65-468: Northern Exposure is an American Northern comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents of a fictional small town in Alaska , that ran on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. The Northern Lights cause dreaming to intensify among the residents. Joel hears about "Adam" ( Adam Arkin ), the local version of Bigfoot . When his truck breaks down one night on
130-400: A "tag" into the program to be distributed on these services, which Nielsen then tracks through its meters system. Partnering distributors are able to determine if these ratings can be released publicly or not. The most commonly cited Nielsen results are reported in two measurements: ratings points and share, usually reported as: "ratings points/share". There were 119.6 million TV homes in
195-454: A B+, writing that the show “may well prove to be summer television’s most likably eccentric series”. The cast and crew won seven Emmy Awards out of 39 nominations: The series won two Golden Globe awards for Best Drama series, in 1992 and 1993. In addition, Morrow and Turner were each nominated three times consecutively from 1992 to 1994 for Best Actor and Actress, while Corbett was nominated in 1993 for his supporting role. The series won
260-426: A February 2012 New York Times article, the computer and mobile streams of a program are counted separately from the standard television broadcasts, further degrading the overall quality of the sampling data. As a result, there was no way for NBC to tell if there was any overlap between the roughly 111.3 million traditional television viewers and 2.1 million live stream viewers of Super Bowl XLVII . Responding to
325-461: A Peabody Award, three Creative Arts Emmy Awards , and a Directors Guild of America Award ), and the fifth-season episode " I Feel the Earth Move ", which featured the second same-sex marriage story arc on U.S. prime-time television. (Fox's Roc aired the first U.S. prime-time television episode depicting a same-sex marriage, "Can't Help Loving That Man", on October 20, 1991.) On Rotten Tomatoes,
390-460: A diary of the programs watched in their home for a one-week period. The Nielsen sample included roughly 1,700 audiometer homes and a rotating board of nearly 850 diary respondents by the early 1980s. Nielsen launched its Nielsen Homevideo Index (NHI) in 1980 to measure cable, pay cable, and VCRs, and the NHI began offering daily cable ratings in 1982. Nielsen's continued to advance with steady changes into
455-404: A different time), rendering the "raw" numbers useless from a statistical point of view. Even in 2013, it was noted that Internet streams of television programs were still not counted because they had either no ads (such as Netflix ) or totally different advertising (such as Hulu ) than their television counterparts, effectively skewing the raw data on a show's popularity. A related criticism of
520-529: A jury trial against Universal, alleging that the series was based on his idea yet he received no credit or compensation. Veith won $ 10 million in damages and legal fees on appeal three years later. His suit was against the studio, not Brand and Falsey. The Los Angeles Times reported that jurors seemed to believe the studio came to Brand and Falsey with the basic concept for the show rather than that they knowingly stole Veith's idea. Some Universal executives had worked with Veith and Brand and Falsey. Veith's script
585-564: A linear watermark . After Nielsen took over the contract for producing data on Irish advertising in 2009, agencies said that they were "disastrous" and claimed that the information produced by them is too inaccurate to be trusted by them or their clients. In 2004, News Corporation retained the services of public relations firm Glover Park to launch a campaign aimed at delaying Nielsen's plan to replace its aging household electronic data collection methodology in larger local markets with its newer electronic People Meter system. The advocates in
650-548: A lonely road after a house call, he encounters the mysterious creature, who turns out to be an arrogant hermit living deep in the woods. However, nobody in Cicely believes him. Bernard ( Richard Cummings Jr. ), an African American, shows up. He sold his condo in Portland , bought a motorcycle and rode north without quite knowing why. He and Chris find themselves strangely in tune, even sharing the same dream. They finally learn that they share
715-551: A media audience measurement and analytics firm. Nielsen TV ratings (commonly referred to as Nielsen ratings ) are the audience measurement systems operated by Nielsen Media Research that seek to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States using a rating system. Nielsen lost accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC) in 2022 due to inaccurate data reporting during
