RERUN - S3E4: “Animals ‘R Us” with Anne Gordon

Summary

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Northern Disclosure – Rerun: S3E4 "Animals 'R Us" with Anne Gordon

Podcast: Northern Disclosure (Evergreen Podcasts)
Hosts: Rob Morrow & Janine Turner
Guest: Anne Gordon (Animal Trainer for Northern Exposure)
Original Air Date: February 3, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this rerun episode, co-stars Rob Morrow and Janine Turner revisit "Animals ‘R Us," the fourth episode of Northern Exposure's third season. Special guest Anne Gordon, the beloved animal trainer on the show, joins them for a frank, fun, and memory-filled conversation about the unique challenges and joyful moments of working with animals in Cicely, Alaska. The hosts reflect on the episode's blend of quirky, heartfelt storytelling and share rich behind-the-scenes tales—from wrangling malamutes and ostriches to the technical (and spiritual) magic that animals brought to the series.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Episode Recap and Initial Impressions

• Synopsis:
  • Maggie (Janine) finds a stray malamute she believes is her late boyfriend Rick reincarnated.
  • Maurice (Barry Corbin) schemes to get rich breeding ostriches, involving Marilyn.
  • Ed creates a film about Cicely.
    [03:08] Rob Morrow summarizes the episode
• Tone: Both hosts agree the episode is "quintessential Northern Exposure," with warmth, eccentricity, and a touch of magical realism.
  • Janine Turner: "What a sweet show. I think the show was just quintessential... quintessential Northern Exposure." [01:55]

2. The Quirky Heart of the Episode

• Janine relates Maggie's arc to her real experience with believing in spiritual animal signs after her father’s death.
  • "A lot of people believe when their loved one dies that they see something in nature that they feel is the essence of that potentially that person..." [06:02–07:32]
• Rob notes the episode's gentle mix of surrealism and native spirituality, praising how the series mines those cultural elements so deftly. [07:46]

3. Creative Choices & Iconic Moments

• Music & Montage: The use of “Natural Woman” and “My Boyfriend’s Back” elevates Maggie’s scenes with the dog—a favorite among cast, crew, and fans.
  • Rob: "They use music very well... your montage with Natural Woman, Aretha's song, is pretty priceless." [09:26]
• Film within a film: Ed’s black-and-white tribute to Cicely is lauded for its beauty and for giving screen time to lesser-known town residents.
  • Janine: "Those shots of all the Native Americans in the window... That was very Woody Allen." [08:46]
• Absurdist Humor: Shelly’s excited “Oh, I love weddings” remark about Maggie possibly marrying the dog is a highlight.
  • [10:28]

4. Bringing in Anne Gordon: Life as Animal Trainer

• Anne’s Journey:
  • Studied biology and animal behavior; first woman in Seattle's carnivore zookeeper department [14:11].
  • Fell into film animal training by “being a big fish in a small pond” in the Pacific Northwest.
• Anne today: Now leads “Whale and Dolphin Wisdom Retreats” worldwide.
  • Find her at: [WhaleWisdomRetreats.com] [14:03]
• Animal training insights:
  • Often, trainers remain anonymous despite animals being pivotal to the show’s setting and authenticity.
  • “It’s pivotal to the organic sense of the town.” – Janine [17:37]
  • Trainers coordinate with directors through nuanced communication—they're “interpreters” between humans and animals. [22:37]

