Line #85 Characters/NorthernExposure


1	!! Joel Fleischman
2	!!! Played by: {{Creator/Rob Morrow}}
3	->''I will under no condition, NO condition, spend the best years of my life in the worst place on Earth!''
4
5	A New York doctor who has to serve in Cicely for four years as a condition of his student loans.
6
7	* CityMouse[=/=]FishOutOfWater: Very definitely a big city person and frequently grouses about having to live and work in what he sees as the middle of nowhere.
8	* CharacterDevelopment: Gradually learns to appreciate Cicely and the people around him over the course of the series, leading to:
9	** GoingNative: In his final episodes on the series he lives among the Tlingits, staying as close to nature as he can.
10	* DoctorJerk: Less than great with bedside manner.
11	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: For all his rudeness and short temper, he's a good friend and can be counted on for sound advice, medical and otherwise.
12	* JewsLoveToArgue: He's equally fond of getting into verbal fights and reminding people he's Jewish.
13	* SlapSlapKiss: His relationship with Maggie. They argue and insult each other the most, so getting together is pretty much inevitable.
14
15	!! Maggie O'Connell
16	!!! Played by: {{Creator/Janine Turner}}
17	->''In your dreams, Fleischman!''
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19	A bush pilot who's the mail carrier for the town, and Fleischman's landlord.
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21	* AcePilot: Her aviation skills are a deserved point of pride.
22	* BoyishShortHair: Hair is short throughout the series
23	* CartwrightCurse: Her boyfriends tend to die in spectacular and unlikely ways: hit by a falling satellite, wandering onto a missile test range during a live fire exercise, consuming adulterated potato salad, etc.
24	** Inverted with Mike, the bubble man; sex with Maggie actually ''cures'' him of his affliction. He promptly leaves to join [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpeace Greenpeace]].
25	* CatchPhrase: see quote above.
26	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: She started as a ''roman a clef'' version of pilot/author Norah O'Neill
27	* RebelliousSpirit: Has lived her life in opposition to her family's conventional middle class lifestyle, and is actually taken aback to find that her mother never cared for it either.
28	* SlapSlapKiss: With Joel.
29
30	!! Chris Stevens
31	!!! Played by: {{Creator/John Corbett}}
32	->Vani tass, vani tatum, et omni i vani tass, ''says the preacher. All is vanity. I think that's a pretty good epitaph for all of us. When we're stripped of all our worldly possessions and all our fame, family, friends, we all face death alone. But it's that solitude in death that's our common bond in life. I know it's ironic, but that's just the way things are.'' Vani tass, vani tatum, et omni i vani tass. ''Only when we understand all is vanity, only then, it isn't.''
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34	The erudite ex-con DJ at Cicely's radio station.
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36	* BadassBookworm: You wouldn't really guess that this chatty bohemian was a rough and tumble former criminal.
37	* DevilsAdvocate: A benign example - Chris will readily take both sides in a debate, simply because he values the process of exchanging ideas so highly. He even applauds the prosecution at his own trial, and he's ecstatic when Cicely holds a mayoral election, even though (as a felon who hasn't completed his full term) he can't legally vote.
38	* FauxlosophicNarration: His on-air spiels often function as this.
39	* TheLastDJ: A literal one. He works on the frontier for relative freedom, and even in Cicely he sometimes clashes with boss Maurice.
40	* SouthernFriedGenius: Like his actor he's from West Virginia, a Southern state carved out of Virginia during the Civil War for the Union. Very cultured.
41	* WeAreAsMayflies: He initially expects to die at about 40 because men in his family always have. It's actually an unpleasant surprise when he goes to the doctor and finds out that he can live a normal lifespan if he cuts down on sodium.
42
43	!! Maurice Minnifield
44	!!! Played by: {{Creator/Barry Corbin}}
45	->''Now we've got an outstanding little town here Joel, ready to step up in the world. We've got, uh, natural resources, we've got land, we've got wildlife, just waiting to be fondled. And now Joel, now, we've got you. Come on son! let's do it.''
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47	The Korean War veteran, former astronaut and business mogul who owns the radio station and much of the town's property. He's also responsible for bringing Joel to town.
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49	* BenevolentBoss[=/=]MeanBoss: He can swing from one extreme to the other, especially with Ed.
50	* CampStraight: A subtle example. He sometimes pressures Chris to play more show tunes and his home would in the old days be considered a textbook example of Confirmed Bachelor good taste.
51	* FamedInStory: His fame from the space program helped him to get started in business and he still gets a good deal of publicity from it.
52	* ManOfTheCity: Maurice is the richest and most influential man in Cicely and is obsessed with bettering the town or at least preventing a downward spiral. While part of this is due to a desire to get rich by developing the area for tourists, and [[IOwnThisTown he sometimes throws his weight and influence around to get what he wants]], he is genuinely attached to the town. He does a lot to help out his neighbors and once even gives a newcomer businessman a big discount on the space he wants to buy after seeing that the man has a large family whose presence will bring the population almost back to its old numbers after several people recently moved away.
53	* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: He's intensely homophobic, and casually racist towards Joel, Bernard, and Ed, among others.