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#1733093473527780-408: A model consisting of six viewer segments, which according to their empirical research, are more relevant for advertisers than older models based on gender and age. The segments are based on user behavior, motivations, and psychographics . It is argued that the model can increase reaching the desired audience and message recall and advertisement likeability. In September 2020, Nielsen began releasing
845-464: A new panel of homes each week. At the end of the month, all of the viewing data from the individual weeks was aggregated. One exception to the normal sweeps periods occurred in 2008–09 when the February sweeps period was moved to March to accommodate the digital television transition , which was scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009. The transition date was later moved to June 12, but Nielsen kept
910-587: A pair of consecutive Peabody Awards : in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a transplanted New York City doctor and the townspeople of fictional Cicely, Alaska" and its stories of "people of different backgrounds and experiences" clashing but who ultimately "strive to accept their differences and co-exist". Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released all six seasons on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4. The Region 1 DVD releases have caused controversy among
975-428: A sister company to Nielsen NetRatings, which measures Internet and digital media audiences through a telephone and internet survey, and Nielsen BuzzMetrics, which measures Consumer-Generated Media. Nielsen also conducts market research for the film industry through National Research Group (NRG). In September 2018, Nielsen acquired SuperData Research, an industry analysis firm that deals with tracking viewing habits within
1040-505: A total of 110 episodes. It received 57 award nominations during its six-season run and won 27, including the 1992 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series , two additional Primetime Emmy Awards , four Creative Arts Emmy Awards , and two Golden Globes . In the show Rob Morrow played New York City native Joel Fleischman, a recently graduated physician who is obligated to practice in Anchorage, Alaska , for several years to repay
1105-417: A weekly Top 10 list of most-watched shows on streaming platforms. The data collection methods used to generate Nielsen TV ratings included: Changing systems of viewing have impacted Nielsen's methods of market research. In 2005, Nielsen began measuring the usage of digital video recording devices (DVRs) such as TiVos . Initial results indicated that time-shifted viewing (i.e., programs that are watched after
1170-574: Is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen ratings , an audience measurement system of television viewership that for years has been the deciding factor in canceling or renewing television shows by television networks. As of August 2024, it
1235-514: Is another rapidly growing market for which Nielsen ratings fail to account for viewers. iTunes , Hulu, YouTube , and some of the networks' own websites (such as ABC.com and CBS.com) provide full-length web-based programming, either subscription-based or ad-supported. Though websites can already track a site's popularity and the referring page , they cannot track viewer demographics. To both track this and expand their market research offerings, Nielsen purchased NetRatings in 2007. However, as noted in
1300-412: Is sad." Morrow and his representatives spent much of seasons 4 and 5 lobbying for an improved contract, and intermittently threatened to leave the show. The producers responded by reducing Fleischman's role in the storylines, and introducing characters such as Mike Monroe (season 4) and Dr. Phil Capra (season 6) to partially compensate for the absence of Morrow, whose last appearance came midway through
1365-541: Is selected, and only those accepted are used as the sample size. In many local areas during the 1990s, the difference between a rating that kept a show on the air and one that would cancel it was so small as to be statistically insignificant. Yet, the show with the higher rating would survive. In addition, the Nielsen ratings encouraged a strong push for demographic measurements. This caused problems with households with multiple television sets or households where viewers would enter
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#17330934735271430-521: Is some public critique regarding accuracy and potential bias within Nielsen's rating system, including some concerns that the Nielsen ratings system is rapidly becoming outdated due to new technology such as smartphones , DVRs , tablet computers and Internet streaming services as preferred or alternative methods for television viewing. In June 2006, however, Nielsen announced a plan to revamp its entire methodology to include all types of media viewing in its sample. Since viewers are aware of being part of
