, Alaska and all the happenings there. In due time, Ed begins to make movies, Maggie loses another boyfriend, Holling fights his demons in the form of Jesse The Bear, Shelly manages to actually get divorced from her hockey-player husband, Maurice sells a local inn to a pair of homosexuals (this is a big deal for Maurice), Chris builds a giant catapult to fling a cow as an artistic expression, and Marilyn continues to show up for work, despite never actually being hired as Joel's assistant.

This becomes an ensemble dramedy that goes beyond the awkward "fish-out-of-water" (or, in the humor of the show, a "Jew out of Brooklyn") story rather quickly and often Joel becomes a participant in a greater action around town and the show becomes more about the situation than Joel or even his participation in it. Indeed, some episodes do not focus on him at all and those episodes tend to be ones that have rather extraordinary plots, like finding a frozen body of a dead French man who offers an alternative ending to Napoleon's life or a Russian coming to town that Maurice challenges to a duel or Shelly's mother arriving and claiming to be her younger sister.

While the show is often quite plot-heavy, the best seasons do keep the plots focused on the characters and allows the characters to move the plots, as opposed to vice versa. As a result, it is helpful to know who the principle characters are over the 110 episodes of the series. The main characters include:

Dr. Joel Fleischman - Instantly annoyed to be living in the backwoods of the Alaskan frontier, Fleischman - a recent graduate from medical school - is slow to make friends in Cicely. He is soon abandoned by his fiance, leaving him single and very much alone. He soon finds camaraderie with Chris and a sparring partner with Maggie, who he tries to keep at an arm's length despite their mutual curiosity about one another. As he become privy to the medical needs of the townsfolk, he begins to develop sympathy and empathy for them and he soon discovers he is in exactly the right place for him,

Maggie O'Connell - The local pilot (which is an important job in remote Alaska!) who is a fairly liberal woman with terrible luck when it comes to men. Indeed, O'Connell has a reputation for having buried multiple boyfriends who have died in obscure ways, making it a tough sell for her boyfriend Rick to stick around. She delights in sparring with the uptight Fleischman and begins to develop bonds with Shelly and others in the town,

Chris Stevens - The local D.J., "Chris In The Morning," is a former felon who is now the town's resident philosopher. He is kind, slow to anger, and open-minded. Early on, he discovers that he has a half-brother who is black, with whom he shares a strange bond wherein they enter one another's dreams, inspiring Chris to declare himself an honorary person of color. Despite the fact that he works for Maurice, he is nothing like the conservative,

Holling Vincour - The owner of Roslyn's Cafe, the mayor of Cicely, and a senior citizen who comes from a long line of men who have lived to be well over 100. He has a temper (especially while waiting for the ice to melt in spring) and a great love for Shelly. Possibly Maurice's best friend in the world, despite having a falling out with him for years over Shelly. He was once a hunter, but renounced it after nearly being killed by Jesse the bear,

Shelly Tambo - Holling's very young lover, she was a former beauty queen who left Maurice for Holling some years ago. She was married to a hockey player (she had nothing better to do at the time), but is deeply in love with Holling, despite their age difference. She has an odd relationship with her free-as-a-bird mother, who treats Shelly as if she were her older sister,

Ed Chigliak - A local boy who has no known family, Ed is a bit of an outsider. He becomes enchanted with movies and becomes a budding filmmaker. A little clueless, Ed often happens into situations he does not understand,

Marilyn - a Native, she becomes Fleischman's assistant by virtue of showing up and declaring that she is. She once dated the Flying Man,

and Maurice J. Minnifield - the local entrepreneur, he is a conservative and a former astronaut. Maurice has a love of guns, drink and free market capitalism and it is a part of his vision of seeing Cicely made into a future resort that ensnares Fleischman in the town. He is brutish, prejudice and has a difficult time accepting things and people who are different from his white, upper-middle class vision of how things ought to be.

