John Falsey Movies

The overwhelmingly positive response (including a handful of Emmy nominations) to the first limited season of Northern Exposure in the summer of 1990 prompted CBS to commission seven more episodes, which were seen in the spring of 1991. In the eight months between the first batch of episodes and this new manifest, New York-born doctor Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) had become accustomed to his enforced four-year stay in the miniscule Alaskan village of Cicely, though he still yearned to chuck it all and return to the Big Apple. In the course of season two, local air-transport pilot Maggie O'Connell endured the loss of another boyfriend to "Maggie's curse," whereby all of her past sweethearts had met with bizarre but mildly chucklesome deaths. In this instance, poor Rick Pederson (Grant Goodeve) was killed by a falling satellite. Tavern owner Holling Vicoeur (John Cullum) continued to postpone his promised wedding to his teenaged sweetie Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary), though he did reluctantly acquiesce to Shelly's insistence that he be circumcised. Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin), the ex-astronaut who owned Cicely, felt that his manhood was threatened when a gay couple, Ron Bantz (Doug Ballard) and Erick Hillman (Don R. McManus), purchased one of his choice real-estate lots; eventually, however, Maurice warmed up to his new tenants, especially when he discovered that he had much in common with them (except their sexual preferences, of course). And as quirky KBHR DJ Chris Danforth (John Corbett) persisted in trying to unravel the mysteries of his own past, Maurice's Native American assistant Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows) contemplated what the future held for him. In addition to the aforementioned Doug Ballard and Don R. McManus, another semi-regular was added to the series: William J. White as Sam, the largely non-speaking cook at Holling's establishment. Still another, more prominent recurring character was introduced during season two: Diane Delano as brusque, officious state trooper Barbara Semanski, to whom Maurice was irresistibly attracted. Gathering an even bigger audience for its second complement of seven episodes than during its eight-week tryout in 1990, Northern Exposure was finally picked up by CBS for a full-season run that kicked off in the fall of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An offbeat comedy drama series, which gained a loyal cult following and enthusiastic press during its five-season run, Northern Exposure concerned Dr. Joel Fleishman (Rob Morrow), a recent medical school graduate who attended Columbia University on a scholarship that stipulated that after graduation, he had to spend four years working as a general practitioner in the small town of Cicely, AK, where he is to be paid the princely sum of 465 dollars a month. As Fleishman bides his time in Cicely, he gets to know many of the local residents, including Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin), a multi-millionaire former astronaut who is the city's largest property owner; Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), a bush pilot (and the town's mayor) who has an on-again, off-again romance with Fleishman; Chris Stevens (John Corbett), the philosophical DJ at the local radio station; Holling Vincoeur (John Cullum), the owner of a local watering hole who has married Shelly Marie (Cynthia Geary), a young woman who was once in love with Maurice; Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), a genius-IQ teenager who wants to become a filmmaker; and Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), a soft-spoken Native American who serves as Fleishman's receptionist. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Northern Exposure made its first appearance as an eight-week Thursday-night "tryout" on CBS in the late summer of 1990. With swift, sure strokes, the series' producers quickly established that 27-year-old Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), freshly graduated from Columbia University Medical School, was required to spend four years working in Anchorage, AK, to pay off 125,000 dollars in student loans. Though Joel had seldom strayed off his native Manhattan Island, he took a deep breath and prepared for his journey northward (the alternative was a 10,000-dollar fine and/or 18 years in jail). Upon arrival in Anchorage, Joel discovered that his services were no longer required -- but there was an opening in the tiny (population 815) Alaskan village of Cicely, whose only doctor had just died. Throughout the eight episodes of Northern Exposure's first season, Joel bemoans his "exile," desperately tries to pull strings to get out of his contract...and slowly, almost imperceptably becomes adjusted to his new life in Cicely.

Just as the series wasted no time in establishing its locale and premise, so too did the writers vividly bring the other characters to life with efficiency and economy. During season one, the viewer was introduced to Joel's attractive landlady Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), the local air-taxi pilot, whose love life was complicated by an inexplicable "curse" whereby all of her boyfriends were doomed to die under bizarre but undeniably amusing circumstances (her latest beau, fellow pilot Rick Pederson (Grant Goodeve), knew he was living on borrowed time, but managed to survive the series' first season). Also seen for the first time were worldly ex-astronaut Maurice J. Minnifield (Barry Corbin), who owned Cicely lock, stock, and barrel, and entertained dreams of transforming the remote community into the "Alaskan Riviera"; Maurice's best friend, the aggressively masculine tavern owner Holling Vicoeur (John Cullum); Holling's 18-year-old fiancée, Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary), former "Miss Northwest Passage"; Maurice's Native American assistant, Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), an orphan with a murky past and an overwhelming desire to gain fame as a big-bucks moviemaker; and Chris Danforth (John Corbett), the quirky, poetic morning DJ on Cicely's radio station KBHR, who functioned as the series' combination narrator and Greek chorus. Also seen in these formative episodes were Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips), no-nonsense proprietor of the local general store, and Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), a poker-faced Eskimo who worked as a nurse in Joel's medical office.

By the end of season one, the series had introduced at least two of the peripheral characters who would add to the funkiness and eccentricities of Cicely from time to time. The first was Adam (Adam Arkin), a shaggy, sociopathic brute who happened to be a "damn good" gourmet cook; and the second was Bernard (Richard Cummings Jr.), a peripatetic African-American who turned out to be the rootless Chris Danforth's half brother. Although Northern Exposure set no fires in the ratings, the word-of-mouth buzz about the series was sufficiently encouraging for CBS to give it another limited-run tryout in the spring of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi