From: rmt6r@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Roy Matthew Thigpen)
Subject: Re: alt.tv.northern-exp Frequently Asked Questions
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 10:28:46 GMT

sharonc@meaddata.com  writes:
> Posted-By: auto-faq 2.4
> Archive-name: northern-exposure-faq
> 
> Frequently Asked Questions List for "Northern Exposure"
> and the Usenet newsgroup alt.tv.northern-exp
> 
> Guarantees cannot be made for the accuracy of any of the information in
> this document. If you wish to flame me for my lack of knowledge, please
> do so only if you can also provide me with the correct information. I have
> tried not to influence the information in this document with my own
> opinions, but I can't guarantee that I've been entirely successful.
> 
> I've started to include references to episodes where facts in this
> document were revealed, based on the episode titles in the Episode Guide
> by Andy Bates. Episode titles are listed in [] after a particular
> reference.
> 
> Two companion documents to the FAQ are the Northern Exposure Episode Guide
> and the Northern Exposure Music Guide. Both are published by Andy Bates
> <bates@cs.ucsb.edu>, usually in rec.arts.tv. Latest word from Andy is that
> he's at a new site and he's in the process of rebuilding the guides.
> Hopefully he'll be able to post revised editions pretty soon.
> 
> Erin Sasaki <usagi@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> maintains a quotes list for the
> show, with over a hundred participants in the list at this time. If people
> would like to subscribe to the quotes list, send mail to
> usagi@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu with your name, a valid e-mail address, and a
> note of which list they would like to be on (the quotes list, or one of
> those that just receives notice when the quotes have been updated at
> the FTP site). The FTP site for the Unix quotes list is jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu
> in the /pub/usagi directory.
> 
> Lee Groves <groves@noao.edu> runs a mailing list for Northern Exposure.
> You can subscribe by sending mail to trebuchet-request@noao.edu.
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Abbreviations used in this document:
> NX = Northern Exposure
> 
> Table of Contents:
> 
> I. What is NX?
> 
> II. Characters and their histories
>  A. Who played the flying man?
>  B. Characters in episode "Cicely"
> 
> III. Music Used in NX
>  A. Toy Cows
> 
> IV. Literature Used in NX
> 
> V. Various Miscellaneous Stuff
>  A. How did the town of Cicely get its name?
>  B. Where is NX filmed?
>  C. The fling thing
>  D. How have the various boyfriends of Maggie O'Connell met their deaths?
>  E. "Local Hero", "Going to Extremes," "Doc Hollywood," and "Twin Peaks"
>  F. Why are there no children in the show?
>  G. How long has Joel been in Cicely?
>  H. Were Cicely and Roslyn lesbians?
>  I. Satellite feed times
>  J. Syndication information
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I. What is Northern Exposure?
> 
> NX is a television show that airs on the CBS television network
> at 10:00pm EST/EDT on Monday. It was originally a summer replacement show
> from 1990 which developed a large following, and was eventually picked
> up as a regular network show. The show was created by Joshua Brand and John
> Falsey, who were also the principle forces behind "St. Elsewhere."
> 
> NX is essentially the story of Joel Fleischman, a New York City
> raised Jewish internist who financed his medical education through a
> scholarship from the state of Alaska. Unfortunately, the terms of this
> scholarship require Joel to repay it by serving as a doctor in Alaska for
> four years. Because there were no openings in Anchorage, Joel was sent to
> the town of Cicely ("on the cusp of the new Alaskan Riviera") to serve his
> term. The show originally centered around Joel and his reaction to the
> inhabitants of the town, but has branched out in later episodes to
> concentrate more on the other citizens.
> 
> The show is already picking up an audience outside of the North American
> continent. John Cohen <pacific@online.com> has friends from London who
> watch it, and they say the show is developing a good following in the U.K.
> 
> II. Characters and their histories
> 
> Main characters:
> 
> Joel Fleischman (actor: Rob Morrow)
> 
> A New York City raised doctor fulfilling the terms of his medical
> scholarship ($125,000 to attend Columbia University) by serving four years
> as general practitioner in the town of Cicely, Alaska. Joel is the only
> Jewish person in the entire Borough of Arrowhead County, Alaska [Things
> Become Extinct].