The show is well-acted by a pretty great cast and even offers them opportunities to truly stretch their acting wings. For example, in the episode "Cicely," the entire cast plays different characters as they envision the founding of the town ninety years prior. In the pretty terrible "Joel et Jules," Rob Morrow, who plays Joel plays his polar opposite, a character named Jules. Generally, the show is well cast, with actors like Barry Corbin, Darren Burrows, John Corbett, and Cynthia Geary establishing themselves within the mantles of very distinct characters.

Three members of the cast truly define the show, though and over the course of the series they are the ones to watch. Janine Turner, who plays Maggie, has the task of playing off Rob Morrow's Fleischman and Turner has a pretty unique gift for playing combative without being shrill. Turner has an antagonistic relationship (on-screen) with Morrow and the two play the relationship perfectly with a love-hate chemistry that seems utterly realistic. Turner has a wonderful sense of confidence that she brings to her body language that completely sells her abilities and her character.

Rob Morrow is given the task of selling the show, though, as much of the early series revolves around his character of Joel. Morrow is given the early challenge of being annoying and likable and while his character is pretty dismally irksome (he's written that way), whenever he is given the chance, Morrow proves himself a decent actor. In due course, he is forced to act while chained up, perform alternate reality versions of himself and actually smile (and stop complaining). He takes these character changes well and illustrates decent abilities as an actor, often performing with humor and vigor.

But it is John Cullum who is the one to watch when getting into Northern Exposure. Cullum is given the greatest acting duties by virtue of playing the character that has the most moods. So while performers like Barry Corbin and John Corbett might effortlessly establish the crank and the philosopher, respectively, they remain in those roles (or acting ruts, er, niches) almost the entire time. Cullum plays Holling Vincour and Holling is open and loving one episode, secretive and temperamental the next. He has a wide array of emotions and performances and Cullum's challenge - that he lives up to - is to create a unified character throughout, despite the varied performances. It's impossible to describe how, but Cullum always makes his varied performances seem like the function of the same character and Holling quickly became a favorite.

The problem with Northern Exposure is that - outside from the sometimes absurd and wonderful plots - the show often does not seem to know what it wants to do with itself. Take Holling and Shelly, for example. Holling is in his sixties and Shelly is in her early twenties. They are in love and have a relationship that is mostly stable. Every now and again, they fight and the usual issue between them is either cultural issues based on their ages. In the first few seasons, there are at least three episodes where their love is jeopardized because of Shelly thinking that Holling is too old for her or otherwise unsuited because of his age. It always comes back to the age difference. So, there's a cultural difference based on their ages; the only time they seem to address that is when it threatens their relationship. In other words, the show has a habit of establishing characters and relationships and not so much growing them as reiterating them over and over again.

On DVD, this series is wonderful for the bonus features! Almost every episode has deleted scenes and alternate takes (called "unexposed footage"). The deleted scenes are often fun and flesh out the characters and storylines better, though there are some episodes that lack extra scenes and some even have moments that are drawn out as if to fill the remaining time, which is pretty disappointing.

Fans of the series, I have learned, have been dismayed with the music on the DVDs. Having never seen the series outside the DVD collections, I did not notice anything off about the music. However, for the record, some of the episodes apparently replace songs that were in the original release with different music. I've never noticed this as a problem as it all seems to work out (unlike on the DVD released of the first season of Family Ties where the characters mention music that is not actually playing!). Die hard fans of the series will be disappointed to know that these discs are the same pressing as the original ones and the music that was originally altered for the DVD release still is.

On the balance, Northern Exposure is entertaining, but it's a hard sell on DVD. I'd be more likely to recommend seasons 3 - 5 as opposed to the entire series set, so my ultimate recommendation is to recommend this set to the die-hard fans who want the entire series and those who want the best, simply go for the prime seasons. Ultimately, the series falls as perfectly average, though the DVD bonuses are nice.

For a better idea of exactly what this series set entails, please check out my reviews on the individual seasons of Northern Exposure at:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6

Thanks!

4.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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