5. Behind-the-Scenes Animal Tales

• Wolfie the Malamute (“Rick”):
  • Was specifically trained for his nuanced role—barking, stretching, not eating peppers, etc. [20:30]
  • Anne had only one dog (“no backup dog”), making performance pressure high, especially for bite scenes:
    • “He was a sweet, sweet dog. And so I knew the bite scenes. He didn't want to bite.” [20:30]
  • Editing is crucial for making animal performances seamless. [21:28]
• Ostrich Adventures:
  • Ostrich scenes were filmed at the birds’ actual home to avoid traumatizing them.
  • Barry Corbin (Maurice) had a bird phobia from childhood attack—had to act through real anxiety.
    • "He came to me... I hate birds. My grandfather's rooster attacked me as a three year old." – Anne [28:03]
  • John Corbett impulsively entered the ostrich pen—Anne “saved his life,” as ostriches are dangerous.
    • "One kick from an ostrich can disembowel a lion..." [29:43]
• Morty the Moose:
  • Iconic credit sequence moose was a bottle-raised orphan found via Washington State U’s research.
  • Moose’s performance motivated with willow branches and bananas; town was fenced during filming.
    • "If you tell me no, I'm going to say, well, how can I make it happen? I'll make it happen." – Anne [37:33]
• Bears & Horses:
  • Bear scenes required intense safety (electric “hot” fence tricked bears) [41:53].
  • Horses’ sensitivity: actors’ nerves would subconsciously cue horses to move; John Corbett learned this first-hand. [45:50]

6. Subtle Craft of Animal Training

• Training dogs for emotional cues—ears back, whines, etc.—comes from creating a play space and using familiar tone/context. [23:25]
• Anne’s “biggest goal was to make it easy for the actors to work with animals without seeing the seams.”
  • “My job as an animal trainer... I wanted to compliment and make your job easier." – Anne [51:50]
• Animals on set were meant to look and feel real—not like trained show animals.
  • Janine: "You never felt any of the signaling that sometimes is obvious. So you did a wonderful job." [51:05]

7. Reflections on the Show’s Writing & Culture

• All three praise the writing, especially its unexpected depth and recurring theme of "confrontation with the other."
  • Rob (quoting Dan Attias): "Northern Exposure is a confrontation with the other. It's always going against... the thing that's not expected." [33:18]
• The universal “wisdom” among Cicely’s quirky townsfolk—everyone from Ed to Marilyn to RuthAnne—created the series' unique flavor. [30:35]
• Animals add organic texture and spiritual resonance to Cicely, even though main characters themselves never had permanent animal companions. [51:10]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "A lot of people believe when their loved one dies that they see something in nature... It's Dad. This bird is just sitting, having dinner with us."
  – Janine Turner, [07:32]
• "They use music very well... when Rick comes in... they're playing in the background 'My Boyfriend’s Back.' And your montage with 'Natural Woman,' Aretha's song, is pretty priceless."
  – Rob Morrow, [09:26]
• "One kick from an ostrich can disembowel a lion."
  – Anne Gordon, [30:05]
• "If you tell me no, I'm going to say, well, how can I make it happen? I'll make it happen."
  – Anne Gordon, [37:33]
• "Northern Exposure is a confrontation with the other."
  – Rob Morrow (quoting Josh Brand), [33:18]
• "My job as an animal trainer... I wanted to compliment and make your job easier."
  – Anne Gordon, [51:50]
• "Animals are us."
  – Janine Turner, [53:10]

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• [03:08] – Episode synopsis & first impressions
• [06:02–07:32] – Spiritual/animal connections: Janine’s bluebird story
• [08:06] – Ed’s film within the film & directorial homages
• [13:14–14:11] – Anne Gordon’s career journey
• [16:02–22:37] – Animal training for TV: stresses and techniques
• [23:25] – How to train emotion into a dog’s body language
• [28:03–30:05] – Barry Corbin’s ostrich phobia; ostrich safety
• [37:12–41:07] – The making of the iconic moose credits
• [41:35–44:44] – Bear and horse wrangling stories
• [51:05–53:10] – On making animal scenes seamless
• [53:10] – Wrap up with Anne, gratitude for her work

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Final Thoughts

The episode stands as a love letter to the formative (and sometimes chaotic) role animals played in Northern Exposure, weaving together poignant memories, practical filmmaking insights, and classic behind-the-scenes chaos. Anne Gordon’s stories illuminate just how much invisible work goes into making the magic of Cicely feel genuinely wild, tender, and real. Listeners come away not only with a new appreciation for the show's animal “cast,” but also for the show's enduring wit, warmth, and originality.

