With the passing of David Lynch and the re-release (or re-re-re-re-release) of Twin Peaks in a new box set, now is a perfect time to revisit its ‘sister show’ of sorts, which has traditionally been hard to find. Twin Peaks aired on ABC in 1990 and 1991, while Northern Exposure aired its first two (of six) seasons on CBS during that time. The two shows weren’t treated well by executives, and they hopped around, sometimes airing Monday nights, sometimes Thursdays, and eventually they were both in primetime on Saturday night. They share thematic similarities, settings, actors, dream logic, and surrealism, and one show even directly merged with the other.
Like Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure was about a city-slicker outsider called into a weird community in the Pacific Northwest in order to heal them. In the latter series, this is meant quite literally — Dr. Joel Fleischman is stuck in Cicely, Alaska, repaying his college debt to the government through his assignment. His slow integration into the community occurs alongside the brilliant development of the large ensemble cast, along with some trippy ideas and explicit philosophical themes. This is a show that directly references Thoreau, Whitman, Tolstoy, Freud, Frost, and many great thinkers and poets (though it’s predominantly Jungian). In many ways, it’s the angel to Twin Peaks‘ demon, and fans of one show are often sure to like the other.
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Northern Exposure uses the traditional fish-out-of-water story to paint a novelistic, existentialist portrait of community, the collective unconscious, the nature of identity, and more. It’s also often hilarious, and the characters are wonderfully specific and lovable. The show attracted more than 20 million viewers an episode starting with its third season and maintained that for three seasons. It won Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, consecutive Peabody Awards, and Television Critics Association Awards. And yet, it never came to streaming! Its home media history hasn’t been great, either. But that all changed in 2024.
Twin Peaks highlighted a ghostly white horse as a symbol; Northern Exposure highlighted a big, dirty moose.
It’s been one year since Northern Exposure began streaming on Prime Video, and it was surprising that there wasn’t much marketing for it. The show certainly has a devoted fanbase which would’ve eaten it up, with a thriving community on Reddit and a litany of fan sites, such as the meticulously detailed Moosechick and the brilliant Alaskan Riviera.
Music Prevented ‘Northern Exposure’ from Streaming but Connected it to ‘Twin Peaks’
Fans have also compiled a detailed list of the 371 songs in the show’s soundtrack (via tunefind). This is interesting not only because there is some incredible music on the list, but also because the music is said to be why Northern Exposure has been unavailable digitally for so long. Securing the rights for all these songs made the show a pricey package; it seems that the majority of the original songs are now intact, though several episodes still have substitute tunes. Music is a big part of Northern Exposure, with one of the show’s best characters, Chris Stevens, operating a radio station in town and playing records each episode.
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One great musical moment in Northern Exposure is actually a famous song from Twin Peaks (accompanied by that show’s imagery), with the much more wholesome Northern Exposure suddenly become, well, Lynchian. You can see that scene below:
Twin Peaks had an iconic but creepy ambient-jazz score, but Northern Exposure had a sprawling, diverse community of songs; it’s wild to see the latter adopt the former in the above scene from the Episode, “Russian Flu.” Incongruous as it may be, the two series feel connected in an almost dialectical way, like a kind of yin and yang. The New York Times even made the comparison (although their insult of Twin Peaks feels bogus in hindsight), writing when Northern Exposure was returning for a new season:
“Back in circulation, it is continuing to prove irresistibly original, offbeat and disarming, at times suggesting a sort of Twin Peaks without the condescending perversity. Actually, the series is made not in Alaska but in Pacific Northwest Twin Peaks territory — in this case, not too far from Seattle.”
Northern Exposure isn’t too far from anyone these days. You can stream all six seasons on Prime Video through the link below; Twin Peaks streams on Paramount+.