Season two of Northern Exposure is another very short (just 7 episodes) season. It continues the fish-out-of-water storyline of Joel (Rob Morrow) who is slowly adapting to life in the small, quirky town of Cicely Alaska, all while trying to get out of his contract. The season also does a good job developing more of the characters, and the history of the town, which was really a character itself. The show is definitely doing a "will they or won't they" dance between Joel and Maggie (Janine Turner) introducing even more sexual tension between them while finding ways to keep them from getting together.
There are a couple of different versions of season two out there. The original 2004 release, which is the one I have, does have the original music on it (at least most of it). Any subsequent US releases, including in the full-season set, do have some replacement music. As most are aware, music was a huge part of the show, especially the scenes in the radio station, and because the show aired long before DVD was even a thing, getting the rights to use the show in the DVD releases was very expensive and Universal started replacing some of the original music with canned instrumental music. The problem was, the instrumental music was often horrible (think elevator Muzak but without any recognizable songs), and in the instances where specific songs were used as a part of the storyline, not just to have something playing in the background, the replacement music did not have the same effect at all. If the original songs were replaced I do not believe they were replaced with the instrumental tracks on the original DVD release, they just picked different songs. I am not sure about what was done on the re-releases. I can tell you that the Etta James song, At Last, is included in the season finale on at least some of the sets. Of course, for die-hard fans of the show, there is a Blu-Ray set that was released in the UK that does have the original episodes with all the original music, but it is expensive and harder to find.
The originally released set does have the horrible double-sided discs again, and the extras include deleted and extended scenes for every episode and blooper reels for each episode. Not a ton, and no behind-the-scenes or making-of material, but what was included was good. Overall, the season was good, but you are basically paying for a full season set and only getting a handful of episodes. Personally, if you can find it, and afford it, I would get the import Blu-Ray set (but you will have to also get a region 2 player to play it on, which adds to the cost). That will get you the best version of the show in terms of picture quality, get you all the seasons in one set, and have all the original music. The show is well written and very well acted and for those of us who were fans of the show during its original run on TV it is worth coming back to because even though it is a bit dated, it holds up well.
There are a couple of different versions of season two out there. The original 2004 release, which is the one I have, does have the original music on it (at least most of it). Any subsequent US releases, including in the full-season set, do have some replacement music. As most are aware, music was a huge part of the show, especially the scenes in the radio station, and because the show aired long before DVD was even a thing, getting the rights to use the show in the DVD releases was very expensive and Universal started replacing some of the original music with canned instrumental music. The problem was, the instrumental music was often horrible (think elevator Muzak but without any recognizable songs), and in the instances where specific songs were used as a part of the storyline, not just to have something playing in the background, the replacement music did not have the same effect at all. If the original songs were replaced I do not believe they were replaced with the instrumental tracks on the original DVD release, they just picked different songs. I am not sure about what was done on the re-releases. I can tell you that the Etta James song, At Last, is included in the season finale on at least some of the sets. Of course, for die-hard fans of the show, there is a Blu-Ray set that was released in the UK that does have the original episodes with all the original music, but it is expensive and harder to find.
The originally released set does have the horrible double-sided discs again, and the extras include deleted and extended scenes for every episode and blooper reels for each episode. Not a ton, and no behind-the-scenes or making-of material, but what was included was good. Overall, the season was good, but you are basically paying for a full season set and only getting a handful of episodes. Personally, if you can find it, and afford it, I would get the import Blu-Ray set (but you will have to also get a region 2 player to play it on, which adds to the cost). That will get you the best version of the show in terms of picture quality, get you all the seasons in one set, and have all the original music. The show is well written and very well acted and for those of us who were fans of the show during its original run on TV it is worth coming back to because even though it is a bit dated, it holds up well.
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