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IN A REMOTE TOWN IN WASHINGTON, THE CAST AND ofMoose CREW OF 'NORTHERN EXPOSURE'TRY TO DO THEIR JOBS, andMen AS TOURISTSSNAP PHOTOS AND SEARCHFOR THAT MOOSE.

In what must certainly passas a typical break in the action letting her go (which a sourceat the agency saysis the

around here, NorthernExposure's sits in the case),Turner smilesgraciously and is about to launch into

cool shadeofan evergreenwith her toothlessand beloved a response to the now legendary "Were you really about

toy poodle, Eclaire, perched precariously on her lap. to hock Alec Baldwin'sengagement ring before you got

Rhapsodizingabout the "perfumed air of Washington" thisjob?" question,when press-contemptuouscostar Rob

for an EueningMagazine interviewer, she sighs; then she Morrow (who playsDr. Joel Fleischman)barges through

screams.ar "WHOOOP! WOOOOI WAu{,Au^AH!"are the the interview as if it blocked the only path to the only full-

remotely human sounds emitted from the delicately Iength trailer on the set- his. la "Not the ring story again!

curved lips of the twenty-nine-year-oldmodel-turned- I'm so tired of the ring story!" clucksMorrow in pure

actress.Her hands flailing wildly at some errant yellow- Fleischmanese.ll Turner, very Maggie-like, counters,

jacket, Turner nearly pitches poor Eclaire gums-first into "She askedabout the ring story." l' "I just askedif it was

the dirt. ll Regaining her poise so quickly it would make true," snaps the reporter, knowing she isn't getting

the folks at the Wilhelmina modeling agencydie for ever any more than this from Morrow. Of the four press

BY TOM O' N E I L L

62.US JANUARY T992 I 7. ii

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US JANUARY I 992.63 people permitted on the set today (including former Exposure costar, Grant Goodeve, now working for Euening Magazine), only one - from an airline magazine - has been granted an audi- ence with the twenty-nine-year-old actor."Oh my God!" continues Morrow, ascending into his trailer. "Alec calls every day, Baryshnikov calls every day, butJal Jay's the winnerl" Turner, who's done the tango with Misha, too, rolls her eyes and explains thatJay is the Texas cowboy she's seeing now - then screamsagain. "WOO. WOO. WOO! There are bees everywhere!" Among other predators. When this reDorter arrived'at the con- verted warehouie in Redmond, Washing- ton, where Exposure'sinteriors are shot, producer Matthew Nodella half-jokingly asked, "How do we know you're not from The Globe?"Seems the Kennedy family's least favorite tabloid snooped around and published some unflattering stories; coincidence or not, Nodella soon hired a security guard. Things have "definite- ly changed," sighs Cynthia Geary, who plays Shelly the waitress. And these days, due to an overwhelm- ing number of requests, they've had to limit onset visits. This was hardly the case Expo sed:' N orthern Exp o sur e' when Northern Exposure quietly debuted as a summer replacement in 1990. members (clocbuise top) cast from Operating on a third of the budget usu- ally allocated to a series, the producers Batry Corbin and ; had to scrounge to get it offthe ground. The former coal-mining town of Roslyn, Rob Morrou; (Ieft to right) Washington - where the exterior shots Cynthia Geary, and are filmed and where the signs were changed to read "Cicely, " - was Elaine Miles: CuIIum and Gearv so desolate that locals were paid to park their cars on the main street so it wouldn't look like a ghost town. But by that summer's eighth, and final, episode, aloyal following of dis- enfranchised TV viewers, charmed by the show's subtle blend of whimsy and humor, rallied behind it. When Exposura returned in the spring of 1991, it was part of CBS's powerful night punch, following Murphy Broun and . The gentle folk of Cicely, population 839 (and one lackadaisical moose), were discovered by the rest ofthe nation and coasted to the seventhspot in Nielsen'sTop 10.Judging from the amount of fanfare accorded Exposure'sreturn last fall, it looks like Dr. Joel Fleischman's indentured servitude to the forty-ninth state is going to last a lot Ionger than the four years stipulated in his much-maligned contract. LaughsJoshua Brand, part ofthe tag-

