Roslyn Expects To Survive Cancellation Of TV Show -- Northern Exposure Made It Famous

ROSLYN - This tiny town survived the closure of its last coal mine in 1963 and the logging downturn of the early 1990s. And residents say they will weather the cancellation of "Northern Exposure," the quirky CBS television show that made Roslyn famous.

Yesterday's announcement didn't surprise many of the town's 935 residents - they had seen the signs. The star, Rob Morrow, had left, and many of the spring episodes had been pre-empted.

"You can't depend on a TV series forever," said Jan Skiba, a co-owner of the Roslyn Cafe, called "Roslyn's Cafe" in the show set in the fictional Alaska town of Cicely. Earlier this year, she and her husband opened a gift store that doesn't sell any "Northern Exposure" paraphernalia.

The creators considered the real Alaska too far away, too cold and too expensive. So they filmed parts of the show in downtown Roslyn and the surrounding forest, about 80 miles east of Seattle.

The show, which debuted in 1990, focused on Joel Fleischman (played by Morrow), a young New York physician who faces culture shock when he becomes the sole doctor in Cicely. The cast included a retired astronaut who is the town's principal businessman, the mystic deejay of its radio station, a genial bar owner with a flaky wife years his junior, and a Native American interested in making movies.

Without question, though, "Northern Exposure" brought money to Roslyn. Tourism boomed, with sales-tax revenues increasing more than 300 percent.

Many residents were paid as extras, and the town got a new fire engine, with help from the show.

But with the benefits came some detractions: Filming and pesky tourists sometimes interfered with residents doing their errands.

"We didn't like the fuss, but we liked the money," said Joanne Osmonovich, a downtown resident whose husband did odd jobs for the show's producers. "We have survived before," she added.

Tavern owner Jim Luster said he will miss the friends he made. The exterior of Luster's tavern, The Brick, was a fixture on the show.

"The thing I will miss the most is the cast and the crew - it's a lot of nice people. We developed a lot of personal relationships," Luster said.

Signs of Cicely already were fading fast yesterday. One souvenir store had a "50 percent off" sign in the window.

Much of the show is filmed in studios in Redmond.