The Hallmark channel is showing Northern Exposure's episodes in order. A thinking woman would have confirmed that she had enough video tape to transfer them to as they turn up, but oh well, who's thinking these days? :) I saved the pilot episode and will likely transfer some of my favorites to tapes as they come up.

I'm not sure why I liked the show so much, probably a lot of it had to do with the fact that we were stationed in Hawaii at the time after being here in Washington for three years. Watching "Cicely" on TV, in reality the town of Roslyn, was a bit like being back in the state. One of the things we did when we moved back up here is to drive out to Roslyn and walk up and down the streets. At that time, the series was still being filmed so it was really awesome to see "Dr. Joel Fleischman" painted onto the storefront window. Apparently that location is now a memoribilia shop but they've painted the name onto the wrong window. The last time I went out to Roslyn, Rob Morrow was no longer on the show so the storefront had no name on the window at all. I was sorry I hadn't taken a photo of it while it was still the way it was.

The best years of the show were the first years, when Joel and Maggie (Janine Turner) had that love/hate relationship going on strongly. For some reason, Maggie was toned down from her original feisty self, which took some of the zip out of the relationship. And of course, once Rob Morrow left the show it wasn't the same. The new doctor's family just was not as compelling or interesting.

At the company I worked at, one of the computer dudes and I would chat about the show. This was in the days when GEnie was still a viable concern and email within the company was pretty limited to technical stuff. Since I loved working on the word processing system at the time I often had to work with this particular guy who was our support person. When one of us missed an episode of Northern Exposure, we'd email the other to find out what happened. It was kind of funny because the show was at its peak but I couldn't find anyone else besides him who actually watched the show. :) He and I dated for a while after I was separated from Dave, on and off for a couple of years. Watching the show now, I think about him and wonder what he's up to nowadays, but I don't necessarily regret not seeing him any longer.

It's not hard to get over someone who tells you they can't introduce you to their family because you haven't a college degree -- not that you're not smart or anything, because obviously you are -- but just because "they" wouldn't have anything to talk to you about. Well! Sayonara, Stupid! :) I was pretty burnt up about it at the time although my irritation has mellowed over the years. Partially because it's true: I don't have a lot of conversation in me, so what would I have spoken about to his brother and sister-in-law, the college professors? I like to listen to smarter people talk about things that interest me, but I'm afraid I'd be pretty much limited to, "I'm not sure" when asked for my opinion. :) I've gotten more opinionated over time but I'm still much more interested in listening to what other people have to say, keeping my comments light and fluffy.

And in a sweet bit of irony right before we broke up, said college professor mentioned to his brother, my boyfriend, that he'd caught his young teenage son staying up all night long drinking two liter bottles of Coke to stay awake, playing a computer game -- GemStone 3. Heh. :) I actually ran into him in the game once and we went hunting together; later I sent him one of the coffee mugs I'd bought at SimuCon 2. He was a nice kid, I wonder how he turned out? Hopefully not hung up on college degrees like his uncle!