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Transcript

[Rob Morrow]

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[Janine Turner]

Hello everyone. Welcome to Northern Disclosure, where Rob Morrow, my handsome co star, looking all dapper in his white button down shirt, fresh from vacation on the east coast. And I, Jeanine Turner, are your hosts of Northern Disclosure, where we walk through episode after episode, episode after episode of Northern Exposure. So welcome everyone. We're glad you're joining us. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button. And so you can always know when these drop. They drop every Tuesday. You can watch them wherever you listen, Spotify, you know, whatever it is, Apple, but also YouTube if you want to watch. And you can watch the show if you want to watch along with us. The actual Northern Exposure shows on Amazon Prime. Today is season three, episode four, Animals are Us. And I have to say I texted Rob after we both sort of watch it in the morning. I think, I know I do. I said, what a sweet show. I mean, I think the show was just quintessential, quintessential Northern Exposure. And our special guest for today is Ann Gordon. We're gonna introduce her in about a few minutes after Rob and I sort of repartee about this episode. And she was our animal trainer. So this is gonna be so fabulous. It was a great show. It's a for her because there were so many animals in this show as well as my cat. You see my cat right here? Here's my cat. You could just suddenly see a tail. You could just suddenly see a tail crawling up my shoulder here.

[Rob Morrow]

Animals are us. Perfect. That's the name of the episode.

[Janine Turner]

Hi, Rob, welcome back. How you doing?

[Rob Morrow]

Hi, Janine. I love the look. This is my favorite look out of all the Episodes. It just looks great. Your hair looks great. I love the glasses. You look very youthful.

[Janine Turner]

And maybe I'll stick with this. Rob is always for those. I was always changing my look, figure out what look I wanted. I just do that all the time anyway. I always get bored with my hair. And Rob's like, your real hair? Your real hair. Because a lot of my hair has been courtesy of Raquel Welch. She has this great wig line, you know. So yesterday I washed my hair and I put Velcro rollers in my hair, and I kept in my hair all day at the ranch. Rob, just for you.

[Rob Morrow]

Well, thank you. I appreciate it. So. So I watched this episode this morning. I'll read the synopsis really quick. It's called the. The episode's called Animals R Us. It was written by Robin Green, you know, who we had on a couple episodes back, and by Nick Mark, who we had a couple. So we got our. All our regulars. And I think, you know, as per your point, that it's a quintessential Northern Exposure. So there wasn't any new elements. We were all kind of cooking on all cylinders. And then this gave Ann Gordon a real chance to do what she does so well with the animals. But the synopsis is, Maggie finds a stray malamute that attaches itself to her. She is convinced that the dog is Rick reincarnated. Maurice dreams of making millions with an ostrich farm and tries to get Marilyn in on his scheme. And Ed makes a film about Sicily.

[Janine Turner]

Yeah. What a sweet episode. What? What a sweet episode. And it had all the quirkiness of, you know, Woody Allen's mother, you know, talking about radical subjectivism, which was supposed.

[Rob Morrow]

To be Woody Allen. It was. In original draft, it was Woody Allen's young. A young Woody Allen. I don't know why they changed it to Grandma Woody.

[Janine Turner]

Oh, well, they did. Yeah. There's a little trivia for fun, actually. A little more.

[Rob Morrow]

She was great. That was a great. Those are great scenes between. I mean, Darren was great in this episode, and his storyline was so sweet and tender, and I love all his references. Like, you know, that he's pen pals with Scorsese and Spielberg and. And Coppola and. And all these guys. And yet his favorite filmmaker is Louis Mall, which is just so idiosyncratic. And Louis Mall, who, by the way, was. Knew the show because I bumped into him once and he had. He was aware of Northern Exposure.

