`Northern Exposure': A Bit `St. Elsewhere,' A Bit `Twin Peaks'

First it was North Bend and Snoqualmie being passed off as the fictional ``Twin Peaks.''Now it's Roslyn's and Bellevue's turn to masquerade as Alaska in CBS' new summer series, ``Northern Exposure,'' which premieres at 10 tonight on KIRO-TV.

The scenes shot in the Roslyn area are pretty convincing, too, although the roads look a little bit too major for a backwoods area in Alaska. Even the Roslyn Cafe gets to keep its name - they've simply added an apostrophe and and an ``S'' to its wall billboard.

Aside from local chauvinism, is there any reason to tune in ``Northern Exposure''? The answer is affirmative. While ``Northern Exposure'' isn't breaking any new ground, it sports an interesting cast and the smart dialogue and quirky characters clearly indicate it's the work of Joshua Brand and John Falsey, who were the creators of ``St. Elsewhere'' and ``A Year in the Life.'' Some of the offbeat humor in the show - which was always a characteristic of ``St. Elsewhere'' - also owes a certain debt to the weirdness of ``Twin Peaks'' (although ``Northern Exposure'' never gets that weird).

Rob Morrow plays Joel Fleischman, a newly graduated doctor (from Columbia University in New York) who studied there on a scholarship provided by the state of Alaska. In return, he has to practice medicine in Alaska and hopes to locate in Anchorage; instead, he's sent to a remote village of Cicely, population 500. Joel hates it, of course - no bagels, no takeout, no way to order pizza - and tries to quit, until he's reminded if he does, he has to pay back his scholarship money.

The medical scenes are reminiscent of ``St. Elsewhere'' and the town's citizens are reminiscent of ``Twin Peaks.'' And here Brand and Falsey have cast wisely - Barry Corbin is a strong asset to any show and he plays the village's mover and shaker, an ex-astronaut who wants to replace Mother Nature with shopping malls. An equally strong addition is John Cullum in the role of the local bartender. So is Darren Burrows as a teen-ager who is hot for rock but whose tastes are several years behind the times.

Janine Turner is attractive as Maggie, a bush pilot who is living with a character played by Grant Goodeve (although I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't disappear so romance can spring up between Joel and Maggie).

A lot of the culture-shock jokes aren't all that funny - but the characters are and the potential exists for ``Northern Exposure'' to move out of the summer ghetto and into the regular season. It's certainly a lot more entertaining than CBS' ``Paradise.''

Back to work: Former Seattleite Ross Shafer's star continues to rise in the game-show world - he's the new host for the ``all-new star-studded `Match Game' '' ABC will begin airing at 11 a.m. weekdays on KOMO-TV, starting Monday.

The show includes such celebrity panelists as Charles Nelson Reilly, Chris Lemmon and Sally Struthers and, as game shows go, it's about as infantile as you can get. Still, it's nice to have Shafer working again.

Changes: Beginning Aug. 1, Viacom Cablevision will add CNN Headline News to its programming lineup. It will share Channel 6 with Prime Sports Northwest and can be seen from 1:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. QVC, which now is seen at that time on Channel 6, will move to Channel 33 and C-SPAN, now on Channel 33, will move to Channel 35.

Video notes: At 6 tonight, KTPS-TV repeats this week's episode of PBS' ``World of Ideas'' on which Bill Moyers talks about fame and what it means to be famous with Leo Braudy, author of ``The Frenzy of Renown.'' Braudy makes some interesting points about America's love affair with celebrities. . . . NBC repeats the pilot episode of ``Grand,'' which has been renewed for next season, at 9:30 tonight on KING-TV. . . . NBC's ``Cosby'' repeats a charming episode featuring dance-master Sandman Sims at 8 tonight on KING-TV. . . . Racism is the subject of CBS' ``48 Hours'' at 8 tonight on KIRO-TV. . . . Cable's Nashville Network repeats its ``Cajun Country'' special tonight at 8. . . . KTPS-TV airs the opening episode of the sixth season of PBS' ``Alive from Off Center'' - the not very special ``Postcards'' - at 9 tonight, following it at 9:30 with the second episode of the series, ``Kuma Hula: Keepers of a Culture,'' focusing on the Hawaiian hula. . . . ABC's ``Primetime Live'' promises (or threatens?) an interview with Andrew Dice Clay at 10 tonight on KOMO-TV. . . . HBO repeats its new Richard Lewis comedy special at 11 tonight on cable.

John Voorhees' column appears daily in The Times.