64.US JANUARY I992 team duo responsible for Exposure,"We teen Indian with a passion for Bufiuel and believes Wolfie is the reincarnation of can work around that. When we did Sr. an IQ of 180. "The moments you have her most recently deceased boyfriend, Elsewhere,we had the oldest residents in alone, that are really yours, are a lot less." Rick. This being Cicely, everyone the world." In an era when hour-long Pushing the dyed black tressesout of his accepts Maggie's notion without batting dramas are an endangered species,to eyes in that practically patented Ed way, an eye - except Fleischman. have two (and another in the works) is, the formerly blond Burrows quickly adds, The other actors on the set seem, well. Brand concedes, "an embarrassment of "It's not that I don't like all that other a lot like their characters. Geary, whose riches for my partner and me. The irony stuff, it's just an added facet." role grows with successiveepisodes ("the doesn't escapeus." That "added facet" ruined a recent first four shows I was basically walking in 'Here's In just ten years, forty-one-year-old trip home forJohn Corbett, the ex-steel and saying, your tuna melt. whizzes Brand and have worker who's found fame as Cicely's dis- Bye."'), watches quietly, even a little gone four for four, with St. Elsewhereand cursive deejay, Chris "In the Morning." wide-eyed, as if studying the methods of A Year in the Ltfe (both Emmy winners) Every time Corbett ventured out with the older actors. Cullum engages a preceding Northern Exposure and this his old buddies in Wheeling, West Native American extra in deep conver- year's critical hit I'll Fly Away. Brand Virginia, they were mobbed. "So many sation and later, visibly moved, confides acknowledges "trepidation" over the people that we'd have to go home," he that he's been invited to witness the amount of fame accorded Exposure."lt's recalls, still amazed. "I guess everyone man's sister being crowned a princess on like somebodyjust turned over the horn wants to return to their hometown and the nearby Tulalip Reservation. Burrows of plenty and dumped it on the show." be kind of famous, but it's really not (himself, "a third to a half Indian, I'm About eighty miles east of Seattle, nes- what it's cracked up to be." not sure") paces off the set, chain-smok- tled in the gently sloping Cascademoun- ing and quietly repeating his lines. tains, lies Roslyn. The sparsely populat- ITH CORtsETT, LIKE MANY And Morrow has a clatch of people ed hamlet has become the region's moved from behind the camera- again. biggest tourist attraction. "Now we have o!'Hrs cAslMAlEs, rT's "You can't be in his eye-line," warns a "He to pay them to move their cars olf main HARD TO DIS'I'INGUISH crew member. gets really pissed off." street," reports Sean Markland, Exposure's Pantomiming dialogue beneath the property master. Recently, a crowd of 300 where the character ends and the person mounted elk, ram and moose heads of boisterous tourists toting camcorders and begins - probably no accident on the Holling's bar (if the species is endan- autograph books converged on the set. producers' part. Putting a Chris-like spin gered, the trophies are facsimiles, notes "A poor man could make a business on the subject of fame, the actor, sinking production designer Woody Crocker) selling film," snorts the embattled may- deeper into a production office couch, are the Native Americans and crusty or. Besidesmediating between his pro- stares at the ceiling. "There's a front and mountain men who make for the most and con-Exposzreconstituents, the may- a back to everything. Everything. Your distinctive-looking background on tele- or has ordered his cops and city of{icials brightest, brightest moment of the day vision. Recruited locally, the unem- to stop talking to the press, because he's has its darkest, darkest moment, at four ployed loggers, off-season fishermen "pretty doggone sick of reading stuff in the morning or whenever . . . the big- and Indians from nearby reservations that's written backwards." ger the show gets, the bigger the under- earn $50 a day for what has become Nonetheless, Brand notes the striking side of whatever it is, is going to be." steady work for many. As extras coordi- parallel between the town and his most- But don't mistake Corbett's verbal nator John Vreeke explains, "We went ly neophyte cast. Except for the instant- meandering for erudition. "I'm unedu- for an uncoiffed, rugged, full-bearded, ly recognizable (but-how-the-hell-do-I- cated, man," he admits. "People think Iong-haired and no-fads look." know-them!) mugs of (as I'm book-smart, and I can tell sometimes But the search for Native Americans former astronaut and Cicely patriarch they're disappointed that I can'tjump in wasn't easy. The first casting calls to the Maurice Minnifield) and two-time Tony- and quote Shakespearewith them." reservationswent largely unheeded. "I winner John Cullum (as Holling The fiercely self-reliant Turner, who think they were afraid we'd make fun of {incoeur, tavernkeeper and decades-old- left home at fifteen for the New York them," saysVreeke, citing Hollywood's beau of Shelly), the Exposureensemble modelingworld (with her mother in tow), history of celluloid genocide. "It took us 'n'bolts comprises, as Brand puts it, "unknowns has the more nuts take on fame, eight episodes to prove ourselves." who were talented but, to the general befitting her character, bush pilot Maggie "It's a good portrayal of our people," public, unfamiliar faces." Not any more. O'Connell. When asked if Washington says Rita Matta, 40, an otherwise unem- At lunch on the set today, Turner is winters aren't terrible to work in, Turner ployed Tulalip resident who works every roundly applauded by the cast (except cracks, "Better than auditioning in them." other week as an extra. "These people for Morrow, who's dining alone in his On the set of Holling's bar, with the treat all ofus equal and real well." trailer) and crew for having her mug on camera rolling, Geary holds a stuffed dog "Rufll RuIII Rufll" Geary is wiggling the the cover of TV Guide.With an embar- to Turner's face and wiggles itjust out of rutty toy in Turner's face again and Turner rassed giggle, she takes a bow. the frame, "Woofl Woof! Woofl" flubs her line - again * then announces "There is something gratifying about Turner stumbles over her line, then she simply can't do the scene "to that." finding something and bringing it to the sings out, "Sooooorry!" The ratty toy, Shooting recommences with a pocket public - and having them appreciateit dredged up by the prop department, is of air where Wolfie should be - and the way you do," saysBrand, reflecting on a stand-in for "Wolfie," a mixed "Maggie" breezes through the scene. the show's success. "At the same time Shepherd-and-Husky, on break because Later an incredulous Turner mawels, 'Uh-oh."' there's a part of you that goes, he's exhausted from repeated jumps "This is one of the last, most imperative "I've become a lot more private," says onto a barstool. In this, the sixth scenes,we come to my closeup and I'm 'Where's Damen E. Burrows, who plays Ed, the episode of the new season, Maggie Iike, the dog?!' The d,oghad to

