Northern Exposure breaks the 4th wall
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ค. 2013
- They go beyond the traditional fourth-wall-breaking trope of talking to the audience in-character, stepping entirely out of the ordinary characters to provide a kind of meta-commentary.
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I just realized something that makes it even more brilliant. They didn't actually break character. They broke out of the plot but still called each other by their character's names. Has to be one of top 10 scenes in TV history.
They didn't break character. They broke the 4th wall. Shattered it actually.
Edit: But you're right that O'Connell clearly said "break character" instead.
Nicely done.
So? They did that in Moonlighting too.
@@mckinleymac3452 They totally break character. "Shelly" all the sudden has completely different speech patterns. "Maggie" is suddenly a stickler for the rules.
Right up there with Fonzie jumping a shark on waterskis.
Nya, I love when characters break the fourth wall. I recently read an old "Zipi y Zape" comic in which the main characters decide to go jogging. Some background characters see them and because the stories of Zipi and Zape usually end with them being chased by someone angry after they cause an accident the background characters say "Look, we're going to be in the last panel of this week's comic" without being aware that they are actually in one of the first panels.
I miss Northern Exposure. Chris's (John Corbett's) philosophical musing always made my day.
Like he's enlightened....
I love how Shelley is sophisticated in this clip.
Maurice scratching his neck with the gun was absolute genius. The whole scene was genius. I heard the network hated this scene.
That’s because the executives are idiots and the writer is brilliant. It’s about entertainment and we fans were most certainly entertained.
The ultimate 4th wall. When I saw this as a kid I was disappointed and thought it was a cop-out. Now as an adult - its perfect.
Janine Turner lives in the Dallas area. I saw her in a grocery store once and almost didn't recognize her as her hair had grown out after filming the show. Stunningly beautiful woman.
Every once in awhile in NE you can hear her Texas accent slip out - agreed absolutely beautiful!
Definitely one of my favorite TV shows. Who can forget the "fling a cow" episode. Man, they don't make TV shows like this anymore.
Also, never before this, The only 90's sit-com that was unpredictable.
Or Tooley to the sounds of Procul Harem.
Marilyn is just adorable--she solved it!
Marilyn was always the voice of sanity and practicality.
This show was waaay ahead of it's time. And you can't see it anywhere today. (Except if you buy the dvd's)
It’s streaming on Prime Video nowadays!
Uh anyone can see it anywhere they want to. It's called the INTERNET. Are you joking?
@@constantdvdcollector binge watching it right now
@@ssn608 enjoy!
I've owned the DVD's for years, watch it from start to finish (except for season 7) every few years. But it's streaming on Prime right now if you have that service. And it's about time.
I think what I love most is that what ends the conflict is someone asking if they could just go to the next scene already.
it's a good one...
Yes. Marilyn was always subtly insightful.
This show was so crazy. That's probably the thing i love most about it.
Thanks for your helpful and insightful comment.
Talon ah yes thank person with an avatar of one of the worst modern Anime.
@@ChibiFighteryou're just jealous.
"You can't just jump out of character. Nobody yelled 'Cut!'" LMAO
Kelly Rayburn you should Google "breaking the fourth wall". Ferris Beuller does it repeatedly for example, talking to the audience many times.
I know what "breaking the fourth wall" means. I've seen it a number of times. I still thought it was funny here, hence my comment.
@@matthewshapiro1676 They were directly quoting the video. How could you not know that? Did you not even watch it?
breaking the fourth wall is not talking to the audience, that called an aside, a practice done since or before Shakespeare. Usually, one character, mostly the main character like Ferris or Deadpool, for example, do it. In this scene, ALL the characters openly talk about this scene and how dumb it is. Classic Fourth Wall. Google Aside.
@@dreadcthulhu5 I've never watched Ferris Beuller's Day off. I meant I've seen several shows break the fourth wall. Sometimes it's funny, other times it's not. In this case, I think it's hilarious.
I might be biased because I love this show, but I feel this is the most creative breaking of a fourth wall that I’ve ever seen.
