Text by Bruce Gallanther (Downtown Music Gallery, September 11, 2025)
Aside from the five different Star Trek series, my favorite TV show of all time was—and still is—Northern Exposure. It is about a Jewish doctor who’s stuck in Alaska working for a small town of lovable misfits.
There is an episode called ‘War and Peace’ about a famed Russian singer named Nikolai who comes to town, enchants the customers/old friends at the Brick (the local bar), and whose sworn enemy is a local bigshot/former astronaut named Maurice Minifield, a wealthy/right-wing/radio station owner. They trade insults and eventually decide to duel with guns, but the duel is called off at the last minute.