U5 JANUARY 7992.65 take a break!" An assistantdirector inter- thinks, generally I think the opposite." people wait their turn to pose for pic- rupts, "We're doing a shot of the dog and Corbin, who stables a horse with tures. Across the street, the town's gift we need your hands now." Turner's Turner and often rides with her after shop is doing a brisk businessin Northern mouth drops open. work, has appeared in nearly 100 films ExposureT-shirts and moose memorabil- "Will the dog be there for zz1closeup?" and television shows in just the past ia. The proprietress greets the press with A large part of Nofihern Exposure's suc- decade, including The Best Little Whore "I don't have time." Warming, she admits cesscan be attributed to some pretty out- House in Texas, Urban Coubol and that "never in my wildest dreams did I rageous flights of fancy taken in the LonesomeDoz;a. Not only did the West think I'd carry moose things - it's a whole scripts. Brand acknowledges that he's Texas native accept when the town of new financial adventure," often told they've gone too far, but only Roslyn asked him to be grand marshall Chief among the misconceptions about in one instance does he concede they did of their annual Wing Ding parade last Roslyn, perpetuated by viewers who con- - and it wasn't the infamous circumcision Labor Day, but according to Tom Blair, fuse itwith its fictional countercart, is that episode that had Geary and Cullum ring- city council member and Roslyn restau- moose roam the streets.Except lcrrthe ing their families in Mississippi and ranteur, "all he had to do was get in his day Morty (the moose) was imported for Tennessee (respectively)with dire warn- car, do his thing, and go home." Instead, the opening sequence,no one remembers ings. (Cullum, whose character was to be Corbin "arrived an hour early, talked to ever seeing a moose in these parts. The circumcised at the insistence of Shelly, every kid there and ended up with the Roslyn Cafe waitresses,when asked what receiveda letter lrom his sister,a minis- only three Indian boys in the town up in kind of moose is in their mural (actually a ter's wife, that said, "We love what you do the car with him. He's a iewel." camel, it's seenin Expos'ura'sopening cred- in the show [but] we do wish the scripts its), answer, "A hump-backed moose." were a little more Christian.") LAIR AND HIS WIFL,, MARILYN, Inside The Brick, the oldest continu- Looking like he'd rather discussplumb- ously run tavern in Washington and the ing problems in Serbia, Brand saysboth WERI, t,E,SS'I'HAN IMPRESSI.]I] model for Holling's place, old-timerWally the network and studio fought the studies the tourists. "Watch their behav- wt'rH coRBIN'S COSIAR, WHo episode in which the characters spoke ior," saysthe retiree with the fascination directly to the camera, but "we stuck to they'll only refer to as "the doctor." of a sociologist discovering a tribe. our guns." Sighing, the Columbia grad "I was about to throw him outta here," "They look pleasant, they're meek." In- (master's in English literature) whose ref- grumbles Blair, recalling a day Rob deed, dressed in bright colors, the "flat- erences in conversalion range from Morrow spent filming in their restau- landers" sit quietly at tables, sipping the Aristotle and Brecht to Woody Allen and rant. "All he had to do was walk out the locally brewed beer and closely watching the Fresh Prince, admits, "In hindsight, door, say something to the disc jockey the door. When asked if any of the fifty 'f'ook I wasn't sorry creatively, but I was sorry and walk down the street. him ten or so patrons are locals, Wally. glances at we did it becauseit caused such bad f'eel- tries." While Tom and