Agreed. There's. No shortage of shows that address the audience or go meta, but this but I can't think of another instance of script consulting except the Muppet Movie. I love Ruth-Ann's suggestion that they go back to the fifth revision.
It's also poignant, since on some level, it seems to be about nuclear escalation, and how breaking that cycle takes, in breaking from the script, an act of radical imagination.
but you speak with no context, like every other comment here speaking in extremes and absolute statements when they are only reacting emotionally to just watching this clip, making statements with no bearing or credibility, comparing to an imagined "of everything" but they haven't seen everything.
I love how Maurice scratches his head with his gun at the end
😂 That's such a Maurice thing to do.
After 30 years I am still watching the series over and over again. Hoping to learn the brilliance of the writing and the acting in this show!! It is such and enduring classic that pulls you in make you stay in their reality over and over again!
I watched it all through my teenage and childhood years and there are things that I learned from it like mentions of poets or historical figures and whenever my family asks how I know that, I just smile and say "northern exposure 😊"
liar, over and over again.
I remember seeing this when it aired. I was totally blown away and knew I was watching something earth shattering. I miss this so much. I think there are no writers who are able to do anything remotely as good as this.
Louie CKs show Louis was pretty good
I would argue the writing of Community gets pretty darn close at times.
A similar heart at least.
Any writer can do this. This is literally the easiest thing for a writer to do.
You're easily impressed. Breaking the fourth wall is a lazy trope that writers do when they're out of ideas. "Hey, let's just write about how we don't know how to end this!"
Its almost certainly available on CD
I think I've concluded that (in my humble opinion), Northern Exposure and Mash are the two greatest shows, ever. With Twilight Zone, Columbo, and Star Trek right behind. I have a spiritual bias toward N. Exposure as being the top.
I'm glad to know I'm not the only person who thinks Northern Exposure was a real television gem! Maybe the best show ever. :-D
I loooved MASH as a kid, but as I got older (like 25 years later when TH-cam became a thing), the frat-boy humor began to grate on me. The dramatic and other scenes that moved the show along were always amazing, like when COL Blake died, pretty much every Sidney appearance, even COL Flagg's insanity which pointed out how stupid the war was in the first place.
But ya, NE, TZ, ST, MASH... I'll never pass them by if I'm surfing. I also have a soft for TNG.
@@opiestaint I agree about MASH. It was funny when I was younger. But now that I'm 53 and seen the consequences of moral degradation and alcoholism first hand and in real time, it's difficult to watch.
One of the single greatest TV scenes ever written!
Rob Morrow is so underrated as an actor.
Loved him in Numb3rs as Agent Epps. One of my fav shows, by the way. Seeing him as a neurotic doctor who’s a proverbial fish out of water and a babe in the woods in all sense of the phrase in Northern Exposure is testimony to how skilled an actor he is.
One of the most brilliant scenes in the entire series. Not only did they shatter the fourth wall, reality subsequently warped itself around the break and settled into the new pattern. Green Acres would do this sort of thing as well but never to this scale so as to incorporate it right into the story rather than just as a side-gag.
I just bought the entire Northern Exposure Series on DVD, and my Wife and I watch at least 1 disc a night...
I don't know why Northern Exposure keeps popping up in my feed, but this is a good one. Love how everyone stays in character.
This was one of the best shows ever to be on television and this scene is a good example as to why.
Everyone moaning in the background to the suggestions is hilarious
A general mutiny.
This show was effen awesome. Janine turner is still gorgeous AF
Back when you couldn't watch anything you wanted whenever you wanted to I would so look forward to Monday nights and the latest episode of this show. It's by far my favorite series of all time. It's so superior to almost anything else that's been on TV, before or since, especially since! I have the complete series on DVD and still watch it from start to finish (except season 7...ugh) every few years.
Breaks? More like demolishes!
In House of Cards (both UK & US), Underwood frequently makes asides to the audience, but this is another level.
there are shows that always do that: Malcolm in the Middle and Saved by the Bell do it in pretty much every episode.
@@kingofmonsters14 Yeah, but those were teenager sitcoms. Northern exposure tackled political and societal problems that we have 30 years later. My favorite is still the water episode where men and women start acting the opposite and the town goes to shit.
