"It's like brother Nietzsche said: being human is a complicated gig, so give that dark night of the soul a hug and howl the eternal yes."
— Chris in the Morning
The exception to the Too Good to Last rule. Every once in a great while, a show that seems to fit the profile actually makes it. Case in point: Northern Exposure. (Intelligent, well-written show, check. Subtle blend of comedy and drama, check. Beloved by a devoted fanbase and critics, check.) It came on in its first season as a Midseason Replacement, and had only a handful of episodes. It wasn't picked up for the fall, but was held back as a mid-season replacement again, so its second season also had just a handful of episodes. Which would seem just right for the chopping block — but it went on to have four full seasons after that.The story:Joel Fleischman is a young doctor from New York City, fresh from med school, who is contractually obliged to practice medicine in the small town of Cicely, Alaska as part of a financial aid package from the state. As Fleischman dreams of escaping Cicely, the locals all seem to be escaping from the rest of the world.The quirky locals include:
Maurice Minnifield, a millionaire former astronaut who wants to turn his 15,000 acres of nearby land into an attractive vacation spot on the "new Alaskan Riviera."
Maggie O'Connell, a bush pilot from a rich family who has a love-hate relationship with Fleischman.
Marilyn Whirlwind, the utterly laconic, native Alaskan receptionist who is the perfect foil to all Fleischman's Woody Allenesque whining.
Chris "in the Morning" Stevens, the philosophic DJ (and former JD) at the local radio station.
Ed Chigliak, a native Alaskan with an affable lack of tact and an Encyclopaedic Knowledge of film.
The show holds a similarity to Twin Peaks, with its use of extensive dream imagery, fantasy elements, and symbolism to explore its characters, and was one of the most successful "stealth fantasy" shows (in that most fans of the show would never admit that it was a fantasy show) in network television history. It lasted a single season after Rob Morrow left the show, and Fleischman was Suspiciously Similar Substituted by Paul Provenza's character Phil Capra.
Catapult Nightmare: In "All Is Vanity," Holling becomes convinced fiancée Shelly prefers, ahem, cleaner-looking men and schedules an appointment with Dr Fleischman. He soon has second thoughts.
Crazy Cultural Comparison: The Eskimo Indians celebrating Thanksgiving as "The Day of the Dead," where they throw tomatoes at white people.
Inverted in "Rosebud." Leonard looks for white folktales for his work as a healer. The results are... disappointing.
Discussed Trope: Ed's collection of films about Germans are always about Those Wacky Nazis, specifically JosefMengele, and he even asks what it's like to always be the bad guys.
In "What I Did for Love" Maggie repeatedly dreams she's playing Clue with Joel, who, in the dream, will die in a plane crash on his way back to New York.
Hollywood Atheist averted hard with General Store owner Ruth-Anne Miller, one of the friendliest and most down-to-earth residents of Cicely, who just happens to be an atheist.
The Remnant: One of these guys featured in one episode, from when Japan controlled the Aleutian Islands
Salt and Pepper: Chris and Bernard, a white guy/black guy pair of half-brothers who are more or less exactly the same person.
Severely Specialized Store: In one episode, Shelly is interested in going to the Mall of America; she mentions that they have a whole store that's just socks.
Share the Male Pain: Chris in the Morning announces over the radio that Holling is considering circumcision. Ed says only, "Ow."
Shout Out: A number of them,such as an episode where Ed finds a ring from Federico Fellini and starts seeing the world in Fellini imagery, and an episode that ends with Holling, Joel and Elaine doing an extended Twin Peaks riff.
Straw Feminist: Maggie started out as a strong, independent woman, but she degenerated in later seasons into a caricature.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To be fair, Dr. Capra was a very different character and the focus of the show had already widened to the point that no one character was integral to the series.
Television Geography: Cicely is a little like many places in Alaska, but nowhere in Alaska is like Cicely. Judging by the clues, the town seems to be located just up the Alcan Highway from Springfield.
It was inspired by the real town of Talkeetna, Alaska though, about two hours north of Anchorage. Sadly, the town is now a tourist trap.
Terra Deforming: Maurice Minnifield sees Alaska as just a huge opportunity for business.
Visions of Another Self: The residents of 1909 Cicely in the Flash Back to the town's founding: Maurice becomes the ruthless crime-boss Mace Mobrey; Maggie is the stong-willed missionary Mary O'Keefe; Chris's counterpart is the philisophical gunfighter Kit; and Ed is Ned, the old man telling Joel the story. Joel himself? His counterpart is Franz Kafka!
They revisited this past period in a later episode, only recasting Joel as a personal physician to Lenin and Maggie as a handmaiden to Anastasia. According to the story, Anastasia had agreed to emerge from hiding to meet with Lenin about possibly returning to the Soviet Union.
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