Northern Exposure: Season 3

1991 · 23 episodes · ★ 7.5

What Season 3 of Northern Exposure

Joel Fleischman, a New York doctor fresh out of residency, arrives in Cicely, a remote town in Alaska, to fulfill the contract that requires him to practice in the territory in exchange for having his education paid for. He expected a modern hospital and instead finds himself among a community of eccentric neighbors who live at their own pace. Maurice Minnifield, a former pilot and astronaut, is the one who made it possible for him to get there. Joel wants to leave as soon as possible, though the isolation and small-town life make that plan difficult. Maggie's and Chris's romantic troubles, Adam and Eve, hunting season, a visiting circus and the municipal elections, in which Holling faces off against an old friend, round out the season.

23episodes

Sep 23, 1991premiered

May 18, 1992latest episode

17.3 hrtotal runtime

Season 3 Episodes

3x01 The Bumpy Road to Love
Sep 23, 1991 · 45 min · ★ 7.3
Maggie is devastated when the unveiling of a statue in Rick's memory uncovers his life and loves away from Cicely. Maurice stumbles in his pursuit of Officer Semanski when she learns he favors tax loopholes. Joel is kidnapped and held prisoner by the reclusive Adam and his hypochondriacal mate Eve.
Directing: Nick Marck · Writing: Sybil Adelman, Martin Sage · Starring: Peg Phillips, Valerie Mahaffey, Cathryn de Prume, Adam Arkin
3x02 Only You
Sep 30, 1991 · 45 min · ★ 8.0
Maurice sulks over what he believes is an unflattering photo taken by Holling, Maggie worries about needing glasses and getting old, and Joel tries to explain Chris' uncanny appeal to women, who is busy chasing the one woman immune to his charm.
Directing: Bill D'Elia · Writing: Ellie Herman · Starring: Peg Phillips, Caitlin Clarke, Heidi Swedberg, Denice Duff
3x03 Oy, Wilderness
Oct 7, 1991 · 45 min · ★ 7.4
Maggie and Joel are forced to rough it when her plane is forced down by mechanical problems, and Shelly receives a visit from her former best friend, who is seeking a divorce for her boyfriend, Shelly's husband back in Saskatchewan.
Directing: Miles Watkins · Writing: Robin Green · Starring: Christine Elise
3x04 Animals 'R' Us
Oct 14, 1991 · 45 min · ★ 7.2
Maggie becomes convinced that the stray dog that's adopted her is Rick reincarnated. Maurice tries to convince Marilyn to join him in a multi-million dollar scheme to produce and market ostriches. Ed looks for help in making a movie about Cicely.
Directing: Nick Marck · Writing: Robin Green · Starring: Frank Welker, Sparkle, Harry Pringle, Bryson G. Liberty
3x05 Jules et Joel
Oct 28, 1991 · 45 min · ★ 7.2
On Halloween Joel hits his head, presaging a visit from his twin brother Jules. Chris and Ed set out to meet a criminal from Chris' hometown in West Virginia, and Holling pays an old debt.
Directed by: James Hayman · Starring: Peg Phillips, Diane Delano, Raymond O'Connor, Douglas Rowe
3x06 The Body in Question
Nov 4, 1991 · 45 min · ★ 7.5
Chris' discovery of the frozen body of a Napoleonic Frenchman raises many questions for Joel, has Maurice dreaming of the economic benefits for Cicely, Shelly worrying over fertility and Holling confessing over his despicable ancestors.
Directing: David Carson · Writing: Henry Bromell · Starring: Allan Miller, William J. White
3x07 Roots
Nov 11, 1991 · 45 min · ★ 7.8
Joel's former fiancé Elaine, now a widow, comes to visit. Chris' half-brother Bernard returns just as Chris is having dreams of Africa. The reclusive Adam takes a job with Holling to pay his insurance premiums.
Directing: Sandy Smolan · Starring: Adam Arkin, Jessica Lundy, Richard Cummings Jr.
3x08 A-Hunting We Will Go
Nov 18, 1991 · 45 min · ★ 8.0
Joel decides to explore the fascination of hunting by accompanying Chris and Holling on their annual pilgrimage. Ed becomes worried and over solicitous when he learns that Ruth-Anne is seventy-five years old.
Directing: Bill D'Elia
3x09 Get Real
Dec 9, 1991 · 45 min · ★ 7.0
A stranded bus of carnival performers brings romance to Marilyn, doubts about her future to Maggie, the mysteries of magic to Chris, and a break to the studious Joel; Shelly however, is pained when Holling becomes fixated on her large feet.
Directing: Michael Katleman · Writing: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider · Starring: Armenia Miles, Richard Brestoff, Judith Kahan, Remy Ryan Hernandez
3x10 Seoul Mates
Dec 16, 1991 · 45 min
The holidays in Cicely see Joel experimenting with an unfamiliar Christmas tree, a clumsy Maggie suddenly left alone, Shelly pining for the religious pageantry of her childhood, and Maurice meeting a family he never knew as everyone awaits the pageant of the raven.
Directing: Jack Bender · Writing: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider · Starring: William J. White, Kim Kim, James Song, Chi Muoi Lo
3x11 Dateline: Cicely
Jan 6, 1992 · 45 min
Maurice hires a colorful but questionable new investigative reporter for his newspaper, Maggie tries to enlighten Joel about the ""talking"" trees, and Chris becomes a co-owner of the Brick when Holling needs money to pay an unexpected tax bill.