Then I look at "gender" today. Can't make this stuff up.
I’ve watched and adored this show since the pilot first aired in July of 1990. Bought the VHS episodes as they came out and then the first run of DVDs collecting the entire series… so how in the heck do I NOT remember this scene??? 😅
Wow!!!!!! I cannot believe I missed this episode!!!! This is wonderful!!!! Im going to go thru my DVDs again!
This was maybe my favorite scene, in maybe my favorite TV show ever!
I loved this show... #1 ever. I also loved this episode... especially the ending.
It was a show for active thinking people. Passive thinkers thought it was boring.
Still funny after all these years. LOVED this show -- except for the last season.
Janine Turner is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.... Good scene, too.
Amen. And her character was adorably earnest, consistent with the rest of the series.
This was actually a pretty typical Northern Exposure thing ... not the 4th wall thing, but just ... in general.
LOVED this scene!!
This show was brilliant. One of my favorite series ever. I just happen to google it to look something up a few days ago and found out it is now streaming. I will definitely watch it again.
One of the most innovative shows ever on network TV
Good ol' Elya Baskin ("Nicolai"). Loved him in 2010 and October Sky.
That was a great show, the characters were superb.
Great cast!!
I'd forgotten how very much I missed this show. 😆 ❤
Every 5-10 years I watch this whole series again and understand even more of it every time. From Chris's philosophical monologues to cultural references, to age specific poignancy. A gift which keeps giving! ❤️
Such a great show.
My favorite scene in the whole series.
Plus the running of the bulls from s2. Plus the flying cow. Plus...
Brilliant. Just Brilliant. God, I love this show.
One of a great many moments of comedic brilliance in this show. God, I miss it.
Janine Turner - What a woman.
I loved this show! Own it on DVD.
Great show
As always, Marilyn is the voice of reason. Is it just me or did it seem like Marilyn was the only sane person in this tiny town full of crazy kooks?
Your statement reminded me of the episode where she is being courted by a mute circus? man. She ends up talking more in that episode than many more combined.
I love Marilyn. I love the episode where she goes on vacation, I think to Seattle, and sits calmly on a park bench, just recharging her energy.
@Elaine Chubb yupppp "Learning Curve" is a fantastic episode
marilyn is the worst. she is entirely rude and has no respect for anyone. in this case she is used as the wildcard who can say anything. you act like you're a brilliant analyst noticing something but i bet you're an old boring person who never even did well in school much less memorized anything over 100 words.
My favorite television show ever but now with what's going on here in October 2022 seeing this again had a whole new meaning or more of a meaning I should say if you know what I mean wow
The show is brilliant!
BRILLIANT 👏
No one is cold...not a whiff of vapor
1:05 Gawd if only this worked in REAL LIFE
Some simple awesomeness
[Red Tail Hawk Screeches]
Waving those guns around made me very nervous, even if they are props.
Of all the tv series, that aren't on here. NR has to be one of them!. It's a nice change of scenery. I did, have them on dvd, and thanks to sanity closing down, have no way of getting replacements,( I don't buy online 😑). It was a good show.
Forgot how much I liked this show
I feel i need to watch now
This series was so unappreciated.
THATS TOTAL AWESOME !!!!!!! CLEVER
it was a good idea...
I'm with Ruth ann
A Woody Allen riff from the 1970s.
Why this show was awesome
God I miss them.
They were duelling over rent
I miss when they actually filmed in Seattle.
I just found out that the Northern Exposure is on Amazon Prime!
This show was so amazing at lulling you in to the security of being just another boring sitcom, then BAM! Something crazy like this would happen
The Gary Shandling Show was based on breaking the fourth wall.
I should see what TH-cam has from that series...
I don't remember this scene , but it does seem to be just the kind of thing they would do.
I wonder if the idea came from an actual discussion among the writers I like how every line sounded just perfect for each character, even though they were technically out of character
Such a wonderful show. Wish I could find it in reproduction somewhere, to buy.
I read that it has been available on DVD for some time now but that people didn't really care for it because the music license didn't allow for hard copy. So they replaced the copyright music with generic music. However, there is a recent release on blu-ray from Germany that retains the original songs. I want it but it's kind of expensive.
