6.1 Dinner at Seven-Thirty

Joel: I don't want this life. I'd rather practice medicine in some hick rural outback than stay here another minute!

Log line(1): Joel encounters an alternate reality in Manhattan after accidentally drinking one of Ed 's healing creations.

Synopsis(1): Joel drinks from a carton of what appears to be orange juice in Ed's refrigerator but is actually a healing potion for body aches. After being sucked into a swirling vortex in Ed's closet, Joel is spit out on a Manhattan street, just outside of his luxury apartment building. Starting with Maurice as Maury the doorman, Joel finds himself in an alternate reality with Cicely residents as key players but in surprising roles.

Recognizing his penthouse apartment as home and Shelly as his wife, Joel remembers the stresses of his life as an internist and Shelly's as a highpowered corporate attorney. As they ready to host a cocktail party, Joel is drawn to Maggie, their au pair. The guests stroll in; Ed, an icy corporate raider sporting double-breasted Armani suit; Chris, a tentative, inarticulate fashion photographer; Ruth-Anne, a powerful internist in a Chanel suit; and Holling, a debonair nightclub singer. In different roles, each of these people that Joel knows to be kind and loving seem unhappy, hurtful, callous and extremely unfulfilled.

The cards come crumbling down when Shelly asks Joel for a divorce, Maurice loses everything on a stock tip from Ed gone horribly awry, Chris tries to kill himself, Maggie quits her job and Ruth-Anne decides to retire. After all of this comes to pass, when Ruth-Anne offers Joel a partnership in her internal medicine group, he turns it down saying, "I'd rather practice medicine in some hick rural outback than stay here another minute!"

With that, he is snapped back to reality in Cicely and flies backwards out of Ed's closet. While Ed has no idea anything has occurred, Joel is moved without understanding why.

Details(2): Ed's potion includes Elder root, parsnip, crushed beetle and a little fox musk...

Holling's musical selections include "You're the Top" and "Someone To Watch Over Me".

Shelly purchased her mounted moosehead at an antique store in Peekskill.

Joel likes trampolines.

Most memorable quote: "...right arm a little, uh, higher ... yeah... okay... good."

Guest Stars: (1)
Shorty/Hayden - James L. Dunn
Eugene - Earl Quewezance
Walt - Moultrie Patten
Bernard - Richard Cummings, Jr.
Jode - Keala Hopps
Caterer - Bob Morrisey (also appears in 5.2, 5.24, 6.3, 6.9, and 6.10)
Doris - Peggy O'Connell (Also appeared in 5.7, 5.11, 6.10)
Himself - Louis Rukeyser
Cobbe - Omar Sippy
Mrs. Partridge - Maggie Stenson
Evan - Daniel C. Swanson
Mr. Warburg - David Wasman

Music:
• This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads

• Ridin' High - Benny Goodman

Shelly's Earrings:
Very "lawyerly" little gold posts

Additional Notes :
A Moosechick Top 5 favorite!

When Dr. Ruth-Anne Miller leaves her medical office, there is a sign of names behind her. Two of the names are Dusek and Beglund-Davenport. These are the two location managers for NoEx.

Footnotes and additional research:
1. MCA TV Promotional Kit dated 9/27/95
2. Revised NE Bible: New and Improved fro 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 6.

Created 2/12/02 • Updated 6/13/02

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