Janine Turner Movies
Actress Janine Turner was trained at New York's Professional Children's School. (She can still do a mean tap-dance if called upon.) Though she endured the usual audition rounds while seeking out acting and modelling work, Turner's break came by way of fortuitous happenstance--at 17, she was spotted while standing in a supermarket checkout line by TV producer Leonard Katzman, who asked her to read for a small part on "Dallas." Two years later she was cast as kleptomaniac espionage agent Laura Templeton on TV's "General Hospital," a role that required her to dye her coffee-brown hair blonde. Turners's film debut was in Young Doctors in Love (1982), a spoof of daytime dramas that costarred several other soap regulars. In 1990, Turner was cast as fiesty Alaskan mail pilot Maggie O'Connell on the quirky prime-time series "Northern Exposure," a role that made her a major star. She continued to essay the part until the series' demise in 1995. Turner's more recent assignments have included a standard damsel-in-distress turn in the Sylvester Stallone vehicle Cliffhanger (1993), and a series of automobile advertisements, each as graceful and classy as Turner herself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
For Christians who have longed to experience the positive health benefits of yoga but remain weary of the Hindu spirituality with which it is so closely tied, this non-traditional hatha-yoga routine may be just the answer you've been looking for. Beginning and intermediate-level yoga routines are presented as passages from the Bible are used to achieve meditative focus. Designed to be practiced three times a week, Christoga aims to help the viewer improve muscle tone, breathing, balance, and concentration in a manner that is both comforting and restorative. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Turner
His life seemingly spiraling out of control with no means of pulling out of the earthbound dive, a Dallas powerbroker follows his daughter's punk rock boyfriend for a wild night of youthful mayhem that may just bring him back around if it doesn't kill him first. There was a time when Max Hagen (Tom Wilkinson) had it all, but somewhere between a heart attack, an impending third divorce, and being kicked out of his lavish mansion by his soon-to-be ex-wife Barbara (Janine Turner), everything fell apart. Now faced with the arduous prospect of pulling himself up by the bootstraps and attempting to re-claim his ever shrinking lot in life, Max finds an unlikely ally in the form of his daughter's renegade boyfriend Raff (Nick Stahl), a free-spirited rock-and-roller who may just hold the key to teaching this old dog a few new tricks. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl, (more)
Upon moving with his family to a new town and befriending a pair of magical mutts, a ten-year-old boy must choose between his love of animals and his desire to do the right thing in director Richard Gabai's affectionate family adventure. Like any young boy, Zack is nervous about moving to a new town. After happening across a pair of abandoned dogs with surprising magical powers though, Zack discovers that his new home may not be so bad after all. Now, with a pair of determined criminals struggling to steal the dogs for themselves and a growing determination to return his four-legged friends to their rightful owner, Zack sets out to thwart the thieves and ensure that his remarkable story has a happy ending. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Turner, Patrick Muldoon, (more)
- 2004
No Regrets opens as architect Alex Wheeler (Robert Merrill) is reunited with his college sweetheart Suzanne (Lari White) at the same time that Alex's wife, Cheryl (Janine Turner), is reunited with her college love Phil. But wait a minute! That isn't the real Cheryl, nor the real Suzanne, nor the real Phil. The real Alex (Edward Albert) is a movie director, trying to work out his personal and romantic problems by making a movie about his situation, with actors portraying the people in his life. As the "love story with two happy endings" progresses, reality and fantasy alternately merge and intersect with breathless rapidity -- and few are more confused by the piling on of fact and fiction than Alex's real-life wife Cheryl (Jennifer Hetrick), and actual mistress, Suzanne (Kate Jackson). Initially filmed for theatrical release and test-shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 2004, writer/director Curt Hahn's No Regrets received only minimal exposure before it was picked up for cable TV play by Lifetime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Jackson, Janine Turner, (more)
- 2002