[Janine Turner]

Oh, how cool. A French director. For all those who are wondering, who. Louis.

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah. Married to Candy Bergen.

[Janine Turner]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, wasn't she then she was married to Mike Nichols. No, no, no, no. Diane Sawyer. Diane Sawyer was married to Mike Nichols. That's right. Super sweet. That scene was a lot of fun. I have two funny stories that correlate with this show. So the show is, you know, Rick got hit by satellite. What was that this season? Was it.

[Rob Morrow]

Maybe season. The end of season two? Yeah, I think so.

[Janine Turner]

And so now this. This malamute shows up, and she lets him come into the house, and he starts doing all of these things that Rick did. He, you know, she fixed him eggs with peppers. He wouldn't eat the peppers. He stretched on the. On the door frame the way Rick used to do. If you're. And she says, if you're Rick bark three times. And he did. And I have to correl with when my father died because, you know, all the ways that we're similar to our characters.

[Ann Gordon]

You know what I mean?

[Rob Morrow]

Sure.

[Janine Turner]

But this was years later. My father didn't die till 2014. But when. But a lot of people say. And of course the Native American culture is going to say this, but a lot of people believe when their loved one dies that there they see something in nature that they feel is the essence of that potentially that person making. Saying hello or you whether.

[Rob Morrow]

Such a beautiful notion. Yeah, such a beautiful.

[Janine Turner]

It happened with my father. You know, my father was a pilot for. For years and, you know, Air Force pilot and then pilot for Brandif International. And one day where. I'll make this quick, but one day we're in the backyard. He had just passed like a week, and out of the blue came this bluebird. I'd never seen a bluebird in this particular backyard. And. Scrawny little bluebird. And it came up and it sat right on the table with us while we were trying to prepare dinner outside. And then it got up, this little scrawny bluebird and went over when mom was cooking at the barbecue and stood right there, like, right next to my mom on the barbecue while she was cooking barbecue. And then when we sat back down, the bird came back to us and sat right there on the table while we ate. And then the bird went up to the bird bath and started taking a bath. And the really funny thing about that is my mother used to always say, turner, take a bath.

[Commercial Announcer]

Because he was.

[Janine Turner]

Turner, take a bath. So he goes over the little bird bath, he's taking a bath, and he comes back. And he stayed for like two days. And whenever I went outside, he would fly this bird right at me, like, right Toward my face, I would kind of duck. It was a little frightening, actually.

[Rob Morrow]

But.

[Janine Turner]

But, you know, we. We. Who knows? And, you know, it's all surrealism, but. But it was sort of like, that's dad. It's dad. It must be dad. This bird is just sitting, having dinner with us. And so that's very similar to what happened with Rick.

[Rob Morrow]

I love that. And I love. You know, once again, I love that. I mean, it's not just the native culture that has those kind of ideas, but that we. Mine the native culture once again, you know, for that aspect of this story.

[Janine Turner]

Well, so what did you like about the show, Rob? What were some of your highlights?

[Rob Morrow]

Well, I mean, I did. I really have to say I love the film at the end, Ed's film, his tribute to Sicily. And I was trying to remember who shot it.

[Janine Turner]

There was a second unit producer credit I saw.

[Rob Morrow]

Oh, is that it? Huh? But. Cause, like, you know, there was these subjective shots of the camera pointing down at the feet, and so they're wearing Ed's shoes and stuff. But I was wondering. I guess they sent off someone to do it. But they did such a lovely job, you know, capturing aspects. And what I also love is how they explored all these people that we didn't. Real. We don't really know, these elderly people that live in Sicily. You know, that was very Woody Allen.

[Janine Turner]

Those shots of all the Native Americans in the window, all the people from the town. That was very Woody Allen.

[Rob Morrow]

Those for sure.

[Janine Turner]

Gritty shot headshots, you know.

