I was 20 when I watched it for the first time. It struck me with it's depth, sense of humor, mysticism. After 20 years I got DVD edition, and could not stop watching. After 110 episodes I put the first DVD to the player again. After the second turn I did it again. And again. It is unbelievable how Cicely became my hometown, how it's inhabitants became my friends. Never before and never later have I felt such a bond with fictional characters.Of course, I can see very poorly built Maggie/Joel interactions, I can see occasional pretension, some clichés (or rather some things which NOW seem to be cliché, but were original back in 1990), I can see sometimes desperate attempts to tie some loose ends of the screenplay.But all that doesn't matter because of overwhelming climate of peace, friendship, love, pensiveness, with ingenious, extremely surprising ideas from the edge of poetry, humanity, philosophy and simple life. It is the ONLY show ever that really makes you THINK and feel. The only which gives you as deep experiences. The only which makes me laugh and cry (almost).The bad thing is, however, that present viewers can not appreciate it. Why? No firearms. No lasers. No rapes. No murderers. No fights. No blood on the walls. No naked chicks. No intestinal gases. No swearing. No sport cars. Ergo, it is boring.By the way (spoilers): The series were aired 1990-95. In 1994 the "Friends" show launched. If you know both of them well enough you will see that "Friends" are almost "Northern Exposure" remake, but as just simple comedy (with intestinal gases included), of much lower intellectual level. There are hundreds of similarities, not obvious but visible (e.g. one of the friends is ordained and performs marriages (Chris/Joey), Rick/Phoebe's mom after death comes back as a dog/cat, Ruth-Anne cannot learn Italian - Joey cannot learn French, Rick/Ross die by a blimp/satellite, and so on - almost every little detail in Friends is copied from the Northern Exposure if you pay attention).Anyway, if you are able to think and to feel, if you want to experience something really peaceful and deep - it is a "must see".

I have begun to watch Northern Exposure two years ago and finally, I have watched all episodes. And at the end, I hoped there would be another season, and another and another. I wanted it not to end. But it ended.Imagine that you are away from home, from your family, from ones you loved and imagine that also you watch Northern Exposure. I can assure you that you will feel at home. You will breath home, you will breath a place called Cicely in your lungs.So, I watched this terrific show not so long ago, I might be "under influence" of it. But none of the shows I watched on TV or maybe silver screen was not even close to Northern Exposure. Because this show is not led by writers, it is led by its characters. In every episode, writers put something to the middle of the town, and we watch reaction of every character. Characters are built so realistically and humanly, you may think that they are not fictional at all. Actually, I think they are not fictional. They are us. They are so human. They react as ordinary people react, this is the feature that makes Northern Exposure the best thing on TV: There is nothing supernatural, there is nothing extraordinary, everything in this show is so human.I want to tell more about Northern Exposure but it would spoil everything, so I shut my mouth or pull my hands from keyboard. I recommend to all of the people to watch Northern Exposure, especially when they feel lonely.

Before The Miami Herald was eviscerated & dumbed down it produced Tropic Magazine &got lots of awards. In 1 of the last Tropic issues was the story of Northern Ex's creator. He created it, had the whole treatment ripped off by a Godzilla Hollywood house, took them to court & won. He & his mom were holocaust survivors who came to South Beath & lived in a 1 bedroom &he became a millionaire writer, a David who slew a Goliath. South Beach was a Yiddish survivor ghetto when I was a kid thru the 60s.Addn'l: Chris in the Morning book collection of his zazen impromptus is fun & remaindered for a buck$ or 2/Amazon,etc. He says he was JUST an actor & had no interest in what the writers stuck in his dialogue. Now that IS funny zen...

I have just watched an episode on DVD for the first time since the series left the network. It reminded me why I liked the series so much - they had some serious topics presented in such a way to be funny - yet informative.And talk about characters! One poster couldn't stand Rob Morrow - I don't understand that - each character was a bit eccentric yet contributes so much to the series - I would say that like the strength of Seinfeld combining all these characters brought a synergy and power to the series.The episode I just watched - Rob Morrow's character is lamenting the fact that there are so few Jews where he lives - feeling like he was alone. In the same episode Ed Chugliak is filming another character "last of his breed" - an Indian knowing how to make flutes passed down from generation to generation - now the last. And finally Holling Vincouer is contemplating death with a mid life crisis - It was brilliant writing dealing with serious subjects in a humorous and lighthearted way. Too bad there aren't more shows of this caliber.