Although they were shot just 50 miles apart amid the towering evergreens of Washington's Cascade Range, TV's "Northern Exposure" and "Twin Peaks" offer radically different slices of life.
"Twin Peaks" presents a surreal and dark society, filled with criminals, evil spirits and flakes. "Northern Exposure," set in a village in Alaska, is gentler, with good spirits and a more benevolent view of man's nature.Audiences apparently like nice over nasty, as "Northern Exposure" ranked 32nd of 134 television shows for the last season, compared with 100th for "Twin Peaks."
"Northern Exposure" will return to the CBS lineup with reruns in July and is almost a sure bet to be picked up for the fall schedule, which will be announced later today.
"We're real and they are not," joked "Northern Exposure" producer Matthew Nodella. "We're not as eclectic as `Twin Peaks' is, but I hope we have the same audience, I appreciate their audience as well."
Another difference is: "We don't kill anybody," said Elaine Miles, a Umatilla Indian who plays Marilyn Whirlwind on "Northern Exposure."
"I don't watch `Twin Peaks. I never understood it," she said.
This former mining town of 900 people that stands in for the Alaskan village of Cicely has avoided discovery by fans. Some residents are even tired of the disruption the "Northern Exposure" crew brings to their lives.
"Once in a while they can block the whole entire street," complained Tony Atela, an employee of a hardware store. "It's an inconvenience."
"Maybe we're getting a little tired of them," said Nicole Berner, a waitress at the Roslyn Cafe, renamed "Roslyn's Cafe" in the show. "This used to be a quiet town."
About the only signs of the series one recent day were locked-up buildings used as locations for the show, such as the fictional offices of Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) and fake radio station KBHR - the voice of the last frontier.
The series concerns a New York doctor who must pay back a medical school loan by serving a village in Alaska.
Like it's own fish-out-of-water story, "Northern Exposure" is a bit out of its element during the three days each episode in the series is filmed in Roslyn. Interiors for the $1 million per show series are shot in Bellevue, east of Seattle.
Locals worry that the exposure might bring more residents, ruining the rustic setting, Berner said. Roslyn is a funky town, long on environmental activists, urban dropouts and loggers. A couple of totem poles line Pennsylvania Avenue, the main street.
There was also a period of adjustment for the Hollywood folks, who were initially thought to be snotty to the locals. Relations are much better now.
The $50 per day jobs as extras and the new business brought to the stagnant timber and outdoor recreation town helped win the acceptance.
"They're a pain in the butt but they do help business, I would say," said Jim Luster, owner of The Brick Tavern that also serves as an outside location for the show.
The Brick, built in 1889, describes itself as the state's oldest continuously operating saloon.
"Here it is a movie star," Luster said, relishing the millions of potential customers who see his place on television.
Also gaining plenty of exposure on "Northern Exposure" are Indians. Two cast members are Indians, and members of the Yakima and Umatilla tribes are regularly used as extras.
"We try to stay away from stereotypical things, like Tonto or something," said Darren E. Burroughs, who plays the naive but creative Ed.
"I like the way it was written, and it wasn't with a bad accent or stupid or anything like that," said Burroughs, who off-screen has the same laid-back style as his character.
The Kansas native is one-quarter Cherokee and one-quarter Apache. Because his hair is naturally light, Burroughs has to dye it darker for his role.
A recent episode saw Ed searching with an old Indian spirit for the identity of his parents.
Miles, in her first acting job as the doctor's assistant, said she was relieved that her character is portrayed as a normal person.
"Stereotyping is if they are making you show up in buckskins and braids," said Miles, a member of the Cayuse and Nez Perce band of Umatillas. "We don't always have braided hair."
Before doing the show, the 32-year-old Miles made her living off prize money won at Indian dance competitions across the country. She was cast after producers saw her in the waiting room as her mother auditioned for a part.
"We found a tremendous talent pool within the Indian population here," producer Nodella said.
Bill Yallup, Jr., a member of the Yakima Indian Nation, is among about half a dozen regular Indian extras on the show. He got the job through Miles, a cousin.
"Basically, what we are is mugs," Yallup, who owns a smoked salmon business, said. "They say, `background,' and they are talking about us."
"It doesn't require any acting classes to be Indian," added Martina Gone, a Umatilla from Pendleton, Ore., who is also an extra.