> 
> Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner)
> 
> A bush pilot who owns the cabin that Joel rents, she is constantly at
> odds with Fleischman (rarely do they call each other by their first names).
> Maggie was raised in Grosse Point, MI and is the daughter of the youngest
> CEO in automotive history ("Do you remember the hatchback? That's my Dad.")
> 
> Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin)
> 
> Ex-astrounaut with a family fortune to guard and prosper by, Maurice has
> big plans for the town of Cicely. The local radio station, KBHR (K-Bear
> 570 AM), is the flagship of the Minnifield communications network, and is
> almost solely run off the extensive music collection of Maurice (including
> a fabulous collection of show tunes). Maurice also owns the local newspaper
> and 15,000 "acres of opportunity."
> 
> Chris Stevens (John Corbett) (alias: Chris in the Morning)
> 
> A free-spirit who can converse on the philosophies of Carl Jung and
> theoretical physics, as well as philosophize on any topic that might come
> to mind, Chris is the DJ at KBHR. He began acquiring his vast wealth
> of knowledge when he spent time in prison in West Virginia. He jumped
> parole in 1986, which is why he can no longer vote in any U.S. election
> [Democracy in America]. Chris also doubles as the town's minister, being
> ordained after answering an ad in the back of "Rolling Stone."
> 
> Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows)
> 
> Ed is a half-native Alaskan who was raised by one of the local tribes when
> his parents abandoned him. Ed wants to be a film director, and has already
> started pen-pal correspondences with Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg, and
> Woody Allen. Ed works for Maurice and Ruth-Anne, and has an IQ of 180.
> 
> Ruth-Anne Miller (Peg Phillips)
> 
> The owner of the general store in town, Ruth-Anne left the lower 48 when
> she was 60 years old with an old station wagon, all her household
> possessions she could carry, and her cats to make a new life in Alaska.
> Regrettably, one of her children is an investment banker.
> 
> Holling Vincoeur (John Cullum)
> 
> The owner of one of the local bars, The Brick, Holling is an ex-trapper
> and hunter who swore off killing. Holling and Maurice are old and dear
> friends, but once were mortal enemies over the love of a woman. Holling
> does not want to marry any woman, however-- his family history of long
> life spans leads him to believe that he would outlive any woman that he
> marries, so he is content to live with and love Shelly, but not marry her.
> Holling is also a direct male-line descendant of French aristocracy [The
> Body in Question].
> 
> Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary)
> 
> Shelly is the woman over whom Maurice and Holling wanted to kill each
> other. A former Miss Northwest-Passage, Shelly came to Cicely to marry
> Maurice. But once she met Holling, she left Maurice to be with him (Holling
> is over 60 years old, but Shelly is just barely into her twenties).
> 
> Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles)
> 
> Joel's receptionist, who raises ostriches at her farm.
> Character note: Elaine got the part when she accompanied her mother to the
> audition. The producers and director liked her timing and sense of humor
> better.
> 
> Recurring characters:
> 
> Adam (Adam Arkin)
> 
> The world's worst pathological liar (as far as Joel is concerned), Adam is
> a gourmet chef who was originally thought to be the Cicely version of
> Bigfoot [Aurora Borealis]. He pops up occasionally to cause havoc in
> Joel's life. Soon to be a father.
> 
> Eve (Valerie Mahaffey, winner of a Best Supporting Actress Emmy)
> 
> Adam's wife, also the heiress to a tungsten fortune, she is expecting
> their first child. She is also the world's champion hypochondriac and once
> chained Joel to her cabin so that she could have a doctor in-house
> round-the-clock [The Bumpy Road to Love].
> 
> Bernard Stevens (Richard Cummings, Jr.)
> 
> Chris' African-American half-brother. Bernard and Chris are psychically
> connected-- they discovered each other when they both had the same vision
> of a sculpture about the Aurora Borealis [Aurora Borealis]. They often
> share the same dreams and thoughts. Their mutual father was a travellin'
> man who just happened to have two families.