1495-445: Is the percentage of TV sets in use which are tuned to a particular show. Share is the percentage of television sets in use, Households Using Television (HUT) or Persons Using Television (PUT) who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. For example, Nielsen may report a show as receiving a 4.4/8 during its broadcast; this would mean that 4.4% of all television-equipped households (that
1560-519: Is the primary part of Nielsen Holdings. NMR began as a division of ACNielsen , a marketing research firm founded in 1923. In 1996, NMR was split off into an independent company, and in 1999, was purchased by the Dutch conglomerate VNU . In 2001, VNU also purchased ACNielsen, thereby bringing both companies under the same corporate umbrella for years. NMR is also a sister company to Nielsen//NetRatings, which measures Internet and digital media audiences. VNU
1625-435: Is to say homes with a TV set, not total number of people) were tuned in to that program, while 8% of households that were watching TV at that time were watching the specific program. Because ratings are based on samples, it is possible for shows to get a 0.0 rating, despite having an audience; CNBC 's talk show McEnroe was one notable example. Another example is The CW show, CW Now , which received two 0.0 ratings in
1690-462: The 18–49 age range is more important than the total number of viewers. According to Advertising Age , during the 2007–08 season, ABC was able to charge $ 419,000 per commercial sold during its medical drama Grey's Anatomy , compared to only $ 248,000 for a commercial during CBS ' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation , despite CSI having almost five million more viewers on average. Because of its strength in young "demos" (demographic groups), NBC
1755-641: The COVID-19 pandemic , but regained it in April 2023. Nielsen Media Research was founded by Arthur C. Nielsen , a market analyst who began his career in the 1920s with marketing research and performance analysis. The company subsequently expanded into radio market analysis in the late 1930s, culminating in the Nielsen Radio Index in 1942, which was meant to provide statistics as to the markets of radio shows. The first Nielsen ratings for radio programs were released
1820-462: The "sweeps" rating periods. The term "sweeps" dates from 1954, when Nielsen collected diaries from households in the Eastern United States first; from there they would "sweep" west. Seven-day diaries (or eight-day diaries in homes with DVRs) were mailed to homes to keep a tally of what was watched on each television set and by whom. Over the course of a sweeps period, diaries were mailed to
1885-480: The 25 TV markets with the highest sales (e.g. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver), the Local People Meter (LPM) is measured. Individuals register individually; the measurement is carried out on 365 days over 24 hours. The SET Meter (Diary & Electronic) is used in 31 smaller markets (such as Nashville, Salt Lake City). In four sweeps in February, May, July, and November, target group data are collected with
1950-467: The Council for Innovative Media Measurement by more than six major broadcast media companies. By the end of 2012, some television executives wanted to see C7, ratings for live plus seven days, with CBS Corporation chief executive officer Les Moonves making the claim C7 made ratings increase by 30%. The American television measurement by Nielsen is based on three different methodological approaches. In
2015-445: The LPM provides accurate measurements of particular local markets, versus a nationwide sample. While diary-based surveys concentrated on quarterly sweeps periods, the industry has been pushed toward year-round measurement due to the automated LPM system. In 1996, Nielsen Media Research began tracking computer, internet, and video game usage through telephone surveys. Nielsen Media Research is
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2080-422: The Nielsen rating system is its lack of a system for measuring television audiences outside homes, such as college dormitories , transport terminals, bars , prisons and other public places where television is frequently viewed, often by large numbers of people in a common setting. In 2005, Nielsen announced plans to incorporate viewing by away-from-home college students into its sample. Internet television viewing
2145-417: The Nielsen sample, compared to 6.0% in the general population. Latino households represent 5.7% of the Nielsen sample, compared to 5.0% in the general population. By October 2006, News Corporation and Nielsen settled, with Nielsen agreeing to spend an additional $ 50 million to ensure that minority viewing was not being underreported by the new electronic people meter system. In 2011, CBS and Nielsen proposed
