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The Paris of the North

Northern Exposure
Complete Season 3 on DVD

I’ve been a fan of “quirky TV” for a long time. Northern Exposure is, if not the granddaddy of the genre, at least the great-uncle. Rewatching season three reminded me of how much I enjoyed the series, and how well it holds up today, a decade after it left the air.

The third season DVDs are two-sided, and are encased in slim plastic cases, which in turn are enclosed in a cardboard slipcover. The cardboard cover doesn’t have the name of the show on the spine, which would have been a nice addition for those who store their DVD sets spine-out. The first two seasons were enclosed in a “parka” covering, which is missed by some Northern Exposure fans who appreciate uniformity in their DVD season sets. While I dislike “cutesy” packaging, I can understand their dismay.

The DVDs themselves are very well done—when you pop in Disc 1, Side 1, previews for other Universal DVDs begin; however, it’s possible to skip right over them, along with the FBI warnings, and get right to the main show menu. This is preferable to those DVDs who hold the viewer hostage throughout the inevitable previews. Each side of each DVD contains four episodes, except for side 2 of the third DVD, which also includes the extras. “Unexposed Scenes”, which are outtakes from the show, include an extended, silent version of the mock-documentary shot by the character Ed Chigliak in the episode “Animals ‘R’ Us”. However, be aware that there is swearing, so exercise caution when viewing with children. Also included are “Lost Storylines”, which are subplots that had been excised from four episodes for one reason or another.

Other bonus footage, consisting of extended and deleted scenes, is included on each DVD side, along with the episodes. The bonus menus of each DVD side list all of the episodes of the season by disc and side, but only the titles of the episodes on that side of that particular disc are in bold, while the rest are grayed out. Choosing an episode title brings you to a submenu where you have the option of watching the episode, viewing the chapters (each episode is divided into four parts), seeing a listing of all of the episodes, and where they’re located in the set, or going to the bonus footage for the disc. The deleted/extended scenes are captioned, but you can’t watch them individually; when you click on an episode title, you watch all of them consecutively. Or, if you prefer, you can click on the disc header and watch all of the bonus footage on that side of the disc. However, there are no commentaries, and no hidden Easter eggs, so those who like bonuses are likely to feel a little shortchanged.

However, this leaves the focus on the episodes themselves, and what wonderful episodes they are. The first two seasons of Northern Exposure were short, with only seven or eight episodes each; the show started in July of 1990, and after the success of the first season, the producers managed to get a second season ready by the following April. The third season was the first full season, and many people hold the opinion that it’s when the show really came into its own as a gentle, off-beat comedy. Dream and fantasy sequences are used for comic effect, and the final episode of the season portrays the history of the town of Cicely, with the characters taking on roles of residents from 1909. For Buffy fans, this season also held the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it first of two guest roles played by James “Spike” Marsters. I’m a tv-phile, so I also enjoyed seeing early guesting spots from Heidi Swedberg, who would eventually be George’s fiancée, Susan, on Seinfeld; John M. Jackson, who within a few years became JAG’s Admiral Chegwidden; John Billingsley, who would go on to portray Dr. Phlox on Star Trek: Enterprise; and recognizable only by her voice, Beth Broderick, who just a few years later played Sabrina, the Teenage Witch’s Aunt Zelda.

The audio is 2.0 Dolby digital, and the only spoken language is English, with available closed captioning, and there are Spanish and French subtitles. Some of the songs that were originally on the soundtrack are missing, replaced by generic background music, although I didn’t remember the music and didn’t realize the switch until I checked episodes against a list of music on the Internet. However, I can see how the original music would have been more effective than the replacements in most scenes, and wish that it had remained. The video has been remastered, and is crisp and clean. The set is unrated, but I’d say it would be TV-14 if it were airing today--aside from the aforementioned outtakes, of course.

I found this set delightful, but like I said earlier, I’m a fan of quirky TV, and loved this show when it originally aired. However, I’d like to think that anyone could jump in and enjoy the series, whatever their stance on off-beat humor.

Northern Exposure Complete Season 3 on DVD
Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Melinda
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