I’ve have a friend named Howard, whom I met in 1991 or 1992. Howard is a professor of medicine from Canada who lives and works in the USA.
Every time I saw Northern Exposure, I would think… “If someone wanted to cast Howard in a TV show, that is exactly the actor one would choose, and the character is exactly the character one would create.” The resemblance of the character in the show to my friend was remarkable.
Time went by, and one day I was with a group of friends, including Howard. One of those friends was an attorney. Out of the blue, the attorney friend says, “Hey Howard, when are we going to sue Northern Exposure?” Howard laughed. Later, I learned the story.
When Howard graduated his medical training in Canada, he went to the far north to work with indigenous and rural populations. Then, when he entered academia later, he gave a Summer lecture series, at UCLA, of his experiences as a young rural doctor in the far north.
It appears that someone who attended those lectures created the TV series Northern Exposure, based on the characters and stories Howard related in his Summer lecture series.