2210-406: The Nielsen sample, it can lead to response bias in recording and viewing habits. Audience counts gathered by the self-reporting diary methodology are sometimes higher than those gathered by the electronic meters, eliminating any response bias. Another criticism of the measuring system itself is that it fails the most important sample criterion: it is not random. A small fraction of the population
2275-460: The United States for the 2017–18 TV season (Nielsen's National Television Household Universe, or Households Using Television, HUT). Nielsen re-estimates the number of television-equipped households each August for the upcoming television season. The rating of a program is a fraction of the HUT. It is calculated as RTG = HUT × SHARE where HUT (or PUT when measuring demos) is Homes Using Television and SHARE
2340-564: The average viewership for only the commercial time within the program. These "Commercial Ratings" first became available on May 31, 2007. Additionally, Nielsen provides different "streams" of this data in order to take into consideration delayed viewing (DVR) data, at any interval up to seven days. C3 was the metric launched in 2007, and refers to the ratings for average commercial minutes in live programming plus total playback by digital video recorder up to three days after. In 2009, dissatisfaction with Nielsen's effectiveness resulted in formation of
2405-428: The award-winning shows St. Elsewhere and I'll Fly Away . It started as a mid-season replacement summer series on CBS in 1990 with eight episodes. It returned for seven more episodes in spring 1991, then became a regular part of the network's schedule in 1991–92. It ranked among the top 10 viewed by 18- to 49-year-olds , and was part of the network's 1992–93 and 1993–94 schedules. In 1994, writer Sandy Veith won
2470-404: The company can count digital viewers in audience and demographic reports but is unable to do so under the current set of rules devised by networks and advertising industries last revised in 2006. As such, Nielsen can only count viewership for television-originated broadcasts, and must exclude viewers who watch programs on digital platforms if the program does not have an identical advertising load or
2535-479: The criticism regarding accusations by several media executives (including Viacom CEO Phillippe Dauman and former Fox Entertainment Group chief operating officer Chase Carey ) that it failed to count viewers watching television programs on digital platforms, Nielsen executive vice president of global product leadership Megan Clarken stated in an April 2015 summit by the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement that
2600-412: The diary and validated with the data of the devices (TV set on/off) in the participating households. In the 154 TV markets with the lowest sales (e. g. Harrisburg, PA or Honolulu) the use of TV is only recorded using a diary survey. Each year until 2018, Nielsen processed approximately two million paper diaries from households across the United States, for November, February, May, and July—also known as
2665-399: The first season of Northern Exposure has a score of 100% based on six reviews, with an average rating of 7.0/10. On Metacritic, which uses a weighted score, the first season is rated 80 based on seven reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews," while the second season has an 83 based on nine, indicating "universal acclaim". Entertainment Weekly ’s Ken Tucker gave the first episode
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2730-524: The first week of December 1947. They measured the top 20 programs in four areas: total audience, average audience, cumulative audience, and homes per dollar spent for time and talent. In 1950, Nielsen then moved to television, developing a rating system using the methods he and his company had developed for radio. That method became the primary source of audience measurement information in the American television industry. In September 2020, Nielsen began compiling
2795-416: The mid-2000s. Along with changing their counting methods, Nielsen also started emphasizing their sample in 2003 in reaction to census shifts and requests from some industry sectors. Nielsen's automated Local People Meter (LPM) technology was introduced in two cities: New York and Los Angeles. The LPM improved the method of measurement from active and diary-based to passive and meter-monitored. More importantly,
2860-399: The moose in the opening titles was named Mort and was provided by Washington State University , where he was part of a captive herd. To film the opening sequence, the crew fenced off Roslyn, set Mort loose, and lured him around with food. Notable episodes in the series include the pilot (nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing ), the third season's last episode, " Cicely " (which won