Marilyn Blair a dozen folks with their backsto the room, irg . . . it wasn't worth it." Pausing, he watched, their nine-year-old daughter, "Them with their elbows up on the bar." adds, "Ifyou're going to take chances, Jessie,shyly tried to get the actor's atten- Between setups, Turner prowls the sometimes you're going to fail. We're not tion. "She would of done anything to get labyrinth of offlces adjacent to the trying to be outrageous for the sake of this man .just to make eye contact," Redmond studio, slipping invitaliorts being outrageous . . . We'rejust trying to recallsher father. "To say'Hi, little girl' under doors and leaving them on desk- find a path through a story that's not as would have made her day." tops. I he bluc piecesol paper. written in familiar as perhaps other paths." After her daughter gave up and left, her own hand, ask the cast and crew to Back on the Exposuresoundstage, some Marilyn Blair finally spoke to "the doc- "Come Celebrate the Miracle of'Lif'e" at -['urner, ofthe crew are distracted by the sight of tor." The Roslyn woman, who's also a her apartment on Sunday. who a lassofloating through the air and land- grandmother, chuckles about it now, "I threw a party for the crew last Friday (with -Iwo 'It ing around a grip stand. weathered said, looks to me like it would be easi- a steel drum band) is having a shower fbr hands appear, slowly coiling the rope, fol- er to go to medical school and just five exoectant mothers connected to the "Harps, .lowed by the large frame of Barry Corbin, become a real doctor than to go through show. Her invitation promises who, hearing his cue, pivots onto the set, all this."' Laughing louder, she says,"He Harmony and Heaven-Sent l'ood." and instantly becomesMaurice sidling up never even acknowledged I'd spoken to In another corridor, Elaine Miles has toJoel at Holling's bar. himlJust looked right through me." arrived on her day off with a gift lbr one "Barry Corbin could run for mayor of The town barber, Jerry Morris, who of the mothers-to-be. The thirty-two-year- Roslyn and I'd vote for him," boomsJack doesn't have an unkind word fbr anyone, old Cayuse-NezPerce Indian is a walking Denning, the mayor of Roslyn, echoing when asked about Morrow, says,"Well, Cinderella story: Her casting as Marilyn, the sentiments of the entire town, if not after you've been around a little while, Fleischman's zenlike nurse, has attained the state of Washington. The actor is you realize when you come u.p to these a mythical stature around here (she had quite simply everyone's favorite, from the people out of the blue, without at least a never acted a day in her life), surpassing, kids in Roslyn, who he puts up on his little invite, you're disturbing them. Rob say,Lana Turner's discovery at Schwab's. horse,to the NativeAmerican extras,one seems to be the most serious of all of Miles's regal air is enhanced today by the ofwhom, Frieda "Kat" Beckman, remem- them as far as how he conducts himself, plastic tiara she's been crowned with by a bers, "When he seen us come back for the his orofessionalism and all that." friend in wardrobe. Locating the assistant 'this second season, he just come up and day, like most now, Roslyn is director's wife, Miles presents her with a 'Oh, hugged us and said, my family!"' crawling with tourists. This is the third papoos€ made by her mom, explaining Of his blustery character, Maurice, interview the barber has given and a that she still has to sew beads on. The Corbin drawls, "He's much m,ore hnee- fourth reoorter waits outside. Around the woman is speechlesswith gratitude. rotic than I am. Anything that Maurice corner, in front of Fleischman's office, Miles has gifted the company with

