History
The series was created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, who also created the award-winning shows St. Elsewhere and I'll Fly Away . It started as a mid-season replacement summer series on CBS in 1990 with eight episodes. [2] [3] It returned for seven more episodes in spring 1991, then became a regular part of the network's schedule in 1991–92. It ranked among the top 10 viewed by 18- to 49-year-olds, [4] and was part of the network's 1992–93 and 1993–94 schedules.
In 1994, writer Sandy Veith won a jury trial against Universal, alleging that the series was based on his idea yet he received no credit or compensation. Veith won $10 million in damages and legal fees on appeal three years later. [5] His suit was against the studio, not Brand and Falsey. The Los Angeles Times reported that jurors seemed to believe the studio came to Brand and Falsey with the basic concept for the show rather than that they knowingly stole Veith's idea. Some Universal executives had worked with Veith and Brand and Falsey. Veith's script was about an Italian-American doctor who moves to a small town in the South. [6] In 1994, the same year that the lawsuit was filed, Brand and Falsey resigned. David Chase was brought in to serve as executive producer. He later went on to say that he took the job purely for the money, stating that he disliked the premise of the show; Brand cited Chase as having run the show into the ground. [7]
In January 1995 the show moved from Monday to Wednesday, and in May 1995 there was a gap during sweeps when CBS broadcast other programming. At one point, Barry Corbin wrote an open letter to TV critics that called the show "an understandably weakened show". On May 24, 1995, CBS announced the cancelation of the show, which had its final episode shown on July 26. [8] "The show had a lot of life in it, and the move (Wednesday at 10pm) killed it," said executive producer Andrew Schneider. "This piddling out is sad." [9] [10]
Morrow and his representatives spent much of seasons 4 and 5 lobbying for an improved contract, [11] and intermittently threatened to leave the show. The producers responded by reducing Fleischman's role in the storylines, and introducing characters such as Mike Monroe (season 4) and Dr. Phil Capra (season 6) to partially compensate for the absence of Morrow, whose last appearance came midway through the show's final season.
Production
Cicely is widely thought to be based on Talkeetna, Alaska. [14] [15] Cicely is described throughout the series as being part of the "Alaskan Riviera." [16] [17] In Season 6, Episode 15, Joel mails a post card to Maggie from Manhattan, and the zip code of Cicely is shown to be 99729, which is located north of Talkeetna and east of Denali National Park, and includes the town of Cantwell. [18] However, most filming locations were in Roslyn, Washington. "Northern Exposure II" (the main production facility) was in Redmond, Washington, in what is now the headquarters of Genie Industries, behind a business park.
According to The Northern Exposure Book, the moose in the opening titles was named Mort and was provided by Washington State University, where he was part of a captive herd. To film the opening sequence, the crew fenced off Roslyn, set Mort loose, and lured him around with food. [19]
Potential revival
In 2016, Darren Burrows and his production company, Film Farms, held a crowdfunding campaign to fund a development project with the goal of creating more episodes. The working title for this project is "Northern Exposure: Home Again". [31] Despite not meeting the original $100,000 goal, Burrows decided to continue with the project. [32]
On June 17, 2016, Film Farms announced that writer David Assael had been hired to write for the project. He previously wrote several episodes, including "Russian Flu," "Spring Break," and "It Happened in Juneau," among others. The revival was originally envisioned as a two-hour "visit to Cicely," but a ten-episode series was reportedly being pitched to various network, cable, and streaming venues. [33]
On November 20, 2018, it was reported that a revival series was in the early stages of development at CBS, with Brand, Falsey, and Morrow executive producing and Morrow again playing Fleischman. Corbett was named as producer but his appearance as a performer was not confirmed. [34] [35] Falsey died in January 2019, and on May 19, 2019, Josef Adalian, an editor for the New York City-based magazine Vulture , tweeted that CBS had canceled development work on the series. [36] Adalian subsequently tweeted that the rights holder, Universal Studios, could pitch the revival elsewhere, but it was unclear whether Universal was planning to move the project to another outlet. Morrow, who was busy with other commitments, found out about Falsey's death on Twitter. On November 15, 2019, Morrow revealed in an interview on radio station WGN 720AM in Chicago that he and Brand were continuing revival efforts despite Falsey's death and CBS's decision.
Cold Case is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in investigating cold cases, usually homicides.
