Northern Exposure
Creators & Producers Biographies

 

 



Joshua Brand

JOSHUA BRAND & JOHN FALSEY - Creators

Multiple Emmy Award winners Joshua Brand and John Falsey are the creators of MCA Television's awardwinning series NORTHERN EXPOSURE. Having together created some of television's most memorable and highlyacclaimed series including "I'll Fly Away," "St. Elsewhere" and "A Year in the Life," Brand and Falsey have again pushed the envelope of network television to new limits.

Brand graduated magna cum laude in 1972 from City College of New York with a B.A. degree in English Literature. Later, he was given a fellowship to Columbia University where he received an M.A. degree with honors in English Literature in 1974. His full-length play "Babyface" was presented at the Cast Theater in Los Angeles in 1978 and was chosen as a semi-finalist in the noted Louisville Actors Theater's Great American Play Contest. In addition, "Grunts," a full-length play, has been given stage reading at the American Conservatory Theater in New York. "Grunts" was originally produced at the Wonderhouse Theater in New York in 1983.

John Falsey is a 1975 alumnus of Hampshire College with a B.A. in English. Later, he graduated from the Iowa Writer's Workshop with a M.F.A. in Creative Writing. His short story "Bachelors" appeared in The New Yorker magazine in 1978. In 1979, Falsey joined the production staff of "The White Shadow" as a story editor. A year later, Brand also joined the series as a story editor. In 1981 and 1983, they were finalists for the prestigious Humanitas Award in the 60minute category. The team went on to create and produce the award-winning television series "St. Elsewhere." Additionally, they developed "Amazing Stories" with Steven Spielberg and served as supervising producers for the show's first season. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut on November 6, 1951.

Brand and Falsey's creations have garnered over 50 Emmy Award nominations including Outstanding Drama Series three years in a row for NORTHERN EXPOSURE and two years for "I'll Fly Away." Brand and Falsey also created the 1986 Emmy Award-winning series "A Year in the Life," which later continued as a critically-acclaimed weekly series on NBC. Additionally, in 1992, they received a Peabody Award for NORTHERN EXPOSURE and won the Humanitas Award for "I'll Fly Away."

After NX, Josh Brand directed some episodes of Joan of Arcadia (created by NX writer Barbara Hall). He most recently wrote episodes of The Americans.

More on Joshua Brand and John Falsey from TV Tome.


DAVID CHASE - Executive Producer

Emmy Award-winning writer, director and producer David Chase is the executive producer, along with Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov, of MCATelevision's Emmy award-winning CBS series NORTHERN EXPOSURE. Chase joins the series after serving as executive producer on the critically-acclaimed and award-winning NBC drama "I'll Fly Away."

Chase, originally from New York, studied film at New York University and completed a graduate program in film at Stanford University. He began his career in television as a writer for CBS anthology series "Off the Minnesota Strip," for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Teleplay for an Anthology and a Writers Guild Award in the category of Outstanding Anthology Drama. He went on to write and produce for "The Rockford Files" in 1980 for which he won an Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Series. Chase also wrote for and directed "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Enough Rope For Two."

In 1988, Chase co-created the critically-acclaimed television series "Almost Grown" for CBS on which he also served as executive producer, director and writer. From 1991 to 1993, Chase served as executive producer, director and writer for the NBC dramatic series "I'll Fly Away." In its two-year run, "I'll Fly Away" and Chase received many accolades including the Television Critics Award, Producers Guild Award, American Television Award and Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Dramatic Series for the 1992-93 season.

Most recently, David Chase worked as a producer on the Sopranos.


ANDREW SCHNEIDER & DIANE FROLOV - Executive Producers

Emmy Award-winning husband-and-wife creative team Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov are the executive producers, along with David Chase, of MCA Television's Emmy award-winning CBS series NORTHERN EXPOSURE. In 1992, Frolov and Schneider won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Drama Series for the NORTHERN EXPOSURE episode entitled "Seoul Mates."

Schneider graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Literature. He subsequently worked as a Russian interpreter while pursuing an acting career. This early influence is evident in manv of the NORTHERN EXPOSURE plotlines and dialogue that have a Russian flavor. Schneider started writing for television on the "Mary Hartman" spin-off "Forever Fernwood." Since then, he has written for and produced "The Incredible Hulk," "Magnum, P.I." and the critically-acclaimed series "Almost Grown." He served as writer and producer in the television series "Alien Nation," where he first worked with Frolov, for which they received the Viewers for Quality Television Founder's Award.

Frolov is an alumnus of the University of California at Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Arts and a Fine Arts Masters degree in playwriting. Later, she was granted a scholarship from ACT to attend the Writer's Workshop at Squaw Valley where her one-act play, "Shells," was produced. Shortly thereafter, Frolov's full-length play "Mirror, Mirror," was produced at the Cast Theater in Los Angeles.

Frolov began writing for television on the late-night cult comedy "L.A.T.E.R." Since then, she has written for such acclaimed series as "Magnum, P.I.," "Alien Nation" and the ground-breaking miniseries, "V." She has also written feature fims for Touchstone Pictures & Stonebridge Entertainment. Frolov and Schneider reside in Los Angeles with their son, Joseph.

See more on the Writers (compliments of Dreamers) and my Writers & Directors page.


 

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