65.US JANUARY I992 moccasins, quilts and other crafts made by her tribe. \Arhen Morrow, who she says is "really nice," was scolded by friends for not knowing what kind of Indian she was, he "asked me a lot of questions and went around the set the whole day saying, 'Cayuse-Nez Perce, Cayuse-Nez Perce . . .' He really impressed my mom." While her wish to take acting lessons (according to a source) was nixed by the Exposurebrass, Miles's part has grown. This episode, she revealswith a giggle, instead of "three or four words. I have. like, complete sentences."In fact, shewas so nervous during shooting yesterday, "I almost threw up mv breakfast" - which did happen hei first day ofwork. In contrasl to Miles'sinexoerience. there'sCullum. who, at sixty-one,is the eldest of the regulars and a thirty-{ive- year acting veteran. Soft-spoken and polite, Cullum saysthat while shooting on location is "inconvenient, the show works better becausewe are cut off here, away fiom home. In a sense,the show is our home and that has a melding, bond- ing effect on the cast." Indeed. Corbett soends much of his Hurry up and utait: Cicely's outstanding citi- free time riding motoicycles with Burrows and they live in the same :rpartment com- zens cool their heels betueen scenes (clnch- plex. (SaysCorbett, an only child, "I real- ly care for him, he'sjust like a little broth- wise ftom top) John Corbett and Danen E. er.") Gearv takes tennis lessons from (lullum, and has gone country-and-west- Burrows share a laugh; pon- ern dancing with his onscreen rival lbr her affection, Barry Corbin - and his ders; Janine Turner heads out ofthe maheup family. "I think we're very close because 'I'urner. we are awav." savs "We dcr ttaile r: and Elaine Miles tahes a rest, become like a family." Brand recalls a famous athlete telling him a long time ago that "successonly I makes you more ofwhat you were before." I' "What happens to Roslyn and the cast t now," saysBrand, "is out of our control. I'm concernedthat the town maintains its integrity, the show maintains it: * integrity and that the wonderful things that we were attracted to in all these oeo- ple staysthe same." Whether she's forgotten or just not bothered to remove it, Elaine Miles sits wearing her tiara outside the Northern Exposurestudio on her day off, complete- ly absorbed in sewing beads onto a papoose. And in Roslyn, at The Brick, old-timer Wally leans across his beer. 'Where's "The tourists alwaysask me, the 'He's moose?'And I'll say, on the hill pas- turing. He'll be down in about half an hour."' With a wink, he whispers, "You don't want to take their beliefs away." I

'Premiere' Tom O'NeilI has uritten and 'The for Village Voice.'

US JANUARY T 992.67