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah, yeah. And the black and white of it all. So I love that. I loved your. I loved your relationship, I guess I. The montage of what was the song that's playing? Natural Woman is. That's so funny. And also they use. They use music very well. Martin, Bruce Lee, once again showing his talent. But when. When Rick comes in and. And they playing in the background. My boyfriend's back. My boyfriend's back. And I want you, you know, and then. And then your montage with Natural Woman, Aretha's song, is. Is pretty priceless. And you were so great, the way you relate. You know, it's just. You just so want to believe that it's Rick that you. You know, like there's this moment like it was mos, you know, which is what they. No, no dialogue, no sound. It was just music, so you couldn't hear what you were saying. But you were occasionally saying things to Rick, and he's.

[Janine Turner]

You.

[Rob Morrow]

You kind of. You gave him. You let him have some wine. He was drinking out of the wine glass. And then you kind of. You could see. You say something like, that's enough. And I almost think you said, like, you know how you get with red wine or something.

[Janine Turner]

It was so fun. I remember filming this episode, and there are going to be certain episodes that you're not as clear after 30 years, right? You just go, I kind of. I don't. I mean, that's a great scene, but I don't know that I remember filming it. I remember filming this. And I remember especially remember. Oh, all of it. It was just so cute. Rick Stool in the bar with all of us and Rick Stool and how everybody believed it but you.

[Rob Morrow]

Right?

[Janine Turner]

You know, and. And then Cynthia Shelley has that great line when she goes, oh, I.

[Ann Gordon]

What?

[Janine Turner]

You say, what are you gonna do? Get married to, you know, to the dog? Or somebody says that. Shelly says, oh, I love weddings.

[Rob Morrow]

She so. She so goes along, you know, there. Something interesting about this show. There was no cold opening, which there often is. You know, usually the cold opening for our audience, if you don't know, is the show just starts cold in the middle. A scene starts, and you don't know anything. And then after that, the end of the scene, the credits come. But in this case, we just start on the credits. I'm wondering.

[Janine Turner]

Kind of nice, actually.

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah, it was. It was nice. Yeah, it absolutely worked.

[Janine Turner]

And I thought, you know, working with the dog and the. I remember the scene where she kicks him out where she's. I remember filming that scene with Nick Mark. I have a clear memory of Nick Mark and I. And I thought. I kind of had a hard time finding that tone when she finally kicks him out. But in retrospect, when I watch it, I was like, oh, okay. You know, it worked, but she kicks. But also all the sound effects that they did with the dog barking and whining and. And the way the dog didn't like Fleischmann, right?

[Rob Morrow]

And then Fleischmann's. I love. I'm walking around with my hands taped up. I remember shooting. I do remember that, you know, because, you know, what it is, is you're there for. For 12 hours and, you know, you don't want to keep taping the hands over and over. So basically, I had no use of my hands for that. That one or two days because they were taped up with. With the dog bites. But it's. It's a funny. It's a funny, funny episode.

[Janine Turner]

It was a funny episode.

[Rob Morrow]

And.

[Janine Turner]

And what Ann did with the. What are those things? They're not ostriches Are they ostriches?

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah, they are. Well, they're. They're kind of blue. Ostriches. No, no, they're blue. I think they're blue ostriches. But Ann will tell us that.

[Janine Turner]

Yeah.

[Rob Morrow]

Should we bring her in?

[Janine Turner]

Yes, let's do. Let's do. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce Ann Gordon. Ann Gordon was our animal trainer. We love and adore her for five years on Northern Exposure. And she has a great filmography. Not only does she do Northern Exposure, I have so many memories with Ann Gordon. Because you were there every day. We worked together.

[Rob Morrow]

She did the Good Son. She did My Own Private Idaho Practical Magic, A River Runs through it, among many others. She did this for 20 years and. Hey, Anne, how are you?

[Ann Gordon]

It's great to see the both of you. It's been way too long. And it's fun to go back through all the memories. I've been watching all your episodes, so it's like, oh, yeah, I remember that.

