StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

stevenmcglinchey Once you visit Cicely Alaska, you'll find yourself returning again and again to this little gem of television drama. You first arrive in the company of a very unhappy Dr Joel, who finds himself 'sentenced' to this wilderness very much against his will as part of his contract with the State of Alaska for putting him through medical college. Through long hot summers and long dark polar winters, guided by the philosophical meanderings of local KBHR radio host and ex con Chris Stevens, you gradually fall, as Joel does, under the spell of this little town and it's eclectic people, which was founded by lesbian couple Roslyn and Cicely in the early 1900s. It has no equal in television either before or since. So what are you waiting for? Move to Cicely Alaska, the Riviera of the North and start your life all over again

wedigclassics-77336 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.

gmppp The sixth Season started showing it's cracks, though the episode that sees Joel Fleischman off was brilliant and touching, but I've seen all six seasons a half dozen times and never got bored with it. You wish you were a part of this group of characters. Ruth Anne, Ed, Chris, and my favorite, Adam, what can I say? Weird, insightful, strange, off the wall but it works and well I still wish it hadn't ended. Like Cheers, I felt, there was no reason to conclude the show from without; 11 seasons of barroom bs? How's that even possible if it wasn't for the writing. 6 Seasons of small-town bs in Cicily Alaska you'd think would offer less, but it was a first rate show with first-rate writing.If ever there were a handful of shows I think would still be relevant today, it would be Northern Exposure, Cheers and Seinfeld. Personal ambitions of the actors and producers aside, you don't want it to end, and that's how you feel after Season Six; wanting more. Go visit on DVD, you won't want to go back to civilization after visiting Cicily, AK.Note: On a road trip through Washington State, I stopped at Rosylyn, and I was caught by surprise the emotions. It was as real a thing, as to come back home again, not knowing what that is personally.

dwissba I wish Rob Morrow would have stayed on this show as Dr. Joel Fleischman cause it could have gone another 3 maybe 4 seasons. Maybe he got a little greedy and wanted more money. In any case this was the best TV show in years with some of the most memorable characters and moments. The writing was top notch and smart. Alaska was the best location they could have used for a man so used to the big city of New York and stocking it with quirky personalities like an astronaut, an old store clerk, a want-a-be film maker, an old bar owner and his young wife, a married gay couple and lets not forget Chris the DJ. They all just meshed together so well with Joel being the outsider in a sense trying to adjust to a small Alaska town where nothing happens.I can't understand why we don't see more of these types of shows on TV anymore. It seems like every Fall TV season the new programs are either about cops or lawyers. There is no original programs anymore and I am getting sick of cop shows. Northern Exposure was a true original and classic and we need more like it...