2925-557: The networks have aired them) would significantly impact television ratings. A year later, the networks were not factoring these new results into their ad rates because of advertisers' resistance. In July 2017, Nielsen announced that it would include select programs from subscription-based video on demand (vSVOD) services Hulu and YouTube TV in its Digital in TV Ratings system. Since about October 2017, Nielsen also began to track select programs from Netflix . Partnering distributors insert
2990-499: The project. On June 17, 2016, Film Farms announced that writer David Assael had been hired to write for the project. He previously wrote several episodes, including " Russian Flu ," " Spring Break ," and " It Happened in Juneau ," among others. The revival was originally envisioned as a two-hour "visit to Cicely," but a ten-episode series was reportedly being pitched to various network, cable, and streaming venues. On November 20, 2018, it
3055-491: The public relations campaign claimed that data derived from the newer People Meter system represented a bias toward underreporting minority viewing, leading to a de facto discrimination in employment against minority actors and writers. However, Nielsen countered the campaign by revealing its sample composition counts. According to Nielsen Media Research's sample composition counts, as of November 2004 , nationwide, African American households using People Meters represented 6.7% of
3120-473: The same father and the same birthday. Satisfied, Bernard returns to Portland. Joel takes Ed and Maggie into the woods to try to prove that Adam is real, but finds only pieces of a garlic press . Northern Exposure Northern Exposure is an American comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents of a fictional small town in Alaska, that ran on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with
3185-650: The same season. In 2014, Nielsen reported that American viewership of live television (totaling on average four hours and 32 minutes per day) had dropped 12 minutes per day compared to the year before. The CW got another 0.0 rating for its broadcast of the 1st Critics Choice Super Awards. Nielsen reported several reasons for the shift away from live television: increased viewership of time-shifted television (mainly through DVRs) and viewership of internet video (clips from video sharing websites and streams of full-length television shows). In 2007, Nielsen began to release data that reflected out-of-home/not via home TV viewing. This
3250-420: The series are now available on Amazon Prime Video with the majority of its original soundtrack. In 2016, Darren Burrows and his production company, Film Farms, held a crowdfunding campaign to fund a development project with the goal of creating more episodes. The working title for this project is "Northern Exposure: Home Again". Despite not meeting the original $ 100,000 goal, Burrows decided to continue with
3315-582: The series. Adalian subsequently tweeted that the rights holder, Universal Studios, could pitch the revival elsewhere, but it was unclear whether Universal was planning to move the project to another outlet. Morrow, who was busy with other commitments, found out about Falsey's death on Twitter. On November 15, 2019, Morrow revealed in an interview on radio station WGN 720AM in Chicago that he and Brand were continuing revival efforts despite Falsey's death and CBS's decision. Sweeps Nielsen Media Research ( NMR )
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#17330934735273380-542: The show moved from Monday to Wednesday, and in May 1995 there was a gap during sweeps when CBS broadcast other programming. At one point, Barry Corbin wrote an open letter to TV critics that called the show "an understandably weakened show". On May 24, 1995, CBS announced the cancelation of the show, which had its final episode shown on July 26. "The show had a lot of life in it, and the move (Wednesday at 10pm) killed it," said executive producer Andrew Schneider . "This piddling out
3445-433: The show's fans due to their high prices and the changes to the soundtrack introduced in order to lower their costs. The release of Season 1 contained the original music, but retailed for $ 60 due to the cost of music licensing . Subsequent seasons replaced most of the music with generic elevator-style music, resulting in a lower-cost release. The first and second seasons were also rereleased together in packaging that matches
3510-402: The show's final season. In the show's last season, two new characters were introduced to fill the void left by Morrow's departure: Major recurring characters include: Cicely is widely thought to be based on Talkeetna, Alaska . Cicely is described throughout the series as being part of the " Alaskan Riviera ." In Season 6, Episode 15, Joel mails a post card to Maggie from Manhattan , and
3575-478: The simpler codes (usually their child's), raising serious questions about the demographic data quality. The situation further deteriorated as the popularity of cable television increased the number of viewable networks to the extent that the margin of error has increased because the sampling sizes are too small. Compounding matters is that of the sample data that is collected, advertisers will not pay for time shifted programs (those that are recorded for replay at
