Product Description

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/25/2004

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8588 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
• Released on: 2004-05-25
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .40 pounds
• Running time: 384 minutes

Amazon.com
Whether it's a snowy nude sprint down Main Street, the mysterious appearance of a long-lost relative, or the improbable death of yet another of Maggie's boyfriends, life's never dull in the remote hamlet of Cicely, Alaska. Colorful characters and quirky plots propelled Northern Exposure into the hearts of millions of viewers, earning the CBS "dramedy" series seven Emmy awards between its 1990 debut and its demise six seasons later.

In season 1, we meet Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), an urban New York yuppie who consents to four years of rural servitude after Alaska pays his medical-school tuition. Joel's fish-out-of-water adventures drive the show, but it's the quirky ensemble of characters--Chris, the DJ/philosopher (John Corbett), Holling, the bartender (John Cullum), Maurice, the town patriarch (Barry Corbin), Ed, the filmmaker (Darren E. Burrows), and Maggie, the bush pilot (Janine Turner), among others–-that keeps the series consistently entertaining. The town develops its own offbeat personality as well, a Mayberry-meets-Twin-Peaks blend of Native mysticism, Aurora Borealis-induced dreams, unlikely tales of long-lost family members, and rumors of a Bigfoot-like creature known simply as "Adam."

Northern Exposure provides a utopian escape--a place where life is interesting but never dangerous, everyone's insightful, the mystical becomes real, and nobody's burdened with a mundane 9-to-6 desk job. Cicely is a delightful place to visit, even if it's only for an hour at a time.

A mid-season replacement, season 1 consists of just eight episodes on two DVDs. Each episode includes 5-10 minutes of outtakes and deleted scenes. --Shane Burnett

Customer Reviews

Yay! Finally!
With the glut of completely forgettable TV shows and movies flooding onto DVD, it's nice to see a series of great quality, superior writing, memorable characters, and consistent imagination make it finally to DVD! "Northern Exposure" is a true classic! It'll be great to have it available legally in Region 1 NTSC (there have been bootleg Region 2 PAL versions floating around for a couple years already on eBay, but with extremely poor sound/video synchronization).
The first season only has 8 episodes (since it premiered during the summer of 1990. It might have been better to combine the 1st season with the 7 episodes of season 2 (which ran in April/May 1991, for a 15 episode set, but comprehending the mind of marketing 'geniuses' is bound to lead nowehere.) The first 'regular' seasons with 22-24 episodes only began in September 1991.
Let's hope this release signals that after season 1, the next 5 seasons will also soon see the light of day.

Some of the extras promised for this release:

Deleted Scenes
Video Documentary Footage
Mock Movie Footage
"Unexposed" Footage

(and special limited edition "Parka" packaging!)

MAY 25TH!!!
From TVShowsOnDVD.com:

Fans have been eagerly awaiting this news since the July '03 report from USA Today that it was in-the-works. Today, TVShowsOnDVD is pleased to tell you that Northern Exposure - The Complete 1st Season will arrive on DVD this May 25th.

The series premiered with a short 8-episode run in the Summer of 1990, an hour long "dramedy" about a Jewish doctor (played by Rob Morrow) who's deal to get paid up for medical school meant he had to go where he was assigned...in Alaska, since the state was the source of the money. Dr. Joel Fleischman is assigned in the end to Cicely, Alaska, a town full of strange but lovable characters including former astronaut Maurice J. Minnifield (Barry Corbin), a radio D.J. ("Chris in the Morning", played by John Corbett) with a strange outlook on life, Ed Chigliak (Darren Burrows )...and Maggie O'Connell, of course, played by co-star Janine Turner.

Universal Home Video announced the DVD release of the debut season this morning, on a 2-disc (double-sided "DVD-14") set running at 384 minutes. List price is $59.98 for this set, which comes in a special limited-edition "Parka" packaging that is sure to be a collectible item. 4x3 video and English Dolby Surround Sound represent the original over-the-air presentation of this show, and on the DVD you also get French and Spanish subtitles to choose from. The discs are closed captioned for the hearing impaired, too.

With such a short season, Universal didn't want to disappoint the fans with too short a DVD release, so they are adding some nice bonus material to this box set. Look for these extras:

Deleted Scenes
Video Documentary Footage
Mock Movie Footage
"Unexposed" Footage

This is a long-awaited, highly-anticipated release that fans have been clamoring for. Universal has delivered with a set that is sure to please everyone. Stay tuned, because we'll be back soon with pictures of the "Parka packaging" cover art.

Stellar Television - A Must Have!
Perhaps I am one of the first true NX diehards to review this DVD. I have owned it since the day it was released, and have watched it multiple times. The bottom line is Northern Exposure represents a zenith in television writing and storytelling. DVD simply brings all the richness and texture this wonderful niche of life deserves. NX is a vacation from the sham and drudgery of our daily lives, and should compel us all to demand more from today's television. After all, isn't that why we watch?

NX gave us 5 years of complex characters and witty banter that is as close to theater as TV can come.

Speaking of demanding, I strongly recommend buying this DVD, but also suggest writing Universal about improving production. There have been multiple complaints, so I went back and reviewed my original CBS series VHS tapes versus the DVD. Here is what I found:

1) The music is all original (Kudos Columbia)
2) No scene's are missing, though some Intro scenes have been moved after the title song (Boo Columbia)
3) The DVD's are mislabeled, and no liner notes (Boo Columbia)
4) Original credits font changed (???)
5) Dobly Surround 2.1 (Boo - c'mon and make this 5.1 if your paying all the royalty fees for the music)

The next DVD can be perfection with a modicum of production improvement. Let me just say that diehards really want the original preserved just as it was, with no changes. Just like classic cars!

LET THE SERIES ROLL!