Season Three of "Strong Medicine" marks the departure of series regular Janine Turner as Dr. Dana Stone, who with her earthier counterpart Dr. Lu Delgado (Rose Blasi) has since the outset of the series been in charge of the Rittenhouse Women's Health Clinic in Philadelphia. Having resumed her romance with the clinic's arrongant resident Dr. Nick Biancavilla (Brennan Elliott), Dana suddenly hears the ticking of her biological clock, and wants to have a baby. The clinic's sensitive male nurse Peter (Josh Coxx) volunteers to be sperm donor, which of course causes friction between Dana and Nick. Although she loses her baby, Dana adopts two infant girls, one of whom is HIV-positive, then decides to give up the clinic and return to her home state of Virginia with her new family, which she does in the season's sixth episode "Discharged". Dana's exit does not rest well with Lu, who is already emotionally fragile as a result of being raped the previous season. But once Dana's decision is made, Lu sets about to find a replacement. At the same time, Rittenhouse chief of staff Dr. Jackson (Philip Casnoff) makes his own choice for Lu's new partner: Dr. Andrea "Andy" Campbell (Patricia Richardson), a former Marine sergeant who has returned to civilian life specifically to take command of Rittenhouse--and, not surprisingly, Andy's strict, rules-are-rules approach to medicine serves only to drive a wedge between herself and Lu. Meanwhile, Andy is saddled with domestic problems, specifically an abusive husband (Brian Kerwin) and a pair of troublesome daughters, Jessie (Michelle Horn) and Lizzie (Morgan Flynn). In various story develops, Lu puts aside her resentment toward Andy to forestall not one but two potentially deadly epidemics; the 9/11 tragedy is touched upon when Lu clashes with the Government over admitting a patient who may be a terrorist; briefly returning to active duty, Andy has her hands full dealing with a patient with post-polio syndrome; and Lu drops her attitude about Andy and offers moral support when her new partner is beaten by her volatile husband. In the season's cliffhanger finale, Lu's currently boyfriend, a firefighter named Mickey Arenas (Julian Acostas), has no sooner emerged unscathed from a particularly nasty fire than he is gunned down by one of Lu's more unbalanced patients! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosa Blasi, Jenifer Lewis, (more)
- 2001
The second season of Lifetime's feminist medical series Strong Medicine begins with the episode "Donors", which includes a characteristic ethical clash between Rittenhouse Women's Health Clinic directors Dr. Lu Delgado (Rose Blasi) and Dr. Dana Stone (Janine Turner) over treatement of a girl who tries to pay for her eduction by selling her eggs to a fertility clinic, and a tense confrontation with a husband who'll stop at nothing to find a heart donor for his ailing wife. Elsewhere, the romantic relationship between Dana and egocentric resident Dr. Nick Biancavilla (Brennan Elliott) hits the first of several snags, culminating with a "big chill when Nick balks at the notion of marriage, just as Dana suspects that she's pregnant. Meanwhile, Lu has a fling with Harry (Don Michael Paul), who says he's divorced but isn't. In other developments, Lu's son Marc is booted out of school after he is caught cheating; Rittenhouse chief of staff Dr. Jackson (Philip Casnoff) begs Dana to give his wife preferential treatment when a new, experimental anti-MS drug is made available; Dana discovers that her ex-fiance has terminal cancer; Lu has a violent run-in with radio shock jock over medical ethics, and later faces the loss of her license when she inadvertently makes public the plight of a staunch pro-life advocate who is faced with the choice of saving her own life or that of her unborn child; and long-hidden hostilities are yanked kicking and screaming into the forefront when Rittenhouse's nurses go on strike. The last three episodes of the season comprise a tense story arc in which Lu is raped by a trusted colleague, surgeon Rand Kilner (Gregory Harrison), who claims that he'd merely indulged in consensual sex. The residue of this incident culminates in Lu's son Marc swearing vengeance, Dana being forced to deal with the devil when she needs Kilner for a particularly delicate operation, and an emotional tailspin for Lu that very well may cost her her job. Guest stars during Season Two include real-life MS victim Teri Garr as a good-humored woman who is diagnosed with the disease in the episode "Control Group"; and singer Mary J. Blige as "herself" in "History", wherein Lu flashes back to the establishment of her own storefront clinic with her colleagues, receptionist Lana (Jenifer Lewis) and male nurse/midwife Peter (Josh Coxx). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosa Blasi, Janine Turner, (more)