3640-461: The state of Alaska for underwriting his medical education. Much to his chagrin, he is assigned to the much smaller and remote town of Cicely, which is in need of a general practitioner . Originally the show focused on Fleischman's fish-out-of-water experiences in rural Alaska but as it progressed, it became more of an ensemble show, focusing on various other Cicely residents. The series was created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey , who also created
3705-665: The sweeps period in March that year rather than moving it again. This local viewing information provides a basis for program scheduling and advertising decisions for local television stations, cable systems, and advertisers. Typically, the November, February, and May sweeps are considered more important; nevertheless, the July sweeps can have a local impact regarding personnel. In some mid-size markets, diaries provide viewer information for up to two additional "sweeps" months (October and January). There
3770-518: The third through sixth seasons. On July 21, 2020, Northern Exposure was rereleased by Shout! Factory , containing all 110 episodes but not with all original music. The R2 editions released in Germany on DVD contain all the original music. On March 19, 2018, Fabulous Films released the entire series on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom containing all original music. As of January 2024, all six seasons of
3835-433: The video game and eSports areas, an area that Nielsen plans to expand into. Later, in April 2021, Nielsen stated they will close down SuperData and move its analysis and tracking into Nielsen Sports. In September 2020, Nielsen began compiling a weekly Top 10 list of most watched shows on streaming platforms. After divestiture of NielsenIQ (the former ACNielsen consumer research business) in 2021, Nielsen became solely
3900-521: The zip code of Cicely is shown to be 99729, which is located north of Talkeetna and east of Denali National Park , and includes the town of Cantwell . However, most filming locations were in Roslyn, Washington . "Northern Exposure II" (the main production facility) was in Redmond, Washington , in what is now the headquarters of Genie Industries , behind a business park. According to The Northern Exposure Book ,
3965-417: Was a follow-up to their added inclusiveness regarding family members who are dorming in college. Since specific demographics influence advertising rates, Nielsen provides statistics by categories including age, sex, race, economic class, and area. For example, an advertiser might look for younger viewers, for older or wealthier audiences, or for women rather than men. In general, the number of viewers within
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#17330934735274030-522: Was able to charge almost three times as much for a commercial during Friends as CBS charged for Murder, She Wrote , even though the two series had a similar amount of total viewership during the two seasons they were on the air concurrently. Glee (on Fox ) and The Office (on NBC) drew fewer total viewers than NCIS (on CBS) during the 2009–10 season, but earned an average of $ 272,694 and $ 213,617 respectively, compared to $ 150,708 for NCIS . Nielsen also provides viewership data calculated as
4095-458: Was about an Italian-American doctor who moves to a small town in the South. In 1994, the same year that the lawsuit was filed, Brand and Falsey resigned. David Chase was brought in to serve as executive producer. He later went on to say that he took the job purely for the money, stating that he disliked the premise of the show; Brand cited Chase as having run the show into the ground. In January 1995
4160-716: Was reorganized and renamed the Nielsen Company in 2007. NMR was separated again from the NielsenIQ (the former ACNielsen) in 2021. The Nielsen TV Ratings have been produced in the United States since the 1950–51 television season and statistically measure which programs are watched by individual segments of the population. The most well-known portion is the "diary". During the four " sweeps " months of February, May, July and November, Nielsen interviewers in Oldsmar, Florida , and Radcliff, Kentucky , ask homes to participate in filling out
4225-541: Was reported that a revival series was in the early stages of development at CBS, with Brand, Falsey, and Morrow executive producing and Morrow again playing Fleischman. Corbett was named as producer but his appearance as a performer was not confirmed. Falsey died in January 2019, and on May 19, 2019, Josef Adalian, an editor for the New York City-based magazine Vulture , tweeted that CBS had canceled development work on
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