back in the day, in part because I tend to like small quirky towns as much on TV as I do in books and in part because I had a wee crush on Rob Morrow (to the point where I followed him to Numb3rs). I think it would be interesting to rewatch it and see if I still enjoy it. I admit it got kind of...not as fun in the later seasons, and after a while, I thought it glorified small towns, and vilified big cities, a bit too much. But still a worthy show. I'm showing my age here but...I still have the official NE soundtrack in my collection of audio tapes <g>. If nothing else, the show definitely exposed me to songs I might not have otherwise listened to.
Can't stand Barry Corbin as Maurice though, despite liking him as the coach on One Tree Hill last year.
I don't think we're supposed to like Maurice, especially in the beginning, so you're totally justified. Of course I loved Joel but I think my favorite character may have been Holling. I also loved Marilyn, though at times, the character kind of leaned into the "wise, stoic Native American" trope a bit too much.
I'm approaching it as a White Lodge version of Twin Peaks, if Twin Peaks is the Black Lodge. I'm working on some idea that it's a Tulpa of Twin Peaks, lol (due to all the comparisons at the time. Twin Peaks was incredibly dark for network in 1990, and Northern Exposure has none of the darkness. They were filmed on either side of the mountains in Washington State around the same time, and Northern Exposure did a fun parody of Twin Peaks at the end of 1x05, Russian Flu).
