Underrated '90s TV Shows You Forgot Existed

When Northern Exposure premiered on CBS in the summer of 1990, scripted dramas had taken a back seat to 30-minute comedies — shows like Cheers and Roseanne ruled the airwaves, while Murder, She Wrote, the top drama at the time, ranked twelfth overall, just behind Designing Women. Northern Exposure was like none of these. The hourlong drama centered on Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), a young New York physician bound by the terms of a student loan agreement to spend the first four years of his professional life practicing medicine in Cicely, Alaska, population 215. The proverbial fish out of water, Joel struggles to find his place among Cicely's residents, but over the course of several seasons (prior to Morrow's exit from the series, anyway), Joel eventually warms up to his new home and its quirky inhabitants.

Created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, the pair behind the critically acclaimed '80s medical drama St. Elsewhere, Northern Exposure would go on to become one of the most celebrated shows of its time, garnering over 50 award nominations and nearly 30 wins, including best drama series at both the Golden Globes and the Emmys. It managed to strike a balance between its eccentricity and some genuinely progressive storylines (including featuring one of the first same-sex marriages on primetime television), and it introduced TV audiences to John Corbett an entire decade before he romanced Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City. Still, it isn't one that pops up on top TV lists these days, which is a shame, because it certainly was a standout while it was around.