Joshua Brand and John Falsey’s small-town comedy is warm, odd and worth settling into. Its fondness for eccentricity can become wearing, but the supporting cast makes Cicely worth visiting beyond the central romance.
Joshua Brand and John Falsey’s Northern Exposure takes the familiar comedy of an outsider in a small town and gives the neighbours enough attention to make his discomfort only one part of the appeal. We recommend it warmly, with a caveat about its occasional fondness for its own oddity. Cicely, Alaska, is good company because its residents have concerns beyond making the newcomer feel at home. The programme runs to six series.
Rob Morrow’s Joel Fleischman can make irritation seem like a full-time occupation. The performance gives the outsider premise enough bite to survive its familiarity, although sustained exasperation can become tiring company. Janine Turner’s Maggie O’Connell gives him someone worth disagreeing with, and their friction keeps familiar exchanges lively. The romantic uncertainty is less consistently rewarding, especially when the programme seems reluctant to let an argument finish.
Barry Corbin’s Maurice Minnifield is funny in his certainty, while Elaine Miles’s Marilyn Whirlwind can hold our attention without competing for it. We found Marilyn’s quiet presence unexpectedly affecting among people so keen to explain themselves. That is also why the supporting cast matter: there are different ways of occupying the same town, and nobody has to match the leading man’s speed. John Corbett’s Chris Stevens and Darren E. Burrows’s Ed Chigliak help make time away from Joel feel well spent.
The Alaskan vistas give the eye somewhere to rest after all that personal friction. Gordon Lonsdale and James Hayman’s cinematography makes the setting a substantial pleasure, with the open landscape preventing the town from feeling like a closed collection of comic types. David Schwartz’s music helps the comedy, drama and supernatural elements sit comfortably together. The series can be peculiar without constantly sounding an alarm about it.
The stranger material is part of its appeal, and the programme does not need a mystery to justify every departure from ordinary behaviour. Its small-town comedy has room for the supernatural as well as familiar disputes, which keeps Cicely from becoming too cosy. Against a genre that can reward conformity, this is an unusually accommodating place to spend time. We can enjoy the neighbours without being asked to approve of every opinion they hold.
But eccentricity can be overvalued here. Joshua Brand and John Falsey’s town sometimes seems too pleased with its collection of unusual personalities, and the writing can linger over a conversation whose charm we have already registered. Those passages made us impatient because the cast had established the differences between these people without needing another exchange to underline them. The affection remains welcome; the insistence that we notice how special everybody is can be wearing.
We would take Northern Exposure a little at a time, allowing its talkative company to remain welcome. Anyone looking for a tightly advancing plot may find the romantic hesitation particularly trying. Watch an episode, then leave the neighbours to themselves for the night.