The female-centric medical series Strong Medicine launches its first season as Dr. Lydia Emerson, played by series cocreator Whoopi Goldberg) somewhat forcibly negotiates a merger between the financially strapped South Philadelphia storefront clinic run by the feisty and outspoken Dr. Lu Delgado (Rose Blasi) and the upscale Rittenhouse Women's Health Clinic, directed by the prim, Harvard-educated Dr. Dana Stowe (Janine Turner). The instinct-driven Lu and the rule-bound Dana don't get along at first--nor, for that matter, do they get along at second, at third, or at home--forever clashing over procedural matters and bedside manners. Despite this, the ladies develop a grudging respect for one another, and by season's end they could almost be called close friends. In the course of Season One's 22 episodes, Dana develops a romantic relationship with the clinic's egotistical resident Dr. Nick Biancavilla (Brennan Elliott); Lu has issues with her fatherless son Marc (played in the pilot by Paul Robert Santiago, and in the series proper by Chris Marquette, who attends a tough inner-city school; the clinic's dazzlingly handsome but overly sensitive male nurse Peter (Josh Coxx) gets into a variety of pickles with his more eccentric patients, and at one point decides to supplement his income by working as a male model (the producers of this series certainly understand their target audience!); Rittenhouse's chief of staff Dr. Jackson (Philip Casnoff) is suspected of abusing his wife, only to be cleared when it turns out that Mrs. Jackson's many bruises are a result of the early stages of MS; and the clinic's snide, abrasive receptionist Lana (Jenifer Lewis) is given a new perspective on her prickly relationship with her clients when she ends up hospitalized herself. Highlight episodes include the two-parter "BRCA", built around the clinic's Breast Cancer Awareness Weekend; the Christmas-season "Blessed Events", wherein Dr. Jackson fires a kitchen employee for drunkenness, only to find out that woman actually suffers from MLS; and the season finale, "Mortality", in which Dana endures a crisis of faith over a "meltdown" in the OR and Lu tends to a woman who has gone on a hunger strike to save her son from execution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosa Blasi, Janine Turner, (more)
Director Robert Altman reteams with Cookie's Fortune scribe Anne Rapp for this tale of a Dallas gynecologist and the parade of anxious patients, haggard family members, and potential love interests who come his way. Richard Gere plays the titular role of Dr. Sullivan Travis, a calm, successful, and much sought-after ob-gyn who witnesses his normally stable life come apart over the course of one rainy autumn. As the film opens, Dr. T and his wife Kate (Farrah Fawcett) are preparing for the wedding of their Dallas Cowboys cheerleader daughter Dee Dee (Kate Hudson). Their other daughter -- the Kennedy-assassination conspiracy theorist Connie (Tara Reid) -- has her doubts about the impending nuptials, but Dr. T chalks them up to routine sibling jealousy. Meanwhile, escaping a messy divorce, boozy sister-in-law Peggy (Laura Dern) moves into the Travis household with her three toddler daughters in tow. For release, Dr. T finds solace target shooting and golfing (occasionally at the same time) with his buddies, and at his country club, he meets a beguiling golf pro, Bree (Helen Hunt). When the childlike Kate loses her grip on reality during a flatware shopping spree, Bree offers to give the kindly doctor some lessons in his swing -- both on and off the fairways. Dr. T had its North American Premiere at the 2000 Toronto International Film Fest. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Gere, Helen Hunt, (more)
A technological nightmare becomes a terrifying reality in this sci-fi-thriller. When a group of computer experts and executives from a high-tech firm based in Seattle die suddenly and unexpectedly during a conference call, Samantha Craig (Janine Turner), a government agent who specializes in disease tracking, is brought in to investigate. Craig finds herself having to work alongside Dr. Nick Baldwin (Antonio Sabato Jr.), a local physician trying to live down a professional disgrace, and together they make a shocking discovery: a deranged genius has developed a computer virus that has evolved from destroying databases into an organic virus that can claim human lives. But who would create such a contagion, and how can it be stopped? Fatal Error also stars Robert Wagner and Malcolm Stewart. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Vanessa Stewart (Janine Turner) has the soul of an artist, but her business tycoon father insists that she follow in his footsteps. As a result, Vanessa convinces herself that she wants to be a globetrotting executive, and also that she truly loves the man to whom she is engaged. But while in Venice on a business trip at the behest of her father, Vanessa meets and falls in love with adventurous Irish TV war correspondent Bill Fitzgerald (Paudge Behan). Deciding to kick over the traces, Vanessa is prepared to turn her back on her family obligations and plight her troth with Bill. But Fate, as it often does, takes a hand in matters when Bill is reported killed during a dangerous combat assignment. Based on a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford (as if the full title of this made-for-TV feature left any doubt), A Secret Affair first aired October 27, 1999 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Turner, Paudge Behan, (more)
- 1998
