5.11 Baby Blues

Ed: Like Woody Allen says 'It's worse than dog eat dog. It's dog doesn't return dog's phone calls.'

Original Air Date(1): January 3, 1994

Production Number (7): 77710

Written by(1): Barbara Hall

Directed by(1): Jim Charleston

Log line(1): Shelly is nervous about childbirth; Ed discovers cutthroat showbiz; Maggie and Joel dislike kids.

Synopsis(1): High-powered Hollywood agent Judd Bromell (guest star Donal Logue), to whom Ed submitted his screenplay, is traveling through Alaska and wants to meet Ed, who agrees to outrageous rewrites so that Judd will represent him. Ironically, Judd is killed by wild dogs, and Ed realizes he shouldn't change his script.

Her baby due soon, Shelly is wary of labor and childcare. She hears birthing war stories and flees for the woods, where she encounters a mothering support group run by "Mom Nature" (guest star Regina King). After major counseling, Shelly wakes from a nap on the forest floor with a new sense of well-being.

While planning Shelly's baby shower with Eve (guest star Valerie Mahaffey), Maggie and Joe bond over their common aversion to infants.

Details(2): St. Paul's in Fairbanks is the closest hospital to Cicely. [In 5.15 Hello, I Love You, it's in Anchorage.]

Trivia(2): The name Judd Bromell is a tribute to a former "Northern Exposure" scribe, Henry Bromell.

NEW FEATURE! DISGUSTING MEDICAL DISORDERS OF THE WEEK: Edema, gestational diabetes, uterine inversion or rupture, shoulder dystocia, postpartum hemorrhage, chicken pox, rosiola, emergency C-section, back labor, face-presentation pregnancy, paralysis, brain damage, firecracker injuries. Oh no, I don't think we overdo this medical name-dropping stuff at all.

Guest Stars: (7)
Eve - Valerie Mahaffey
Judd Bromell - Donal Logue
Mother Nature - Regina King
Olympias - Jillian Armenante (also appeared in 4.18 and 4.21)
Queen Victoria - Pamela Kosh
Medea - Therese Tinling (also appears in 2.1)
Townsperson - Peggy O'Connell (also appeared in 5.7, 6.1, and 6.10)

Music: (3)
• Each Night at Nine - Floyd Tillman

• Stir It Up - Johnny Nash [On the More Music from Northern Exposure Soundtrack.]
[Chris talks to Maggie and Joel about childbirth in the bar.]

• Dice Behind Your Shades - Paul Westerberg

• Club Mix

• Crescent City - Lucinda Williams

• Hymn to Her - Pretenders

Shelly's Earrings:
[A HUGE thanks to Ed in Spain for his help with the earrings and the awesome pictures!]

Footnotes and additional research:
1. The Revised and Updated Northern Exposure Book, 2nd Ed. by Louis Chunovic (1995)
2. Revised NE Bible: New and Improved for 94-95 season! Memo from: Ursula Wendel and Cynthia Cohen- Gugisch
3. Print-out of Jude Shabry's music list from the Moose's Guide to Northern Exposure.
4. Intertain 2000 collection of NX music online
5. Geoff's Miscellany
6. Kevin Wright's Culture NX Quotes for Season 5.
7. MCA TV Promotional Kit dated 9/27/95
8. The Northern Exposure Book, 1st Ed. (1993) by Louis Chunovic

Created 2/20/02 • Updated 2/24/02

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