> 
> Sgt. Barbara Semanski (Diane Delano)
> 
> A state trooper who shares the mutual hots for Maurice, but who cannot
> sustain a relationship with him because of his disregard for the law (tax
> law, that is) [The Bumpy Road to Love].
> 
> Elaine (Jessica Lundy)
> 
> Joel's ex-fiance'e-- she left Joel to marry an older man who died shortly
> after their marriage. She and Joel have since reconciled their relationship
> and the unfortunate way that it ended.
> 
> Dave (William J. White)
> 
> Cook at The Brick, he takes a lot of abuse from Adam over his style of
> cooking (bacon is not pancetta).
> 
> Mike Monroe (Anthony Edwards)
> 
> A lawyer suffering from MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity), he lives in
> a geodesic dome off of Highway 3. He is hyper-allergic to the environment
> around him, a condition that has developed in the last few years of his
> life. He's now chosen Cicely, Alaska, as his home. Joel thinks he's wacko,
> but Maggie is attracted to him.
> 
> Morty (Morty the Moose)
> 
> Morty is a part of a captive moose herd maintained at a Washington State
> Univ. research station. Although WSU was somewhat reluctant, at first, to
> lend Morty for such blatantly exploitative purposes, they finally relented
> and the rest is history.
> 
> 
> A. Who played the flying man in the episode involving the circus coming to
> Cicely? [Get Real]
> 
> The flying man was played by Bill Irwin, who has appeared with the Pickle
> Family Circus. He is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" award.
> Other credits for him include:
> 
> 	The movie "Popeye"
> 	2 Broadway Shows, including "The Regard of Flight", which has been
> 		recorded and broadcast on PBS
> 	The movie "Steppin' Out" as Liza Minelli's only male student
> 	The movie "My Blue Heaven" as the partner of Rick Moranis
> 	TV show "Bill Cosby," playing a master of ceremonies in one episode
> 
> 
> B. Characters in "Cicely" (and their modern day equivalents)
> 
> Ned Svenborg = Ed
> Mace Mobrey  = Maurice
> Kit          = Chris
> Sally        = Shelly
> Abe          = Holling
> Mary O'Keefe = Maggie
> Franz Kafka  = Joel
> Nurse        = Marilyn
> Rhoda        = Ruth-Anne
> (woman at meeting)
> 
> 
> III. Music Used in NX
> 
> Andy Bates has a music guide for the show-- hopefully he can be prevailed
> upon to post the guide to this group.
> 
> There has been a NX CD released that has a selection of pieces that have
> been played on the show. Consult the music guide if you want to know which
> pieces were played in which episodes. The CD includes:
> 
> 1.  Theme from Northern Exposure
>     Performed by David Schwartz
> 
> 2.  Jolie Louise
>     Performed by Daniel Lanois
> 
> 3.  Hip Hug-Her
>     Performed by Booker T. and the MG's
> 
> 4.  At Last
>     Performed by Etta James
> 
> 5.  Everybody Be Yoself
>     Performed by Chic Street Man
> 
> 6.  Alaskan Nights
>     Performed by David Schwartz
> 
> 7.  Don Quichotte
>     Performed by Magazine 60
> 
> 8.  When I Grow Too Old to Dream
>     Performed by Nat "King" Cole and His Trio
> 
> 9.  Emabhaceni
>     Performed by Miriam Makeba
> 
> 10. Gimme Three Steps
>     Performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd
> 
> 11. Bailero from Chants d'Auvergne
>     Performed by Frederica Von Stade
>     with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
>     Conducted by Antonio de Almeda
> 
> 12. Medley:
>     A Funeral in My Brain
>     Woody the Indian
>     The Tellakutans
>     Performed by David Schwartz
> 
> It does not include "Toy Cows in Africa" by Chance or "Carribean Blue"
> (by Enya, from her album "Shepherd Moons").
> 
> 
> A. Toy Cows [It Happened in Juneau]
> 
> Aaron Naas <AAron@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> did the detective work to answer
> the most important question since time began - mainly, who did the song
> "Toy Cows in Africa"?