Having walked out on her cheating husband Jeff (Esai Morales), Terry Silva (Janine Turner) moves in with her best friend Elaine Greer (Joanna Cassidy). This set-up proves most untenable when Terry finds out that Elaine is Jeff's longtime mistress! Vowing to exact revenge on both Jeff and Elaine, Terry fakes her own death--intending to frame her husband and her faithless friend for murder! Yet another variation on the old Diabolique formula, the made-for-TV Circle of Deceit was clearly conceived to showcase the versatility of Northern Exposure star Janine Turner, who also served as one of the project's producers. The film first aired over ABC on January 29, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
This made-for-television romantic fantasy is based on author Susan Wilson's novel-length, updated version of Beauty and the Beast. The beauty is talented painter Alix Miller. Her father Alexander was scheduled to paint a family portrait for the reclusive author Lee Crompton, but he fell ill and could not. Alix decides to take his place. Much to her shock, Lee is horribly disfigured. Still, she has an obligation and so continues with the painting. As time passes, she finds herself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic Lee, who in spite of his own fears, finds himself equally interested in her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Turner, Jamey Sheridan, (more)
The Cleaver Family makes the jump from the small black and white screen to color and Panavision in this updated version of the classic TV sit-com. Eight-year-old Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Cameron Finley) is a good natured kid with a habit of getting in trouble; he's not bad, mind you, just a bit absent-minded. Beaver lives with his 12-year-old brother Wally (Erik Von Detten), his father Ward (Christopher McDonald), and his mother June (Janine Turner) in a small town in Ohio. Beaver wants a new bicycle more than anything, but his father wishes that he had more of an interest in team sports; someone suggests to Beaver that if he joined the school's football team, Ward might be impressed enough to buy him the bike. Beaver signs up, but his skills on the gridiron fall somewhere between slim and none, and the experience proves more than a bit embarrassing for both Beaver and Ward. Before long, Beaver has quit the team, but he tries to hide this fact from his father. Beaver does get his bike -- but he doesn't get to do much with it before it's stolen by a bigger kid in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, Wally's best friend, the mildly sleazy Eddie Haskell (Adam Zolotin), has fallen for a cute girl at school, Karen (Erika Christensen), and wants Wally to help him impress her; however, Karen seems to like Wally more than Eddie. This puts Wally in dutch with his best friend, and Wally feels even worse when he and Karen begin to quarrel. Ken Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell on the original TV series, plays Eddie's father here, and Barbara Billingsley, the original June Cleaver, appears as Aunt Martha. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher McDonald, Janine Turner, (more)
- 1997
Based on a true story, the made-for-TV Stolen Women, Captured Hearts takes place in Kansas in 1868. In retribution for the genocidal attacks of General George Armstrong Custer, a band of Lakota Sioux kidnap a pair of white women, Anna Brewster Morgan (Janine Turner) and Sarah White (Jean Louisa Kelly). At first terrified of her captors, Anna eventually falls in love with the noble, honorable Sioux warrior Tokalah (Michael Greyeyes). After a year's captivity, Sarah is returned to her own people--and now she must choose between her new life with Tokalah and her previous existence as the wife of farmer Daniel Morgan (Patrick Bergin), a man she hardly knows. Stolen Women, Captured Hearts made its CBS network bow on March 16, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
- R
Comedian Pauly Shore headlines this goofy comedy caper as a rather dull-minded bank robber who suffers a change of heart and decides to give back the money. The trouble is, getting the money back into the bank proves much more difficult than taking it out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pauly Shore, Janine Turner, (more)
The sixth and final season of Northern Exposure opens with the typically self-reflective "Dinner at Seven-Thirsty," in which Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), New York-born doctor of the Alaskan village of Cicely, envisions what life might have been like had he never left home. In a similar inward-looking vein, "The Letter" allows local mail pilot Maggie O'Donnell (Janine Turner) to contrast the dreams and desires that she'd had at age 15 with the realities of her early thirties. And just when you think that things can't get any funkier, Satan himself shows up in the guise of a whirlpool salesman (Charles Martin Smith) in the episode "The Robe," and "Zarya" finds the regular cast members assuming the roles of certain people living Russia at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. Of special importance is the fact that, after six years of verbal sparring, Joel and Maggie have finally realized that they love each other. In fact, they briefly move in together, but when Maggie registers a protest about Joel's obsessive-compulsive traits, the temperamental doctor leaves Cicely and is assimilated into a nearby Eskimo tribe. At this point, Rob Morrow is no longer a series regular, and Cicely's premier entrepreneur, Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin), is compelled to send for a New town doctor, Dr. Philip Capra (Paul Provenza), who sets up camp in town in the company of his journalist wife, Michelle (Teri Polo). Joel Fleischman makes his final appearance in yet another "cosmic" episode, in which he and Maggie take a journey of the mind to the strange land of Keewaa Anni (which looks curiously familiar to both Joel and the audience!). As the series approaches its finale, Maggie is elected mayor of Cicely, and Maurice finally pops the question to his female counterpart, tough-talking Officer Barbara Semanski (Diane Delano). