MovieChat Forums > Northern Exposure (1990) Discussion > feels like home

feels like home

posted 10 years ago by k-man-3
8 replies | jump to latest

I know it sounds chesey but I have watched the show enough that it feels like comfort to me. I go long times without watching so its fresh again. I started a rewatch this time last year, and introduced it to my gf. She loved it.
We watched and drank wine together. Was always a nice night. We broke up in late april and I took a break not knowing if I was going to keep going with the rewatch. A few weeks ago I finally figured enough was enough I missed the show and I put in Kaddish for Uncle Manny where we had left off. I was wondering if I would be soured on the show. Instead, it felt like being surrounded by old friends that were glad to have me back in town. I know it sounds stupid but it was great spending with all the characters again. Tonight I watched Mudd and blood which was pleasant since I forgot a lot of the details of the episode all together. So it was really fresh. Even knowing Im getting close to the series coming to and end with finnishing up season 4, I felt right at home again with all the characters and places. I feel like its the only show to really give me an experience like that. I feel like a fly on the wall, like I am right up at the bar with Chris and Ed. Or could be walking around town hearing Joel gripe. Or looking on shelves at Ruth Annes store. I have even had vivid dreams of walking around and interacting with the characters before.
Anyone else feel like they are part of Cicley or is it just me?

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] natalichka 9 years ago

absolutely.... it feels like home to me too.... ^_^
even though i was young when it came out.. i was so influenced by its stillness.. sweetness & artistic themes..
plus i have always loved the cold tundra of the northern artic regions.. i must find a way to visit more often..
but truly i want to visit the fictional 'cicely'!
it has been ooh.. maybe 3 years since my last watching....!
so it must be time soon.... ^_^

:::: love and peace ::::

[–] ClementinaSpur (1267) 6 months ago

This is a great, heartfelt post that is in no way cheesy.

I know exactly what you mean, k-man (wherever you are). I started rewatching a couple of weeks ago after seeing the original airings and then the reruns on A&E in the late 90s. It felt like home for me too. I have had a strong feeling of wanting to be sitting in a booth at The Brick or walk past KBHR with the sign lit up and hear Chris rambling his philosophy of life through the plate glass window. I want to sit on Joel's cabin porch by the little lake with no name.

I think one reason why it's so easy to feel this way for fans is that a lot of the show was filmed on location. The beautiful scenery is its own character and helps open up the scene like how our eyes would be taking in main street or the mountains or any of the other sites.

It's just a special, special show. It coincided with major life events for me. It premiered a month after I graduated from high school and ended a week after I moved to where I live now with lots of life moments in between.

[–] Keelai (35270) 3 months ago

It's like comfort food. The townsfolk and setting are pleasant. I get a similar feeling when watching shows like Andy Griffith, Brady Bunch or Leave It to Beaver.

I found Joel's culture shock very relatable. I was experiencing the same at the time.

[–] ClementinaSpur (1267) 3 months ago

Agree! The show crafted an intimacy between viewer, town, and characters that is a great comfort. This is why I only allow myself one episode a day! I want to live in Cicely longer rather than a shorter time with a binge watch!

I also identified with Joel's culture shock, but mine was delayed. When I moved to where I live now just a week before the very final episode, I was thrown into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable environment. It took me years to adapt.

[–] roger1 (3834) 3 months ago

I think that all truly successful and beloved TV shows (among whichever fans they generate) create "a sense of home" and a "sense of friends" that is a very good illustration of how storytelling can HELP us live our own lives.

Northern Exposure and Cicely indeed created " a place we might like to live" even if we were the hardened New Yorker that Joel is as of Episode One. The homes looked cozy -- in winter or the more windy and humid summers(you could SEE the real wind and IMAGINE the humidity.)

Beyond the homes..the town had "just enough" for a community: a general store, a main restaurant (always a meal available), a community center, a church(for those who partake).

And a "handsome cool radio philosopher" keeping everyone educated, calm, and happy.

The show kind of reminded me of "Gilligan's Island" in one way: to avoid the claustrophobia of the setting and the small set of characters "guest stars would travel into town," enact their story(usually for one episode, sometimes for an arc like the Bubble Guy) and then return to civilization.

Two slight "downers" about the show, though:

ONE: The idea of HAVING to fly hundreds of miles in Maggie's tiny plane to get to/from Cicely sort of gave more claustrophobia..but the show imparted that one could DRIVE to various towns at distances of 100, 200 miles away..or on to the "big cities" of Anhorage, etc.

CONT

[–] roger1 (3834) 3 months ago

TWO: A nightmarish imagining: it would be great, as an outsider like Joel, to be able to go into the Brick and be welcomed as a local and a friend. But what if you lived in that town, and the people in the Brick were HOSTILE to you, didn't like you, saw you as an outsider? That might be a long, long LONG time trying to finish off that medical school contract. I think Joel was lucky in that as a doctor , everyone pretty much NEEDED him, so he was always welcome.

I prefer NOT to think of those "bad things," but rather to welcome Cicely as a place "to get away from it all" in the company of warm, eccentric people. And though not absolutely necessary to "survive," the show made the point that if you had a good sex life with a good partner, staying warm in Cicely could be a real fun time.