> 
> The song "Toy Cows In Africa" is by a group called Chance. The song is
> not on any released album, but can be acquired from Cheryl Leah (of
> Chance) at their office number. The number is (818) 980-9623.
> When you call, mention that you heard about this in alt.tv.northern-exp.
> 
> If you want to order a copy of their demo tape, which has two other songs
> besides "Toy Cows," send $4.50 (which includes shipping), to:
> 
> Ed Willett
> 3968 Eureka Drive
> Studio City, CA  91604
> 
> According to Louise Penberthy <louise@cc.gatech.edu>, they will be
> releasing a CD in January, with a tape to follow soon after (she spoke
> to Ed about this). If you want, he will put you on a mailing list so you
> can get notification of the CD release.
> 
> All I can say is WOW! We went from having no clue as to the whereabouts
> of this song to a veritable plethora :-) of information.
> 
> 
> IV. Literature Used in NX
> 
> There was a syndicated article that appeared in the New York Times and
> other various newspapers around the U.S. that started to touch on the
> list of books that Chris has quoted/read on the air.
> 
>         Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Renascence and Other Poems"
>         Joseph Campbell, "Power of Myth"
>         Shakespeare, the complete works
>         Stephen Hawking, "A Brief History of Time"
>         Hegel, "Early Technological Writings"
>         Kierkegaard, "Sickness Unto Death"
>         Emmanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason"
>         Walt Whitman, the complete works
>         Nietzsche, "Logic," and "The Metaphysics of Morals"
>         Tolstoy, "War and Peace"
>         Maurice Sendak, "Where the Wild Things Are"
>         Baudelaire, "Flowers of Evil" (in translation, Chris does
>                 not read French)
>         "The Papers of Thomas Jefferson"
>         Alexis do Tocqueville, the complete works
> 
> Additions that were not in the NYT article:
> 
>         Jack London, "Call of the Wild"
> 	Holling Clancy Holling, "Paddle to the Sea"
> 
> 
> V. Various Miscellaneous Stuff
> 
> A. How did the town of Cicely get its name?
> 
> Cicely was founded, but nameless (and lawless) until two women, Cicely and
> Roslyn, came to town to form a utopian society. For more details, see
> the episode "Cicely" which tells the history of the two women and the
> society. For those people who haven't seen the show, the town is named
> after Cicely, due to her selfless death to protect Roslyn.
> 
> 
> B. Where is NX filmed?
> 
> NX is filmed in the town of Roslyn, Washington. There really is a
> Roslyn('s) Cafe', a bar where The Brick is (but the inside looks nothing
> like The Brick), and a store where Ruth-Anne's general store is located.
> Word from the people who have visited is that the local people are very
> excited about the show and generally do not mind non-nosy tourists
> visiting. There are certain "hot" sets that you cannot enter, but
> generally the whole town is very open and friendly. Most people who post
> articles about their visits have not been able to locate the church where
> the wedding of Adam and Eve took place, so it may not be in the area.
> Exterior shots are filmed during mid-week. Interior shots are filmed in a
> warehouse/soundstage in Redmond, Washington, and are not open to the
> public (closed sets).
> 
> 
> C. The fling thing
> 
> That thing is called a trebuchet (pronounced tray-boo-shay). For more
> information, I quote a post by Hank Nunes <hwnunes@leland.stanford.edu>:
> 
> ""Car & Driver" did a whole article on the 'trebuchet.'  It was called
> "Seige the Day."  Two guys in England built a replica and fling toilets
> filled with gasoline and small cars and people.  They thought that they
> might sell a few of these, but at the time of the article, they had only
> sold one-- to NX.  If you want one, they only cost $18,000.00."
> 
> Some references/cites:
>   Car & Driver, June 1992
>   "All Things Considered", National Public Radio, Jan. 2 1992.
>   The Wall Street Journal, July 30, 1991
> 
> If you want a full set of articles, you might look these up on the Nexis
> on-line news service. Try the search "trebuchet" in the file nexis;currnt
> and yes, this is a shameless plug for my employer. Either that, or I'm
> doing a really good imitation of H. Ross Perot. :-)
> 
> Items that have been flung:
>   Maggie's burnt piano [Burning Down the House]
>   Chris' dead friend Tooley [Heroes]
> 
> The exact quote by Chris about the fling:
> "It's not the thing you fling, it's the fling itself."