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Morrow, Janine Turner, (more)
In Cliffhanger, Sylvester Stallone plays Gabe Walker, a member of a mountain-climbing rescue team. Gabe is haunted by an incident from his past when he couldn't save the girlfriend of his best friend, Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker), from falling to her death. As the story begins, Gabe has left mountain-climbing rescue work and has set up business in Denver. He returns to the mountain rescue office to persuade his lover, Jessie (Janine Turner), to quit and come back to Denver with him. While he is begging Jessie to head out to Denver, things are happening in the skies overhead. A gang of professional crooks headed by psychotic Eric Qualen (John Lithgow) has hijacked a U.S. Treasury plane carrying millions of dollars. But the plane crashes, and the bad guys find themselves stranded on top of a mountain with the money (put into three cases) scattered around the wreckage and with no way to get down off the pinnacle to retrieve the cases. They put in a phony distress call that is received by the mountain rescue team. Gabe agrees to take part in one last rescue attempt, and they head up to help rescue the thieves. But Qualen has plans for the rescuers -- to force them to climb through the dangerous snow-covered peaks to find the three suitcases of cash. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, (more)
The opening episode of Northern Exposure's fifth season is even more surrealistic than usual, which is saying quite a lot considering the quirky goings on in the Alaskan village of Cicely. Said opener is "Three Doctors," in which the town's New York-bred doctor, Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), aspiring Native American filmmaker Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows), and newlywed Shelly Tambo-Vincoeur (Cynthia Geary) find themselves enmeshed in a cosmic game of hide and seek. Other memorable season five episodes include "Jaws of Life," in which everyone's nerves are on edge in anticipation of the annual visit by the dentist (Jay O. Sanders); "A River Doesn't Run Through It," wherein sexy 31-year-old mail pilot Maggie O'Donnell (Janine Turner) is asked to be the local high school's homecoming queen (and as a bonus, one of the students is played by Jack Black!); "Rosebud," featuring director Peter Bogdanovich in a story built around Cicely's first film festival; and "A Cup of Joe," in which Shelly's husband, Holling (John Cullum), and storekeeper Ruth-Anne (Peg Phillips) discover that one of their grandparents ate the other one during the "Blizzard of '97." And there's more! The town's resident gay couple, Ron (Doug Ballard) and Erick (Don R. McManus) decide to get married; Shelly gives birth to a daughter named Miranda, who is promptly designated Cicely's 844th citizen; the whole town conspires to cure the redoubtable Walt Kupfer (Moultrie Patten) of his galloping depression; and in the season finale, "Lovers and Madmen," eternal outsider Joel finally resigns himself to the fact that he is a true Son of Cicely. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Morrow, Janine Turner, (more)
Season four of Northern Exposure dawns on the tiny Alaskan village of Cicely and the eccentric residents living therein -- not to mention New York-born doctor Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), still reluctantly working off his student loans as Cicely's general practitioner. The season opener, "Northwest Passages," finds local mail pilot Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner) commiserating with the ghosts of her six deceased boyfriends, all of whom have met with bizarre but grimly amusing deaths. This episode is but a prologue for the season's main plot development: the introduction of Maggie's newest beau, former lawyer Mike Monroe (Anthony Edwards), who suffers from so many toxic allergies that he must live in a plastic biosphere, and can emerge from his cocoon only when wearing a secondhand astronaut suit. Viewers are, of course, prepared for Mike to become the latest victim of "Maggie's curse" -- but surprise of surprises, he is cured of his immunodeficiencies by Joel late in the season. Alas, it is at this point that Mike must leave Maggie for even greener pastures -- but not before delivering a curtain speech that gives us an indication of what The Grapes