Trivia / Northern Exposure

• Ability over Appearance: Shelly was written to be Native-American but Caucasian Cynthia Geary ended up getting the part.
• Actor-Shared Background: Chris, like his actor, John Corbett, was born and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia; both the character and the actor went to the same high school (Wheeling Central Catholic High School).
• California Doubling: Alaska.. I mean, um, Washington state, sure is beautiful.
• The Danza: Adam Arkin as Adam.
• Friday Night Death Slot: The "burn off episodes in the summer" variety. The show both started and ended this way, with its first season airing entirely in the summer, and the last few episodes of its final season being held back from May sweeps and aired in June and July, presumably because the ratings dropped precipitously after Rob Morrow's departure.
• In Memoriam: "Homesick" is dedicated to John "Yoli" Rothlisberger, who passed away in 1993. Rothlisberger was a resident of Roslyn, Washington (where the show was filmed), and he appeared as an extra in almost every episode prior to his passing.
• Playing Their Own Twin: In "Jules et Joel", Rob Morrow played both main character Joel and his brother, Jules, though it was all a dream.
• Real-Life Relative: Marilyn's mother is played by Armenia Miles, the real-life mother of Elaine Miles. Interestingly, Elaine never auditioned for the show but was offered the part when she accompanied her mother to her audition.
• Re-Release Soundtrack: The show's frequent usage of music made home video releases a struggle. Universal tried averting this at first when re-releasing the show on DVD, but season 1 ended up retailing for $60 due to the costs of licensing the music. As a result, subsequent releases had the original background music replaced with muzak to lower the costs. This sadly carried on with Shout! Factory's reissue of the series, though they clarified it was a direct reissue done mainly to Keep Circulating the Tapes.
• Written-In Infirmity: Shelly's pregnancy and the birth of her daughter were written in because of Cynthia Geary's real-world pregnancy. (Hard to hide since Geary was conventionally small and skinny as a Hollywood actress and hence her pregnancy was extremely noticeable).

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