54	* RememberTheNewGuy: In universe. He was the second Marine (besides John Glenn) to be part of the Mercury 7 astronauts, presumably to replace Deke Slayton who was grounded due to medical reasons. He also "took his ride" in the program. IRL, the only Marine in the Mercury program was Glenn.
55	* SouthernFriedGenius: More plain-spoken than Chris, but he's definitely a polymath.
56	* TearJerker: in an act of pure vanity Maurice has his childhood home shipped to his estate. But whilst exploring it he discovers the toy soldiers he hid from his brother as a child in an act of jealousy. That night he speaks to the apparition of his sibling and tells him how sorry he was, his brother telling him there were many truths they should have told one another whilst he was still alive.
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58	!! Ed Chigliak
59	!!! Played by: {{Creator/Darren E Burrows}}
60	->''Indians don't knock. It's rude.''
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62	A half-Native American foundling who works in Ruth Anne's store and does odd jobs for Maurice.
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64	* DropInCharacter
65	* DoorstopBaby: He was left with the Tlingits as a baby, perhaps because of HalfBreedDiscrimination.
66	* MoralityPet: Joel is nicer to him than he is to most people.
67	* TheMovieBuff: He's an aspiring filmmaker himself. His movie mania can take the form of addressing real situations in arcane filmic terms or dropping random titles into conversation, depending on the level of the episode's writing.
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69	!! Marilyn Whirlwind
70	!!! Played by: {{Creator/Elaine Miles}}
71	->''I'm here for the job.''
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73	Serene Native American receptionist to Joel, later to his replacement Dr. Phil Capra.
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75	* TheCastShowoff: Elaine Miles came to acting through tribal dancing, which Marilyn has been shown doing a few times.
76	* HypercompetentSidekick: She runs Joel's office in a way he sometimes finds baffling, but works out for the best.
77	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Of the show's two regular NA characters she's the one more in touch with the traditions and sometimes clarifies the problems of other characters through myths and lore.
78	* TheQuietOne: Although she was the more talkative one in one of her relationships. Her entirely silent boyfriend was played by Bill Irwin back when he was better known as a mime/clown than an actor.
79	* TheSilentBob: She speaks more through looks and gestures than words.
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81	!! Holling Gustav Vincouer
82	!!! Played by: {{Creator/John Cullum}}
83	->''Statehood. I voted against it.''
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85	The sexagenarian owner of The Brick, a popular local bar and restaurant.
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87	* DaddyIssues with his ''entire parental lineage,'' leading to anxiety about his ability to be a good parent to his and Shelly's child.
88	* GenreSavvy: probably the most knowledgable character in the show when it comes to hunting, wilderness survival skills, and understanding the Alaska environment.
89	* MayDecemberRomance with Shelly.
90	* TheRival: Jesse the Bear.
91
92	!! Shelly Marie Tambo Vincouer
93	!!! Played by: {{Creator/Cynthia Geary}}
94	->''Take it from me, H. You, me and the rug rat - it's going to be better than Superbowl Sunday.''
95
96	Holling's girlfriend, and eventually wife. At the beginning of the series, she is 18 years old and has just won the Miss Northwest Passage beauty pageant.
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98	* DumbBlonde: At first glance, Shelly seems to exist at the three-way intersection between this trope, ValleyGirl, and trailer trash. However, she has...
99	* HiddenDepths: She can speak fluent Italian, among other talents.
100	* IconicOutfit: tight pants and an endless supply of goofy earrings.
101	* LoonWithAHeartOfGold: like most denizens of Cicely, she really cares about others.
102
103	!! Ruth-Anne Miller
104	!!! Played by: {{Creator/Peg Phillips}}
105	->''...my grave?! You bought me a grave for my birthday?''
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107	The elderly and level-headed proprieter of Cicely's general store.
108
109	* BenevolentBoss to her employee, Ed.
110	* DecemberDecemberRomance with Walt.
111	* HiddenDepths
112
113	!! Adam
114	!!! Played by: {{Creator/Adam Arkin}}
115	->''I don't like people barging in on me. Okay? I don't like people. You are a person and I don't like people. Do you understand me?''
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117	An abrasive, pathologically lying hermit and local legend akin to Bigfoot.
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119	* ConsummateLiar: Has shared countless unlikely and sometimes contradictory stories of his past, many of them likely false. However, his interactions with some characters suggest that there might be ''some'' truth to a few of them.
120	* TheDanza
121	* HiddenDepths: Contrary to what his lack of personal hygiene and scraggy looks might give the impression of, he is an ''amazing'' chef.
122	* Main/{{Jerkass}}: Cranky, ''always'' angry and dislikes people so much that he prefers to live as far away from people as possible.
123	-->'''Joel''': Threats of imminent danger are just his way of saying 'good morning'.
124	* MultipleChoicePast: In his first appearance, he claims to have lived in the wilderness for 15 years since getting back from fighting in the Vietnam War. In the next few sentences, he claims to have studied at a culinary school in Buffalo. In later episodes, he hints at working for the CIA, being a karate black belt, etc.

Context Characters / NorthernExposure