> 
> 
> D. How have the various boyfriends of Maggie O'Connell met their deaths?
> 
> This is known as the curse of Maggie O'Connell-- every serious boyfriend
> she has ever had has died in some gruesome accident. The latest was Rick
> Pederson, who was played by Grant Goodeve in the first season (until
> Rick's untimely demise).  Until her house burned down, Maggie had small
> shrines to each boyfriend on her mantel.
> 
> 	Harry ---- potato salad at a picnic
> 
> 	Bruce ---- victim of a terrible fishing accident (he fell into a
> 		fish canning machine and had to be buried in little cans of
> 		tuna)
> 
> 	Glenn ---- took a wrong turn in his Volvo onto a missile test site
> 
> 	Dave  ---- fell asleep on a glacier and froze to death
> 
> 	Rick  ---- hit by a satellite
> 
> This is from the eulogy given at Rick's funeral by Chris [Slow Dance].
> 
> Additions after season premiere [Northwest Passages]:
> 
> 	Steve ---- struck by lightning while working on an oil rig
> 		(revealed during Maggie's hallucination)
> 
> 
> E. "Local Hero," "Going to Extremes," "Doc Hollywood," and "Twin Peaks"
> 
> "Local Hero" is a film by Scottish director Bill Forsythe. In Local Hero,
> an upwardly-mobile young professional (oilman) goes to a remote part of
> the world (northern Scotland) where he is initially annoyed by the lack
> of modern conveniences but eventually enchanted with the local culture.
> At one point a old Russian town friend stumbles into the scene, and the
> main character deals with a kind, elderly store-keeper woman.
> 
> "Going to Extremes" is another Brand/Falsey creation. It has been described
> as "St. Elsewhere" on the sand with characters from NX thrown in.
> Comparisons to NX are natural-- doctors thrown into a foreign culture with
> lots of colorful local characters. It is currently being shown Tuesday at
> 10:00pm EDT/EST on the ABC television network.
> 
> "Doc Hollywood" is a movie that was released in the summer of 1991. It
> stars Michael J. Fox as a doctor, who while travelling to Beverly Hills
> to begin a career as a plastic surgeon, ends up stuck in the small town
> of Grady, trying to pay off a debt by filling in as the town doctor. No
> one can be certain which came first: NX or "Doc Hollywood." Rumor has it
> that the script for DH had been floating around Hollywood for years, but
> NX was created by Brand and Falsey after talking to a doctor friend of
> theirs.
> 
> A DH/NX connection is that Roberts Blossom played both the judge who
> sentenced Fox's character (Ben Stone) to community service in DH, and
> the elder Ned Svenborg [Cicely].
> 
> "Twin Peaks" has also been compared to NX. TP was also filmed in the state
> of Washington (in Snoqualmie) and took place in a town filled with
> colorful characters. But while TP was mainly about a series of bad events
> in an generally evil place, NX is mainly about a series of slightly odd
> events in a generally nice place (this is entirely the FAQ's author's
> opinion, who has seen both shows and infinitely prefers NX over TP).
> 
> NX has done an homage to TP. In "Russian Flu," Holling, Joel and Elaine
> visit a scenic waterfall (which may be the same falls used in TP), there
> is some vague TP-type music playing in the background (which they hear and
> snap their fingers to), and they talk about coffee and cherry pie.
I'd like to add that there is an ew show, very much in the same vein
as Northern Exposure, called Picket Fences.  This show has a brilliant cast
beeter known for movie roles, than T.V..  The acting is extremelly well done
ans all the characters pocess that "smartness" that Cicely does.  PF is so
similar to NOX that CBS one week actually pre-empted NOW to show PF in the
hopes that NOX viewers would watch it, and get turned on to it.  In my opinion
probably the 2nd best show on T.V, after Northern Exposure.
> 
> 
> F. Why are there no children in the show?
