Overrated

Crappy film

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Although many viewers consider NE an eclectic show full of eccentric characters, people who experienced the eighties loved the show becauseit championed character, honesty, and acceptance of the differences among people The show celebrated how Jews, African Americans, Native Americans and people of all opinions were as valued by society and not regarded as weirdos. Remember when "greed (was) good", and Charles Bronson was a hero because he killed anyone who didn't look like Ronald Reagan. In the eighties, social Darwinism and trickle-down economics caused people to look for something more fulfilling than a life dedicated to money and conformity. In the nineties, The show helped me and millions of searchers to believe that being different wasn't just acceptable, it was valued. Maurice the homophobe learned to accept Ron and Eric as valued members of the community. This show, more than anything else, was the cure for the sleaze, hate and vapidity that plagued eighties' society. How else could a little replacement show become the phenomenon it was? The only problem I found with show was the writers' penchant for what I believed to be "ruralizing" the show by offering moose burgers the same way "The Beverly Hillbillies" ate possum and hawk eggs. I was shocked to discover while reading Guy Grieve's book years later that people who lived in the same area as the show's fictitious setting regularly ate moose and other wild meat because transport during the winter was impossible. Great acting. I felt that Corbin, Cullum, Corbet and Geary were made for their parts and were the real core of the show. Morrow and Turner could have been in half of each season's episodes and the rest could have been dedicated to Fleishman's mother who became a bird; Leonard who taught Joel how to connect with patients; Ed who cried (with me) when he met his father and spoke of how fortunate he was to be left with such loving people; Ruth Ann who decried her son's choice to abandon music to become a banker; Chris the seeker, who came to Alaska in search of Whitman and found the loving, supportive family that we all sought. This show never ended for me. I have all six seasons and whenever someone calls this ex- Marine a wimp for crying when I read poetry, or a sucker when I give money to a homeless person, or a wimp when I don't refer to Asians as "gooks", I can watch Maurice as he learns that he has a Korean son, or Chris when he gave me the idea to write a paper on the Hegelian Dialectic. This show has heart. Thank you to everyone involved for this gift.

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 tried watching this show when it first aired on CBS (I think). I couldn't get through one episode. Of course, I was young and busy with a short attention span. Anyway, I caught a rerun on my c-band satellite wild feed a couple of years after it left the air. To my amazement, I was obsessed! I couldn't believe what I was missing all of those years. I taped every episode on VHS, and every night when going to bed, I would put in a tape. I couldn't get enough of this show. The writing was intelligent, the actors were terrific, and the setting was magnificent. You cared about every single actor on the show, and what their day to day lives involved. There were no villains or bad guys to hate. It made you think. As others have stated before, I've often imagined living in Cicily with these people. I was in love with Maggie! She was the perfect woman. When Joel left the last year, it was still a good show, but I felt like my best friend had died. At this point, the other actors started to change to me, started to normalize to an extent. Kinda took the wind out of the show. I've often asked myself, which one could have left and not made the show less inspiring............and I couldn't think of one. They all fit together perfectly. In a way, I'm glad I didn't get into it when it was on the air. I would have gone nuts waiting a week for the next episode. Now, I can sit down in my recliner, and watch the whole series in one take. Favorite episode.......would have to be when Maggie's house burns down, and Chris wants to "fling" a cow. Maggie looks so cute in the clothes the townspeople gave her! LOL! And no, there will never be another TV show like NX.

I have only begun to watch this show recently, as a local PBS station has been showing reruns of it. The good news is that because it is on PBS, I get to see it without commercial breaks.The show is original and quirky and, as a result, interesting. This is not your standard run-of-the-mill show with cardboard characters and stereotypical plots. That in itself is a great achievement. While I am not enthralled with the show, as some people are, I respect it for its originality and I do enjoy watching it.It is both a serious comedy and a light-hearted drama. The show made more of an attempt at striving for a higher common ground than most shows, and that is about as high a compliment as I can give any show. I would recommend Northern Exposure to anyone who is tired of the standard, typical show that permeates mainstream TV.