History Series / NorthernExposure

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: For an episode that's surprisingly frank regarding the details of the human reproductive system, "The Bad Seed" still manages to slip one in there when Joel finds some unexpected results in Holling's, um, sample. Holling, taken aback, says "Come again?", to which Joel responds that [[StealthPun one sample is enough]].
** And then there's the episode where Holling and Ruth-Anne go bird-hunting. "Let's go nail some tit!"

* Marilyn Whirlwind (Creator/ElaineMiles), the utterly laconic, native Alaskan receptionist who is the perfect foil to all Fleischman's Creator/{{Woody Allen}}esque whining.

* CityOfWeirdos: Some are more understated than others, but there is nobody in Cicily that could be considered completely normal. Even "stable" people like Ruth Ann or Holling have their odder moments.

%%* QuirkyTown

Joel Fleischman ({{Creator/Rob Morrow}}) 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.

* Maggie O'Connell ({{Creator/Janine Turner}}), a bush pilot from a rich family who has a love-hate relationship with Fleischman.

In late 2018, it was announced that a revival of the series was being mounted by CBS, with Morrow returning to star as Fleischman, but the project continues to be hit with various delays and setbacks, including the 2019 death of series co-creator John Falsey.

In late 2018, it was announced that a revival of the series was being mounted by CBS, with Morrow returning to star as Fleischman.

* OliveGarden: The show attempts to explore Dr. Capra's Italian heritage when he discovers that Cicely has a "Little Italy". He quickly gets swept into a family feud based on a rather trivial offense from years past.

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* Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary), Holling's ditzy, barely-legal lover.

The show holds a similarity to ''Series/TwinPeaks'', 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 [[ScifiGhetto never admit that it was a fantasy show]]) in network television history. In its sixth and final season, Rob Morrow left the show and his character Joel Fleischman was {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}d by Paul Provenza's character Phil Capra.

* Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin), 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."

* Holling Vincoeur (John Cullum), the town barkeep and one of its oldest residents.

* Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), the utterly laconic, native Alaskan receptionist who is the perfect foil to all Fleischman's Creator/{{Woody Allen}}esque whining.
* Chris "in the Morning" Stevens (John Corbett), the philosophic DJ (and former [[{{Delinquents}} JD]]) at the local radio station.
* Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), a native Alaskan with an affable lack of tact and an EncyclopaedicKnowledge of film.
* Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips), a kindly older woman who runs the town's general store.

Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) 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.

* Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), a bush pilot from a rich family who has a love-hate relationship with Fleischman.

* DiscussedTrope: Ed's collection of films about Germans are always about ThoseWackyNazis, specifically [[EvilutionaryBiologist Josef]] [[EvilGenius Mengele]], and he even asks what it's like to always be the bad guys.

* DreamIntro: Used in several episodes. One in particular starts inside Joel's sex dream where he's RobertPalmer singing "Simply Irresistible." There's a SexyDiscretionShot fading to the opening credits when things turn steamy.

->''"It's like [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche brother Nietzsche]] said: being human is a complicated gig, so give that dark knight of the soul a hug and howl the eternal yes."''

* MisBlamed: On Joel's first Thanksgiving in Cicily, he's shocked when local Native Americans throw tomatoes at him as part of their tradition of pelting local whites for the atrocities of their ancestors. Joel is quick to point out that his Jewish ancestors arrived in America well after colonial expansion and were never in any position to exploit Native Americans. Once word spreads in the Native American community, they exclude him from pelting.

** Fleischman ''obliterates'' the fourth wall in "War and Peace". When Maurice and Nikolai are about to duel to the death, Joel steps between them and says, "Look, we play to a very sophisticated television audience. They know Maurice isn't going to kill Nikolai and they definitely know Nikolai isn't going to kill Maurice." Maggie then calls him out for stepping out of character, Ruth-Anne suggests going to a previous draft of the script, everyone complains that it's too cold, and then Marilyn suggests they just move on to the next scene.

* QuirkyTown

* TheDanza: Adam Arkin as Adam.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Alaska, I mean um, Washington state, [[SceneryPorn sure is beautiful]].

*** On a more general level, Cicely, Alaska bears a certain resemblance to Furness, Scotland.

''Northern Exposure'' was a medical {{Dramedy}} that ran on Creator/{{CBS}} from 1990 to 1995. It is a relatively rare American example of the "Northern"--a more usually Canadian frontier drama akin to TheWestern, but set in the modern-day Arctic (well, sub-Arctic).

The show holds a similarity to ''Series/TwinPeaks'', 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 [[ScifiGhetto never admit that it was a fantasy show]]) in network television history. It was cancelled at the end of its sixth season, in which Rob Morrow left the show and Joel Fleischman was {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}d by Paul Provenza's character Phil Capra.

* TheOner: a rather memorable one occurs in "Get Real." The scene begins with Joel in his truck, offering Enrico Belotti (The Flying Man) a ride into town; the camera is clamped to the door of the truck looking at Joel through the driver's side window. When Mr. Belotti declines the offer, Joel drives off, drilling himself in preparation for his internal medicine Board exams as he goes. When he gets to town, there's Mr. Belotti waiting for him by the side of the road--and Joel realizes that they don't call him The Flying Man for nothing.

** Enrico Belotti, the "flying man" who arrives in Cicely with the circus. Communicating only in sign language, he makes Marilyn (who happens to be the object of his affection) seem rather talkative in comparison. [[spoiler: He does actually speak to Marilyn in his second appearance, though he still prefers not to do it unless he has something extremely important to say.]] Oh, and yes, he really can fly.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Since [[MemeticMutation you can see Russia from their houses]], yes, this is mentioned occasionally.