[Rob Morrow]

I just want to touch on before we jump into it. I know you're doing some interesting. I just love what you're doing now. Can you explain a little bit about what you're doing? Because I think the audiences might dig it and might even come on one of your retreats.

[Ann Gordon]

Well, thanks, Rob. Thanks for the opportunity. So I now lead what I call whale and dolphin wisdom retreats. I take people around the world to connect both physically and spiritually with wild dolphins and whales. So right now I'm literally on a retreat with the orca whales in Washington State and San Juan Islands. In two weeks, I'll be in Tahiti swimming with humpback whales, with people. And I do this all over the world. It's really magical and life changing for my participants.

[Janine Turner]

How would they find you? I think, like, how would they book something with you?

[Ann Gordon]

WhaleWisdomRetreats.com Pretty simple.

[Rob Morrow]

What led you to become an animal trainer? I don't know. How does someone do that?

[Ann Gordon]

My gosh. Well, I'll try to make this brief. I studied biology and animal behavior in university in Washington, and then I worked as a zookeeper. I was actually the first woman to work as a keeper in the carnivore department in Seattle's zoo, Woodland Park Zoo. And then as I worked there, I left the zoo after three years. I don't do routine very well. I like spontaneity. Which film. Perfect for that, for sure.

[Rob Morrow]

Right.

[Ann Gordon]

And so then I started working for a trainer in LA for about eight months. Learned a lot, never got paid, and.

[Rob Morrow]

Said, okay, next that was like a trainer for what? For just for people's dogs or.

[Ann Gordon]

No, he had a school. It was wild animals. He had a school to teach people how to train wild animals.

[Rob Morrow]

Aside from movies, why would people train wild animals? Just.

[Ann Gordon]

That's about it. It would be eventually for film work for sure.

[Rob Morrow]

Oh, I see. Okay.

[Ann Gordon]

And then I came back to Washington and I started a educational outreach program where I would get. I had some of my own wild animals. I had a tiger, lion, cougar, wolf, reindeer, raccoon, the whole thing. And I would take them up to schools and do educational.

[Rob Morrow]

You should take them down to Janine's ranch. Got all the land.

[Ann Gordon]

Yes.

[Janine Turner]

I don't think I want a tiger, though.

[Ann Gordon]

No, no, no, you do not. And as I was doing that, I realized there was nobody in the Pacific Northwest providing animals for film. So I became a big fish in a small pond of film world and I became the it girl for anything film in Oregon, Washington, in that area. So for many, many years. And that's how we got connected.

[Rob Morrow]

What about this episode? What. What do you. Did you watch it recently?

[Ann Gordon]

I did. I watched it before I came on this retreat because I wanted to refresh myself. And this was. It was, you know, as an animal trainer, we get, you know, you know, I did all the background town dogs, but you're kind of unnoticed. Uncredited. You know, it's just. It's back.

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[Ann Gordon]

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[Ann Gordon]

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[Rob Morrow]

Janine and I always talk about how, you know, you'll be walking by and there'll be a dog and a trip truck and it's. And that, that, you know, crossing the street.

[Janine Turner]

So crossing the street or whatever it may be, we. We point you out all the time. We've talked about you many times on the show. Or, you know, there'll be like a long shot in the background in the back of a pickup truck. Is a dog just sitting there?

[Ann Gordon]

It's.

[Janine Turner]

It's pivotal. Pivotal to the organic sense of the town.

[Ann Gordon]

Yeah.

[Rob Morrow]

Also, I remember so many times of. We'd be, like, either about to start a take or in the middle of a take, and we'd have to hold because the dog walked off its mark. And then Anne would come running into the shot and make the day, and then we would pick up, which is hard to do because you have a rhythm of flow going as an actor, and. And then you have to kind of pause. But it was all part of the atmosphere. No, no, it was all good.

[Janine Turner]

You were. You reminded us this morning. Of course we knew this. But you were. You were the. The actor in the pilot holding the beaver that the beaver had.

