Last night I finished the last episode of season five of LOST, so now I’m ready for the final season which starts next week. And for whatever reason the TV show Northern Exposure crossed my mind. Probably because that’s one of my top five TV programs of all time. Loved the small town and the interesting characters. Loved the writing.
I’ve always said I wanted to live in the fictitious town Cicely, Alaska and I imagine it played into my psyche when I moved to Iowa almost seven years ago. (Though in real life my experience has been that if you want to visit a real life Cicely-like place try Ely, Minnesota or Talkeentna, Alaska.) But I find there are traces of Cicely, Alaska everywhere.
It’s hard to believe that Northern Exposure started airing 20 years ago. Can 1990 really be 20 years ago? It was a simpler time before people were blogging and text messaging while driving. There wasn’t even the internet as we know it. A time when part of the nation leaned on a DJ at KBHR for a little prime time philosophy.
Even if you didn’t agree with all his philosophy, you had to appreciate the words and the thought process (as well as John Corbett’s voice).
Goethe’s final words: “More light.” Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that’s been our unifying cry: “More light.” Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlelight. Neon. Incandescent. Lights that banish the darkness from our caves, to illuminate our roads, the insides of our refrigerators. Big floods for the night games at Soldier’s field. Little tiny flashlight for those books we read under the covers when we’re supposed to be asleep. Light is more than watts and foot-candles. Light is metaphor. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” “Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on!” “The night is dark, and I am far from home.” “Lead Thou me on! Arise, shine, for thy light has come.” Light is knowledge. Light is life. Light is light.
Chris in the morning (John Corbett)
Northern Exposure
Written by Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider
[…] Last night I finished the last episode of season five of LOST, so now I’m ready for the final season which starts next week. And for whatever reason the TV show Northern Exposure crossed my mind. Probably because that’s one of my top five TV programs of all time. Loved the small town and the […] Original Source… […]
Hi fellow Cicelian, I even got the book “Chris in the Morning” with all of Chris’s monologues. Has it really been 20 years? Seems like yesterday. Maybe Cicely is Brigadoon. Always in our minds, never aging. What did you think of the end of the show, as they had changed writers and the magic disappeared? For my quality-writing-fix back then, I switched to ER. Then there was nothing for a while, then there was Lost and now there is House. Good writing is my Brigadoon.
Good writing, especially in film & TV, is elusive. There are so many factors– time, money, schedules, ratings, personality mixes, etc. that when it all clicks it’s best to just sit back and enjoy.