Directing: Michael Fresco · Starring: Adam Arkin, William J. White
3x12 Our Tribe
Jan 13, 1992 · 45 min
Joel agrees, under pressure from Marilyn, to be adopted by a grateful village elder, but wonders if he'll survive. Maggie becomes concerned when Holling shuts down the Brick while Shelly's away, ostensibly to wax the floors.
Directed by: Lee Shallat Chemel · Starring: Frank Welker, Harry Pringle
3x13 Things Become Extinct
Jan 20, 1992 · 45 min
The death of his uncle sends Holling out to his still and into an orgy of self-doubt, Joel feels isolated as he searches for proof of other Jews in Alaska, and Ed widens his own horizons when he films Ira Wingfeather producing his unique wooden flutes.
Directed by: Dean Parisot · Written by: Robin Green · Starring: Bryson G. Liberty, Jerry Morris
3x14 Burning Down the House
Feb 3, 1992 · 45 min
Maggie receives an unexpected visit and some unwanted news from her mother. Meanwhile, Chris searches everywhere for just the right cow to fling for his conceptual art piece and Joel becomes obsessed with a local chimney sweep that he believes is a former pro golfer.
Directing: Rob Thompson · Writing: Robin Green · Starring: Bibi Besch, John M. Jackson
3x15 Democracy in America
Feb 24, 1992 · 45 min
The mayoral incumbent, Holling, faces opposition from an old friend with a long memory. Chris grows eloquent over the democratic process. Ed worries over casting his first vote. Election commissioners Joel and Maggie argue over the decor of the polling place.
Directing: Michael Katleman · Starring: William J. White, Clayton Corzatte, Rita Taggart
3x16 Three Amigos
Mar 2, 1992 · 45 min
The death of an old friend sends Maurice and Holling packing off into the snowy wilderness to bury him at No-Name Point. But the way is hard, including an unexpected run-in with the man's attractive widow.
Writing: Mitchell Burgess, Robin Green · Starring: Joanna Cassidy, Norbert Weisser, Brian T. Finney
3x17 Lost and Found
Mar 9, 1992 · 45 min · ★ 7.6
The hypochondriac, Eve comes to town to ask about her latest symptoms, but Joel is preoccupied with the ghost of a lonely old soul haunting his cabin. Maurice receives a visit from his old Army commander, who needs to borrow money.
Directing: Steven Robman · Writing: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider · Starring: Valerie Mahaffey, William J. White, Time Winters, Noble Willingham
3x18 My Mother, My Sister
Mar 16, 1992 · 45 min
An abandoned baby gets attention from the whole town and helps awaken Adam's paternal instincts while Shelly's life is unsettled by a visit from her youthful, giddy mother and her new boy friend.
Directed by: Rob Thompson · Written by: Mitchell Burgess · Starring: Wendy Schaal, Adam Arkin, William J. White, Sean O'Bryan
3x19 Wake Up Call
Mar 23, 1992 · 45 min
As spring blossoms, Shelly suffers from a skin rash, Holling gives away eggs, Joel gets a new outlook on patient care from a tribal medicine man and Maggie experiences a spiritual and physical re-awakening with a handsome stranger.
Directed by: Nick Marck · Written by: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider · Starring: Graham Greene, William J. White, Andreas Wisniewski
3x20 The Final Frontier
Apr 27, 1992 · 45 min
Maurice becomes curious about the influx of Japanese tourists to the area during the Northern Lights, Holling sets out to discover if Jesse the bear is really dead, and Maggie leads the curious townspeople in trying to discover what is in a mysterious package covered with foreign stamps.
Directing: Tom Moore · Writing: Jeff Vlaming · Starring: William J. White, Doug Ballard, Don McManus, Rob Narita
3x21 It Happened in Juneau
May 4, 1992 · 45 min
Joel foresees sophisticated delights when he travels to Juneau for a medical conference but winds up with good old Maggie, meanwhile back in Cicely, Chris finds himself tongue-tied with the return of Bernard, his cosmic doppelganger.
Directing: Michael Katleman · Starring: James Marsters, Richard Cummings Jr., John Billingsley, Beth Broderick
3x22 Our Wedding
May 11, 1992 · 45 min
As their wedding approaches, Adam debates with Joel about women and Eve lets a gung-ho Shelly take over the wedding plans as she worries about more important matters. Maggie and Joel try in their own ways to come to grips with their experience in Juneau.
Directing: Nick Marck · Writing: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider · Starring: Valerie Mahaffey, Adam Arkin, Diane Delano, William J. White
3x23 Cicely Season Finale
May 18, 1992 · 45 min
Joel meets an old man who's returned to Cicely after many years. The man tells him the story of two remarkable women, Roslyn and Cicely, whom transformed the town into ""the Paris of the North"" back in 1909.
Directing: Rob Thompson · Writing: Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider · Starring: William J. White, Yvonne Suhor, Roberts Blossom, Michelle Joyner