@@ChrisWMF Thanks Chris. Appreciate the info!
There's even a recent UK release with the original music on Blu-ray.
I found out this week, and will be buying soon myself!
@@ChrisWMF I have the DVDs (well, most of them). Even without the original music, they are worth buying. (WKRP in Cincinnati had the same problem with licensing.) If anyone is thinking of buying a set from Europe, please do make sure it's playable in the U.S.! NEED ZONE 1. I once bought a DVD set in England labeled 0 (universal) and it would not play in the U.S. There is a box set offered by one of the catalogs I keep getting--Acorn, or PBS, or BBC, or local PBS station. Not horrendously expensive. Probably it's on Amazon. My feeling is, at least the DVDs have the characters, dialogue, and setting!!
Why isn’t this show available on any streaming services?
A great show that just seemed to disappear altogether once its original run ended. Don’t recall it having a syndication run in reruns. And nobody streams it either. Why?
Don't look now, but Northern Exposure is on Amazon Prime--streaming. I just noticed it yesterday. I'm assuming it became available in the last week or so, or perhaps this month. (I bought it on UK blu ray a year or more ago as I got tired of waiting.)
I just found all six seasons free on primewire. But you have to have an ad blocker or you'll get inundated with spam.
I just binge watched the whole series which was awesome however I didn’t understand this one scene. I loved their dream scenes and alter ego scenes but this just rubbed me the wrong way.
I don't know what Northern Exposure is, but my hat's off to them
I saw Janine Turner's comment that she wasn't invited for the reboot, because of her age. People should complain to CBS. She's the same age as Morrow, but he isnt too old!??? So Sexist!
That would be really sad but I haven’t heard anything about the reboot since ‘18 so it probably isn’t happening anyway. It’s likely just as well. Recapturing the magic in shows like this is really hard to do.
@Practical Skeptic Funny, you see intolerance in the Left, but are blind to the equally pig-headed noise coming from the Right?
You can't do a reboot of this show. Half the cast is dead.
This show belongs in the 90s. You can't do it now.
@@youtubesuresuckscock The actors who played Holling and Maurice are very much alive as of November 2020. The only person from the main cast who's passed away is the person who played Ruth Ann.
MyNameIs Spirit, Again, you keep posting this same comment over and over and over and never with any citation or link to anything to back this up. Just your bare-naked assertion. I think you’re just an angry person with an agenda. Janine appeared with Rob Morrow, Cynthia Geary, and Joshua Brand in 2017 or 2018 in an interview about the reboot.
th-cam.com/video/zpBHskNFV2M/w-d-xo.html
Under shadow
Finder
Cool
I just shared this with the fans of Boston Legal which used to break the fourth wall regularly.
Who else confuses this cast with the Twin Peaks cast?
When Rob Morrow hosted Saturday Night Live back then, the similarities were referenced
A random Cracked comment sent me here.
“Glib”? Surely you mean trite or stale, which glib does not really mean.
It would be better if it didn't keep putting hats on hats.
WTF
Did anyone else think the main chick was really pretty?
I blocked this out entirely.
Never really got this show
Show was stupid
🕸🎯🌄
This was the point when you knew the show was done. They just didn't have the sense to put everybody out of their misery.
No, the show was done when Rob Morrow left.
They only broke the 4th wall in a scene about making a different show. It was not the actual 4th wall. The actual 4th wall remained intact.
One of my least favorite scenes. I'm sure they could have written it without breaking the 4th wall.
Another case of the writer's thinking that anything they did was automatically hilarious. It was funny on Gary Shandling show, but not here.
You're assuming that being "hilarious" was a goal for this show. It wasn't.
Like most of Northern Exposure's jokes, you need to be fairly cerebral to be in on it.
"It was funny on Gary Shandling show, but not here" Pretentious enough to get the youtube likes from people that desperately want to be in on it.
God, you must be fun at parties.
It’s a ‘jump the shark’ moment. The writers ran out of ideas
This is like the second season Brainiac.
the level of cringe is palpable.
My favorite scene from the entire series.