I remember seeing the pilot episode air for the first time back in 1990. It started out as the strongest show on TV. The setting and characters were fresh and outside of the box.
In a world before the internet where NOTHING existed on TV but cop shows, sitcoms and soap operas; Northern Exposure was like something from another planet. I think it was the very first network TV show that wasn't completely dumbed down to the level of a 5th grader.
It seemed clear to me that in the first season, the entire thing was still very experimental. I don't believe the writers, actors or anyone else knew exactly what direction they were going to go in or exactly where the show would end up. It started out fresh and exciting to watch.
Some time after the first season, they switched writers or directors or maybe decided EXACTLY where they were going with it... straight to your typical early '90s network drama.
Maybe it was just the time period? This show started at the end of the '80s (1990) and finished in the mid-'90s (1995)... two very different eras.
It got to a point where the entire thing became so contrived, predicable and politically correct, I couldn't stand it anymore. The plot-lines and characters got so ridiculous they could no longer suspend my disbelief. The entire thing I once loved, I now loathed.
When the "new and original" spin started to fade, it just desenegrated into typical network television. The characters ALL started doing things so "completely unpredictable" that it became COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE and totally out of touch with reality. NOBODY in Alaska talks, thinks or acts like anybody in this show... thank God. Shortly into the series, Alaska got completely swapped out with Manhatten. The set didn't change but everything else did.
The character who stood out to me the most was "DJ Chris". He went from an open minded, free thinking, down-to-Earth type, to a self- righteous mouth piece of all things PC. At times I swear he was reading his lines straight out of a '90s Socialogy textbook that he purchased at a community college book store.
All of the characters except for Joel started out as semi backward, small town "country folk". As the show progressed, they all became the pseudo intellectual yuppie know-it-all types you would find in Soho, Grenech Village or Berkley. Simple minded morons with great vocabulary and speaking skills... nothing more.
Looking back at it now, it's simply embarrassing how stereo typical and "canned" the cast was. Joel was your typical "New York Jew Doctor". Maurice was your typical "old rich Republican white guy". Magie was your typical "strong independent woman" and Chris was your typical "Full of BS Hippy Guru"... Rinse and repeat.
Pretentious dialouge and an Alaskan setting really fooled a lot of people into believing there was something original about Northern Exposure... there wasn't. It was basically a slightly less depressing, well worded rehash of "40 something".
Northern Exposure isn't completely useless though. It's a great view into the idealistic, out of touch with reality, fantasy land that the yuppies of the early '90s lived in... and still do.
In a world before the internet where NOTHING existed on TV but cop shows, sitcoms and soap operas; Northern Exposure was like something from another planet. I think it was the very first network TV show that wasn't completely dumbed down to the level of a 5th grader.
It seemed clear to me that in the first season, the entire thing was still very experimental. I don't believe the writers, actors or anyone else knew exactly what direction they were going to go in or exactly where the show would end up. It started out fresh and exciting to watch.
Some time after the first season, they switched writers or directors or maybe decided EXACTLY where they were going with it... straight to your typical early '90s network drama.
Maybe it was just the time period? This show started at the end of the '80s (1990) and finished in the mid-'90s (1995)... two very different eras.
It got to a point where the entire thing became so contrived, predicable and politically correct, I couldn't stand it anymore. The plot-lines and characters got so ridiculous they could no longer suspend my disbelief. The entire thing I once loved, I now loathed.
When the "new and original" spin started to fade, it just desenegrated into typical network television. The characters ALL started doing things so "completely unpredictable" that it became COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE and totally out of touch with reality. NOBODY in Alaska talks, thinks or acts like anybody in this show... thank God. Shortly into the series, Alaska got completely swapped out with Manhatten. The set didn't change but everything else did.
The character who stood out to me the most was "DJ Chris". He went from an open minded, free thinking, down-to-Earth type, to a self- righteous mouth piece of all things PC. At times I swear he was reading his lines straight out of a '90s Socialogy textbook that he purchased at a community college book store.
All of the characters except for Joel started out as semi backward, small town "country folk". As the show progressed, they all became the pseudo intellectual yuppie know-it-all types you would find in Soho, Grenech Village or Berkley. Simple minded morons with great vocabulary and speaking skills... nothing more.
Looking back at it now, it's simply embarrassing how stereo typical and "canned" the cast was. Joel was your typical "New York Jew Doctor". Maurice was your typical "old rich Republican white guy". Magie was your typical "strong independent woman" and Chris was your typical "Full of BS Hippy Guru"... Rinse and repeat.
Pretentious dialouge and an Alaskan setting really fooled a lot of people into believing there was something original about Northern Exposure... there wasn't. It was basically a slightly less depressing, well worded rehash of "40 something".
Northern Exposure isn't completely useless though. It's a great view into the idealistic, out of touch with reality, fantasy land that the yuppies of the early '90s lived in... and still do.