+++Warning, this will contain a minor spoiler from season four, but no major season five giveaways+++
Season five of Northern Exposure is kind of a double-edged sword for me. There are some very good episodes in it, but you can also tell that this was the point at which Rob Morrow's contract situation came to a head without either side willing to budge, and, as a result, his role was much reduced. There are some episodes in which Joel is basically an ancillary character or barely appears at all. That is fine for an episode or two, but it happened a lot during this season. That said, there are some very good episodes in the season, including the episode in which Shelly hallucinates her daughter at various stages of her life (which includes a very young Kaley Cuoco), an episode in which Maggie agrees to be homecoming queen for the local high school (which includes a young Jack Black), and an episode in which the residents of the town have dreams about one another.
In the DVD set, the only bonus content is just under 40-minutes of deleted scenes. There are no gag reels, commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes material, or the like. And, of course, there is the issue with the music. As is the case with the DVD releases from season two or three, Universal did not pay for the rights to some of the songs that played when the show originally aired, opting instead to replace the songs with canned instrumental music. In some cases, it did not really matter (aside from being kind of annoying), but in the cases in which the songs directly tied into the storyline of the episodes, it definitely takes something away. As far as I know, the only way to get the episodes with the original music is to pay for the imports (such as the Region 2 Blu-Ray complete series) because the show was released with the original music in Europe. This means you need a DVD or Blu-Ray player that can play Region 2 discs and will pay higher prices for the discs themselves.
Overall, the season is good, but not as good as it was in the first few seasons. For me, this in large part because Rob Morrow, who was clearly the series lead, had a much-reduced role as the season went on. It did not seem like he was phoning his performances in or not doing a good job with the character, because when he was on screen his performance was as good as in the prior seasons, but the show without him was just not the same. That said, the season is still worth watching.
Season five of Northern Exposure is kind of a double-edged sword for me. There are some very good episodes in it, but you can also tell that this was the point at which Rob Morrow's contract situation came to a head without either side willing to budge, and, as a result, his role was much reduced. There are some episodes in which Joel is basically an ancillary character or barely appears at all. That is fine for an episode or two, but it happened a lot during this season. That said, there are some very good episodes in the season, including the episode in which Shelly hallucinates her daughter at various stages of her life (which includes a very young Kaley Cuoco), an episode in which Maggie agrees to be homecoming queen for the local high school (which includes a young Jack Black), and an episode in which the residents of the town have dreams about one another.
In the DVD set, the only bonus content is just under 40-minutes of deleted scenes. There are no gag reels, commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes material, or the like. And, of course, there is the issue with the music. As is the case with the DVD releases from season two or three, Universal did not pay for the rights to some of the songs that played when the show originally aired, opting instead to replace the songs with canned instrumental music. In some cases, it did not really matter (aside from being kind of annoying), but in the cases in which the songs directly tied into the storyline of the episodes, it definitely takes something away. As far as I know, the only way to get the episodes with the original music is to pay for the imports (such as the Region 2 Blu-Ray complete series) because the show was released with the original music in Europe. This means you need a DVD or Blu-Ray player that can play Region 2 discs and will pay higher prices for the discs themselves.
Overall, the season is good, but not as good as it was in the first few seasons. For me, this in large part because Rob Morrow, who was clearly the series lead, had a much-reduced role as the season went on. It did not seem like he was phoning his performances in or not doing a good job with the character, because when he was on screen his performance was as good as in the prior seasons, but the show without him was just not the same. That said, the season is still worth watching.
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