Cagney & Lacey is an American police procedural drama television series that aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988. The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very different lives: Christine Cagney is a career-minded single woman, while Mary Beth Lacey is a married working mother. The series is set in a fictionalized version of Manhattan's 14th Precinct. The pilot movie had Loretta Swit in the role of Cagney, while the first six episodes had Meg Foster in the role. When the show was revived for a full-season run, Gless portrayed the role for six consecutive years. Each year during that time, one of the two lead actresses won the Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, a winning streak matched only once since in any major category by a show.
Janine Turner is an American actress best known for her roles as Maggie O'Connell in the television series Northern Exposure, as Jessie Deighan in the feature film Cliffhanger, and as Katie McCoy in Friday Night Lights. She is an author, public speaker and founder and co-chair of Constituting America 2010.
Adam Arkin is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing the role of Aaron Shutt on Chicago Hope. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony as well as three primetime Emmys, four SAG Awards, and a DGA Award. In 2002, Arkin won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Special for My Louisiana Sky. He is also one of the three actors to portray Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck on Monk. Between 2007 and 2009, he starred in Life. Beginning in 1990, he had a recurring guest role on Northern Exposure playing the angry, paranoid Adam, for which he received an Emmy nomination. In 2009, he portrayed villain Ethan Zobelle, a white separatist gang leader, in Sons of Anarchy and Principal Ed Gibb in 8 Simple Rules (2003–2005). His brother Matthew is also an actor, as was his father, Alan Arkin.
Robert Alan Morrow is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Dr. Joel Fleischman on Northern Exposure, a role that garnered him three Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series, and later for his role as FBI agent Don Eppes on Numbers.
The fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 24, 1992, and May 13, 1993, beginning with "Kamp Krusty". The showrunners for the fourth production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss, with the season being produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season three, which Jean and Reiss also ran. Following the end of the production of the season, Jean, Reiss and most of the original writing staff left the show. The season was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and Dan Castellaneta would win one for his performance as Homer in "Mr. Plow". The fourth season was released on DVD in Region 1 on June 15, 2004, Region 2 on August 2, 2004, and in Region 4 on August 25, 2004.
David Schwartz is an American composer, known for his scoring of the music for several television series. He composed most of the songs for Arrested Development, and he returned as the series composer for the fourth season, which debuted on Netflix.
The second season of NYPD Blue, an American television police drama set in New York City, aired as part of the 1994-95 United States network television schedule for ABC, premiering on October 11, 1994 and concluding on May 23, 1995. The show explores the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble cast.
Season five of Seinfeld, an American comedy television series created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, began airing on September 16, 1993, and concluded on May 19, 1994, on NBC. This marked the first season Seinfeld occupied the 9 PM Thursday prime-time slot, following the end of the run by Cheers in this time slot the previous season.
Joshua Brand is an American television writer, director, and producer who created St. Elsewhere, I'll Fly Away and Northern Exposure with his writing-and-producing partner John Falsey, with whom he worked through 1994. He was also a writer and consulting producer of FX's 2013–18 series The Americans.
John Henry Falsey Jr. was an American television writer, director and producer.
The Mentalist is an American procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, the show follows former "psychic" Patrick Jane, who is a consultant to the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and his boss, senior agent Teresa Lisbon. Patrick Jane uses the highly developed observational skills to "read" people's minds and to solve murder cases.
Hawthorne is an American medical drama television series created by John Masius. It starred Jada Pinkett Smith and Michael Vartan and premiered on TNT on June 16, 2009. On September 16, 2010, it was announced that Hawthorne had been renewed for a third season consisting of ten episodes. The season premiered on June 14, 2011, and ended on August 16, 2011.
The first season of the American sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond originally aired on CBS from September 13, 1996, until April 7, 1997, and consists of 22 episodes. Created and run by Philip Rosenthal, the series revolves around the squabbles of the suburban Long Island Barone family, consisting of titular Newsday sportswriter Ray Romano, wife Debra, parents Marie and Frank, and brother Robert. Madylin Sweeten and her two brothers, Sullivan and Sawyer Sweeten, also star as the children of Ray and Debra.
The seventh and final season of The Golden Girls premiered on NBC on September 21, 1991, and concluded on May 9, 1992. The season consisted of 26 episodes. It was the only season of the show that aired additional scenes during the final credits, and also the only season to feature no reused clips from prior episodes since season 2.
The fifth season of The Good Wife began airing on September 29, 2013. The season received critical acclaim, with the general consensus calling it the series's best season. The show's critical resurgence and creative renaissance won the season the TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama and the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama.
