Northern Exposure: Loving Quirky

Some of my favorite TV shows are what you might call "quirky".  Though a number of them cross the line into the realm of the wild, the strange, the bizarre, and the weird, I've often found that the farther they move into these categories, the less quirky they become.  There's just something quite endearing about "quirk," viewing the monotony of life slightly off-kilter or twisted, until it becomes something skewered in a Twilight Zone sort of way.  I love some of the more "quirky" movies such as I Love You to Death, After Hours, Big Fish, Little Miss Sunshine, and Lars and the Real Girl, while favorite quirky TV shows over the years have included Twin Peaks, Ed, Pushing Daisies, Malcolm in the Middle, Corner Gas from Canada, and, of course, Northern Exposure.  The site linked here is a good place to check out the Alaskan Moosefest. 

     Years ago, I used to have a job in which my lunch hour was from 12:00 to 1:00.  Being fairly close to home, I sometimes went home for lunch to eat leftovers, and a friend and co-worker, Jan, had lunch at the same time.  I complained that I couldn’t find anything worthwhile on TV at that time, and she mentioned that the cable network A&E had just started rerunning Northern Exposure from the very first episode.  I became hooked on this show, and perhaps it’s the mark of a really good show that it caused me to be nearly late getting back to work on my “leftover” days because I wanted to stay and watch it.

     The show is very unconventional and original, and delightfully so, with the writing at a very high level.  As proof, check out this link: Cicely is a State of Mind.  The characters were all pleasingly eccentric and gratifyingly goofy, but unlike the cardboard cutouts of most television comedies, these guys up north all felt more real, like real people you’d like to know and spend time with.  This quality is sorely missing from television these days, particularly characters that feel real and yet are still likable!  I really enjoyed what I saw of this show, and would enjoy seeing more.  Hell, they even made their lives in the frozen tundra of Alaska look inviting, and as much as I hate the cold, I wouldn’t mind it so much if the people I spent time with were like this unconventional group!