> 
> Well, a lot of people who subscribe to this newsgroup are pretty glad
> there aren't any main characters who are under 18 years of age. Others
> believe that children are missing and should be included. There have been
> children in certain episodes; there were children in Ed's film "Cicely"
> [Animals R Us], there were children around during the visit by the circus
> [Get Real], and there were children at the wedding [The Wedding]. But if
> you think about the lack of children, consider that all of the main
> characters are single and highly independent, so the inclusion of any
> children would be against the characters as drawn so far in the show.
> 
> 
> G. How long has Joel been in Cicely?
> 
> Joel's original contract required four years of service to the state of
> Alaska. In the episode "Thanksgiving," the rising cost of living and
> devaluation of the US dollar causes the state to add another year to Joel's
> "sentence." In this episode, he states that he now has 3 years, 9 months,
> 17 days, and 1 hour (but what's another hour?) to serve. Other episodes
> have also alluded to the amount of time he has left, such as the episode
> where he renews his subscription to _The_New_Yorker_ [Lost and Found]
> (3 years, 8 months, 22 days, and 15 hours). Because of the open-ended
> nature of the show's run, it is possible that the time spent on the show
> will not match the exact calendar time from the premiere episode (see
> episodes of "MASH" for a comparison to this situation).
> 
> 
> H. Were Cicely and Roslyn lesbians?
> 
> Yes. Maurice has asked Chris to downplay this part of their town's history.
> It is also alluded to in the pilot episode, where Maurice tries to tell
> Joel that, despite what other people will tell him, they were just good
> friends. It is not stated but alluded to in "Cicely" during the
> conversation between Mary O'Keefe and Roslyn about alternatives to men.
> 
> 
> I. Satellite feed times
> 
> The feed for NX is on satellite T1, channel 13 at 4:00am EST Sunday
> morning.  This NEXP feed is from the production company to the network, so
> there are no commercials.
> 
> 
> J. Syndication information
> 
> At this time, NX is not in syndication, so it cannot be found in regular
> reruns. CBS has been rerunning some shows at different times slots but
> this does not mean that it is in syndication. Hopefully, I'll be able to
> replace this paragraph in the near future with some real syndication
> information. :-)
> 
> 
> Much thanks to the following people for helping to edit this document, and
> for helping with contributions to this document:
> 
> Andy Bates <bates@cs.ucsb.edu>,
> Henry W. Nunes <hwnunes@leland.stanford.edu> (hankdtank),
> Dan Goldstein <dang@cicero.uchicago.edu>,
> Tim Pierce <twpierce@unix.amherst.edu>,
> Melissa Brown <MMB3@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>,
> Greg Bole <BOLE@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu>,
> George Mitchell <george@tessi.com>,
> Howard Gershen <howard@boxhill.com>,
> Larry J Lennhoff <bml@Athena.MIT.EDU>,
> Erin Sasaki <usagi@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>,
> Douglas J Renze <drenze@icaen.uiowa.edu>,
> Matt Mccoy <matt@ms.uky.edu>,
> John Cohen <pacific@online.com>,
> Evan Rosser <ejr@wam.umd.edu>,
> Brian Fristensky <frist@ccu.umanitoba.ca>,
> John Cohen <pacific@online.com>,
> Micheal Tucker <mtucker@lamar.ColoState.EDU>,
> Aaron Naas <AAron@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>,
> Louise Penberthy <louise@cc.gatech.edu>,
> Melissa Safran <m4safran@student.business.uwo.ca>,
> Lee Groves <groves@noao.edu>,
> David Bowen <dmb@palm.cray.com>,
> George Mitchell <george@tessi.com>,
> Cliff Chen <cliff@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>,
> Debbie Schwartz <das@voodoo.ca.boeing.com>,
> Steven Vest <vest@novavax.nova.edu,
> 
> 
> Copyright (c) 1992 by Sharon Crichton. That's all.
> --
> Sharon Crichton         *****************   Mead Data Central
> sharonc@meaddata.com    **HAPPY! HAPPY!**   P.O. Box 933
> uunet!meaddata!sharonc  **  JOY! JOY!  **   Dayton, OH 45401
>                         *****************   FAX: (513) 865-1655
Newsgroups: alt.tv.northern-exp