THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 17, 1994 TAG: 9410150048
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
WHEN ROB MORROW leaves ``Northern Exposure'' later this season, the series will not collapse into a black hole like some doomed star. The CBS drama will burn brightly on Monday nights for a seventh season in 1995 and beyond - even without a character as pivotal as Morrow's Dr. Joel Fleischman.
Who cares if Morrow checks out? Fleischman isn't the heart and soul of this series. John Corbett is.
He plays the philosophical disc jockey of Cicely, Alaska, the ex-con and easy rider Chris Stevens.
These opinions about the Fleischman and Stevens characters come not from your humble columnist but from another member of the ``Northern Exposure'' cast - Barry Corbin, who plays Cicely's patriarch and gourmet, a man who never met a truffle he didn't like, former astronaut Maurice Minnifield.
``This show could survive the loss of any of us. Joel. Maggie. Holling. My character. But `Northern Exposure' could not survive the loss of the town where we've been filming for six years. If the network or the producers decided to move the series from up there to down here, that would be it,'' said Corbin over lunch in Los Angeles not long ago.
``Up there'' is Redmond and Rosyln, Wash., which stand in for Cicely.
``Down here'' would be a studio back lot in Hollywood.
It's difficult and costly to film in the Pacific Northwest, but the show's creators, Joshua Brand and John Falsey, wouldn't have it any other way. They wanted to put a new setting on the TV screen - a small, mystical place where anything can happen and often does.
Earlier this month, Maggie (Janine Turner) was seen in Cicely talking to herself when she was a 15-year-old rich kid growing up in Grosse Point, Mich.
``Cicely,'' said Corbin, ``is America with the bad parts left out. It is a place where everyone helps everyone else who lives there.''
That includes Corbin's character. Minnifield is stuffy, demanding and egotistical. ``But he is not mean-spirited and has shown himself to be a generous man,'' said Corbin.
Corbin said he will stay with ``Northern Exposure'' as long as the producers want him.
He appreciates the money and fame that came to him in middle age.
Sounding as though he might be lecturing Morrow about leaving ``Northern Exposure,'' Corbin said: ``For most of us in the acting profession, life is a cycle of good times and bad times, up times and down times. Mostly down. When you hit on something as up as `Northern Exposure,' you better stick with it, because it will be a while before you get anything as good.''
Hear that, Rob Morrow? Remember Shelley Long? McLean Stevenson? Pernell Roberts? They walked out on great roles in series TV.
``Northern Exposure'' hinted at Fleischman's departure in a little fantasy scene at the bus station in this season's opening episode.
Corbin said, ``It didn't start out that way, but John as Chris Stevens has become the center of focus on `Northern Exposure.' He leads you into each episode and he leads you out. He ties it all together with his narration or what he says while on the radio. He's the natural center of the show.''
Everyone agree with that?
I say the town doctor (Flesichman) drives the series.
Corbin has heard the critics who say ``Northern Exposure'' is slipping, that it has lost its edge, its charm, its quirkiness. Not so, said Corbin.
``If the scripts aren't up to past standards, we say so,'' he said. ``There is the temptation to repeat yourself. But we resist that. I would say that every third show we do is superior drama, which is remarkable for a weekly series.''
I'm happy to watch ``Northern Exposure'' even when it isn't superior. ILLUSTRATION: Barry Corbin stars as Maurice in "Northern Exposure."
by CNB