of Wrath might have sounded like had it been written by Al Gore! In other developments, Adam Ant essentially plays himself in the episode "Heroes"; Bob the Flying Man (Bill Irwin) takes another crack at winning the heart of Joel's taciturn Eskimo receptionist, Marilyn (Elaine Miles), in "On Your Own"; twentysomething Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary) finally marries sixtysomething tavern owner Holling Vincoeur (John Cullum), but not before a nasty run-in with Holling's obnoxious daughter, Jackie (Valerie Perrine), in "The Bad Seed"; "Crime and Punishment" finds local radio DJ Chris Danforth (John Corbett) being extradited to West Virginia for violating parole; in "Revelations," the friendship between town entrepreneur Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin) and shopkeeper Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips) nearly comes to an end after she finally pays off the mortgage on her store; "Grosse Point, 48230" finds Joel being bribed into posing as Maggie's boyfriend during her visit to her family in Michigan; and in "Ill Wind," Joel and Maggie end all the suspense by "getting it together" under some very unusual circumstances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Morrow, Janine Turner, (more)
- 1992
Northern Exposure was an unusually intelligent and witty hour-long comedy-drama set in a fictional Alaskan town that is filled with a quirky ensemble of residents. In this memorable episode, independent-minded but neurotic pilot Maggie O'Connell, who seems to be romantically cursed to have all of her lovers each die in a bizarre way, is freaked out about her upcoming 30th birthday. Her dead lovers weigh heavily upon her mind and she decides that the best way to deal with it is to head out into the wilderness and celebrate with a ritual. Meanwhile, back in town, laid-back, taciturn Marilyn, the Native American receptionist of Dr. Fleischman, wants to learn to drive. Loquacious, pseudo-intellectual deejay Chris decides to teach her, while pompous town autocrat and former astronaut Maurice drives everyone crazy trying to write his memoirs. Displaced New Yorker Doctor Fleischman gets involved when he figures out that part of the reason that Maggie has been so upset has to do with an appendicitis. Sure enough, out in the wilderness, she succumbs, and in her delirium has a strange picnic with all her dead amores, including Rick who died when a satellite fell upon his head. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
After what amounted to a brace of "trial runs," the quirky seriocomic series Northern Exposure entered its third year on CBS with a full season's worth of episodes -- more than enough to thoroughly explore the mystical eccentricities of the citizens of Cicely, AK, and the constant bafflement of the town's premier "outsider," New York-bred doctor Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow). As season three begins, local mail pilot Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner) is struggling to overcome the demise of her boyfriend Rick Pederson, the most recent victim of "Maggie's curse," whereby all of Ms. O'Connell's beaux meet bizarre and perversely amusing deaths. Elsewhere, Joel is kidnapped by mercurial hermit Adam (Adam Arkin) and his hypochondriac live-in girlfriend, Eve (Valerie Mahaffey) -- a crime that the rest of Cicely seems willing to overlook, inasmuch as Adam is a brilliant gourmet chef (later in the season, Adam and Eve are wed, and their nonplussed former "victim" Joel is among the guests). Also, Joel's taciturn Eskimo receptionist, Marilyn (Elaine Miles), falls in love with a traveling carnival mime (Bill Erwin), in an episode built around the talents of the amazing Cirque du Soleil troupe; Joel's now-widowed former fiancée (Jessica Lundy) pays a memorable visit; Maggie's slightly addled mom (Bibi Besch) drops in on her daughter -- and promptly burns down her house; and Bernard Stevens (Richard Cummings Jr.), enigmatic "doppelganger" of local radio DJ Chris Danforth (John Corbett), unexpectedly returns. Among the season's best episodes are "Jules et Joel," with Rob Morrow in a dual role; the multiple Emmy winner "Cicely," with virtually everyone in the cast playing their 1909 counterparts (who'd a thunk that Joel Fleischman might have been Frank Kafka in a previous life?); and the unforgettable "The Body in Question," in which the town gets all worked up over the discovery of an 18th century Frenchman whose corpse has been encased in ice for two centuries (yes, this is the "Frozen Pierre" story...remember?). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Morrow, Janine Turner, (more)
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Morrow, Janine Turner, (more)
- 1991
The surreal lives of the townspeople of remote Cicely, Alaska served as the focus of the 1990-1995 television series Northern Exposure. Told in flashback, this episode recounts the town's founding by a pair of liberal women who are looking to establish a utopian society and who bring a bit of culture to the frontier town. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