[Ann Gordon]

Oh, my gosh.

[Janine Turner]

Or something. The beaver. Talk about that.

[Ann Gordon]

Oh, that was funny because I read the. I got the script right, and I'm reading it, and I see that how it's written for a young teenage girl to carry this beaver and put her hands in its mouth to show Dr. Fleischman the teeth. And I'm like. I said to Tom Leach, producer, I said, you know, that's gonna have to be my hands as an insert. I'm not having this actress put their hands in the mouth of a beaver. And they said, well, why don't you just do the whole thing? And I was like, oh, now, animal trainers, most of us on the crew, we don't want to be in front of the camera. I was more terrified of the four lines I had to say with you, Rob, than opening the beaver's mouth. That I know how to do.

[Rob Morrow]

That's funny.

[Janine Turner]

You were excellent. You did an excellent job in the pilot, Anne.

[Ann Gordon]

Well, thank you. And the funny thing is, you know, as Josh was directing, and my first line, I said with enthusiasm and feeling like I think his teeth hurt. And Josh says, no, no, no. Just play it flat. Wait, what? Okay.

[Janine Turner]

I think it'd be fun to talk about this episode and the. And the dot. The malamute. Is it a malamute?

[Ann Gordon]

He was a malamute mix. And his name was. Remember his name? Do you remember?

[Janine Turner]

Oh, no, I don't.

[Ann Gordon]

Wolfie.

[Janine Turner]

Wolfie.

[Rob Morrow]

Well, that's what they call him at the end, right?

[Commercial Announcer]

Oh, no.

[Ann Gordon]

Butchie.

[Rob Morrow]

They call him Butcher. They call him Butchie.

[Ann Gordon]

Right, Right.

[Janine Turner]

Yes. The traitor.

[Rob Morrow]

The horse. Which is a great moment, by the way. The moment at the end. The moment at the end when the dog. When the woman comes to retrieve her dog and Butchy, Rick, looks first looks at you and then looks at the. And doesn't know which way to go.

[Ann Gordon]

That was funny.

[Janine Turner]

It's like, whoops, I'm caught. Just which was the parallel to their own real life. But he was a great, great dog. And all that training, the looks. He had to talk to us a little bit about that. I mean, the looks and the. On the scratching post and the little barks. And of course, we did a lot. I'm sure a lot of that was in post in the wines. But, man, he was a he, I guess he was a wonderful dog.

[Ann Gordon]

He was a great dog. And I mean, that's an animal trainer's dream, to have the dog be a major character. Right. And to actually play a part. And he was a dog I've used before. I didn't own him, but he was a great dog and he had a lot of training on him already. And then I spent a lot of time before training specifically for the behaviors that were required in this one. And I remember the producers were a little nervous because I only had one dog. I didn't have a backup dog. And that was a little bit of a challenge. Especially Rob. I don't know if you remember the bite scenes. I mean, he was a sweet, sweet dog. And so I knew the bite scenes. He didn't want a bite, Right. And we did that scene like the last scene of the night, and he'd been working all day, and it was. That was a tough one to get. But editors are always the animal trainer's best friend. They can make or break us.

[Rob Morrow]

You get the script, you know, it's not. You say you have a lot of time, but maybe you're getting the script, what, seven, ten days in advance, Go right to work. Right? And you, what do you have, like a Rolodex of animals that you can call if you don't and you own. You owned a lot of pets that we used.

[Ann Gordon]

I did remember Scout, the big, gray, scruffy guy.

[Rob Morrow]

Right.

[Ann Gordon]

Scout Magpie was your favorite. The border collie. And then Flapjack, the little Jack Russell. So, yeah, all those guys, I had a bunch of my own, and then a ranger, Mingo, those guys. And then I also had. Let people, almost like an agency, I would let people list their well trained animals with me so that I had a broader pool to pull from.

[Janine Turner]

Like the bear.

[Ann Gordon]

Like the bear, exactly.

