I wanted to but couldn't!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Once you visit Cicely Alaska, you'll find yourself returning again and again to this little gem of television drama. You first arrive in the company of a very unhappy Dr Joel, who finds himself 'sentenced' to this wilderness very much against his will as part of his contract with the State of Alaska for putting him through medical college. Through long hot summers and long dark polar winters, guided by the philosophical meanderings of local KBHR radio host and ex con Chris Stevens, you gradually fall, as Joel does, under the spell of this little town and it's eclectic people, which was founded by lesbian couple Roslyn and Cicely in the early 1900s. It has no equal in television either before or since. So what are you waiting for? Move to Cicely Alaska, the Riviera of the North and start your life all over again

Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) graduates from medical school expecting to fulfill his scholarship obligations in Anchorage. Instead, ex-NASA astronaut and town big wig Maurice J. Minnifield (Barry Corbin) forces him to be the new doctor in the remote small town of Cicely, Alaska for three years. It is an eccentric town filled with eccentric characters. Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner) is the beautiful pilot. Holling Vincoeur (John Cullum) runs the diner with his child-bride Shelly Marie Tambo (Cynthia Geary). Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles) is his quiet assistant and Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows) is the film-geek sidekick. Chris Stevens (John Corbett) is the philosophical radio DJ.It was in the dead of winter out in the cold backwaters of Manitoba as a bunch of us mostly college kids on a 3 month job stint sitting around watching Northern Exposure. For some reason, it was fitting. And it was the first time I saw a trebuchet. This has a fun cast with Fleischman as the fish out of water character. It could have gone much longer, but Rob Morrow often disappeared in the later years. It wasn't the same show without him.

I have just watched an episode on DVD for the first time since the series left the network. It reminded me why I liked the series so much - they had some serious topics presented in such a way to be funny - yet informative.And talk about characters! One poster couldn't stand Rob Morrow - I don't understand that - each character was a bit eccentric yet contributes so much to the series - I would say that like the strength of Seinfeld combining all these characters brought a synergy and power to the series.The episode I just watched - Rob Morrow's character is lamenting the fact that there are so few Jews where he lives - feeling like he was alone. In the same episode Ed Chugliak is filming another character "last of his breed" - an Indian knowing how to make flutes passed down from generation to generation - now the last. And finally Holling Vincouer is contemplating death with a mid life crisis - It was brilliant writing dealing with serious subjects in a humorous and lighthearted way. Too bad there aren't more shows of this caliber.

RW, My advice to you is to just keep watching! Your take on the initial few episodes is actually dead-on! I agree with you wholeheartedly, but give it a chance! It's undeniably the best fictitious TV show ever created, IMHO! Joel's character IS awfully annoying, as is most of the cast for the first handful of episodes. Give the cast a bit of a chance to warm up and develop. They seem flat and pointlessly quirky at first, but then the writing just blossoms, grows, and expands into something never matched, before or since, in broadcasting history.Man, I'd kill to be 25 and watching this show for the first time. Savor it, my friend. Watch more and you'll see what I mean. I guarantee it!