Northern Exposure - Series 1 (Box Set) (DVD)

...and what do you get? Northern Exposure, for one. Northern Exposure originally aired in 1990, and it was not a show that network bosses expected to soar. They just hoped it would keep their ratings from sinking any further, as they ordered 8 episodes to fill in for a show they had thought would lead the season, but tanked. Unexpectedly, it was a hit, with syndication and many more seasons.

So what was it about, precisely? Season One ...
...Yorker who wants to be rich. Growing up middle class, he considers being rich the only way to be, so decides to go to medical school after graduating high school. One problem stands in his way. To get to be a rich doctor, with rich patients, its got to be a top medical school, and while his grades are good enough, his pocket book for the tuition isn't. So, he sends off literally dozens and dozens of financial aid applications, finally gaining success ... more

One of comedy's eternal staples is the fish out of water gimmick. Add a touch of eccentricity and what do you get? Northern Exposure, for one. Northern Exposure originally aired in 1990, and it was not a show that network bosses expected to soar. They just hoped it would keep their ratings from sinking any further, as they ordered 8 episodes to fill in for a show they had thought would lead the season, but tanked. Unexpectedly, it was a hit, with syndication and many more seasons.

So what was it about, precisely? Season One introduces us to Joel Fleischmann. he is a whiny New Yorker who wants to be rich. Growing up middle class, he considers being rich the only way to be, so decides to go to medical school after graduating high school. One problem stands in his way. To get to be a rich doctor, with rich patients, its got to be a top medical school, and while his grades are good enough, his pocket book for the tuition isn't. So, he sends off literally dozens and dozens of financial aid applications, finally gaining success with just one. This bursary relies on a law that says if a community pays for the tuition, the graduating doctor, after qualifying to practice, spends five years working for that community. Joel thinks its going to be easy street. He reckons that civilisation is pretty well much everywhere, so a town large enough to foot that huge bill, will no doubt have the sort of upmarket creature comforts he is accustomed to.

What he gets is the shock of his life, as he arrives and discovers his connecting flight is a tiny two seater aquatic plane that drops him in a remote village in the wilds of Alaska. No Starbucks, no opera house, no five star restaurants. Just lots of trees, plenty of snow, a shack of a building for his surgery, and some of the strangest people he has ever met. Admittedly, folks who move out to the back of beyond on purpose tend to be individuals, and individual types tend to have quirks. And quirks a plenty abound in this town. What makes them different though is the quirks are perfectly normal, simply exaggerated by the circumstances the locals find themselves in. Not only that, but Joel views them somewhat with disdain, and has to learn to see through their perspective instead of acting like he is in a posh suburb of New York and these "people" dropped in on him.He especially has to realise he is not as cosmopolitan as he likes to think he is, especially when dealing with the local natives.

While Rob Morrow is billed as the star, it is quite evident that the show's true success lies in the fine cast of ensemble actors. Morrow's snotty, whingey Fleischmann on his own is worth a giggle followed by the desire to Gibbs smack his character. Barry Corbin's Maurice Minnifield is brilliantly played. His retired Texan astronaut founded Cicely, Alaska, and he pretty well much owns most of the town which he strangely thinks will become the Alaskan Riviera. The actor relays Minnifield's arrogant, bombastic, yet insecure nature well. Janine Turner's portrayal of Maggie O'Connell, the bush pilot, provides a perfect foil for Morrow's Joel. She actually is from a wealthy family, and was a debutante. She is happy being herself, however, and is a rugged, though feminine, bush pilot, who obsesses about her love life, in which every single boyfriend so far has managed to die in a freak accident, whether or not she was present. Chris Stevens (John Corbett) is pretty well much the philosophical heart of the town. A reformed felon, he became an ordained minister by a mail order scheme and became the town's only clergyman and disc jockey after answering an advertisement in the back of Rolling Stone Magazine. He plays an eclectic selection of music, and does on air reading of book passages, each reflecting his philosophical musings of the day. Being the ONLY broadcaster for miles, his is the voice that Cicely listens to all day long, and its not surprising that the locals share in his reflections and draw their own interesting conclusions. Mix in a few more recurring characters, such as young half Native American Ed, the wannabe film maker with a love of all that is cinema, elderly Ruth Ann who runs the Tardis like General store, Marilyn Whirlwind, Fleischmann's reticent and taciturn native American receptionist, and middle aged Holling the mayor who claims to be descended from Louis the XIV of France and his extremely young girlfriend (they also run the local tavern), and you have a confection that really tickles the funny bone.

Ok, so let's talk this release. Series 1 has eight episodes over two single sided discs. It's a pretty standard release for a fairly recent TV show, as things go. That is, you get all the episodes uncut and in correct broadcast order, but no extras. Being filmed in 1990, the picture is clear, and has that filmed on videotape look associated with the era, as that is indeed what they used as opposed to film or the more modern digital camera. It's a set of nice clean transfers though, and it was recorded in stereo, so you get that nice two speaker effect (5:1 surround was not really about then!). It's rated PG, so families can safely enjoy this as well, but really the humour and storylines are more appealing to ages 12 and up as otherwise, most of what is going on will simply sail over the head and induce fidgeting. This series on its own currently sells for about £15 new on its own, though the Amazon Marketplace has second hand from about £2.50, so its worth having a bargain hunt. 

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