[Rob Morrow]

You get the script and you're thinking, okay, I got to do. I got to get this dog, you know, up to speed in within a week. And I do remember many moments of looking over at you and the stress on your face because the animal was not doing what it was supposed to. The clock was ticking and people were, you know, the producers are angry. It's hard pressure.

[Ann Gordon]

It's tough because here's the thing with animals, the directors get to direct all of you actors directly. But with an animal actor, they have to go through the interpreter, the trainer, right? And so it's a little frustrating for directors. And some of them, Nick was great, but not all understand animals or give us what we need to make it work, right? Give us like one run through and then we can make it easier. So. But this Nick was easy. And I did discuss with him ahead of time. You know, this is how it's written. This is how I think we can do it. So we worked it out ahead of time and then I would train for that.

[Janine Turner]

How did you get him to get. Put his ears back? I mean, how do you train a dog? You know, because he had to do that little growl and have his ears kind of go flat. How do you do that?

[Ann Gordon]

It's funny. You can play with a dog if it's a dog that you know well. And I did know Wolfie quite well. I'd worked with him many times that I can pretend like I'm mad at him or. But it's all a game, right? And I can, I can use my tone of voice and he will react. You know, it's like when you have a dog at home and you go, want to go for a walk? And they get all excited, right? And you're like, oh, man, Wolfie. And it's like, okay, you bring your energy down, their energy goes down.

[Janine Turner]

Oh, he gets concerned. Well, you know, I know that the montage of. What is it? I'm natural. I'm a natural woman. You know, the entire natural woman, right? I know that's one of Joshua Brand's favorite all time scenes. He just loved that moment. And we. I remember that. I remember the. I could feel. I can feel the blanket and the picnic. I remember the frisbee. But see, I love animals so much and I've always dog and I have a ranch. I think it was very organic for me to just absolutely love this dog.

[Rob Morrow]

And we look so comfortable with that, with that dog. I mean, the way you let it lick your face and you know, you were just so comfortable.

[Janine Turner]

It was great fun. But he did nip me somehow. I'm not. He didn't bite me, but he. Do you remember that? He nipped me somehow. And I remember asking you. He does have a rabies shot. Right?

[Rob Morrow]

Right.

[Ann Gordon]

I remember that's all.

[Janine Turner]

I was like, he doesn't have a rabies shot. And I asked you like five times, he does have a rabies. Okay, I'll let it go. But it wasn't like he bit me. But I think maybe he was jumping for something and got that at all.

[Ann Gordon]

Yeah, he was. Do you remember? Yeah, I do remember. Cause it was an easy scene for me. Because you were just playing with him. Right. And he loved the Frisbee, so I'm sure he was just going for the Frisbee while you had it. And I'm sure it was just an accidental meeting of the teeth on skin when he was really trying to get the Frisbee. So it was not in the behind.

[Janine Turner]

The scenes story for you.

[Ann Gordon]

Right.

[Rob Morrow]

Where'd you shoot that? That didn't look like Rosnon. It looked more like closer to the stages. Do you remember by any chance?

[Ann Gordon]

Oh, you know, I don't remember either.

[Rob Morrow]

Right. It just looked like. It looked too suburban.

[Ann Gordon]

It was a park. I don't remember. Gosh, I don't remember.

[Janine Turner]

No. No clue. Well, you did. You did a great job. And the dog did a great job. Little wolfie. Didn't you do a good job? Such a good boy. And I. I just. I love the whole storyline of everyone believing that it was actually Rick that came back, except Fleischman, of course.

[Ann Gordon]

That was fun.

[Janine Turner]

And of course, you and I, as animal lovers, we certainly see the souls, of course.

[Ann Gordon]

Of course.

[Rob Morrow]

Which I love. You say, you say Janine, you say deflection. You Skeptical, Rational imperial, Know it all.

[Janine Turner]

I was gonna write that down, so I'm glad you did. And you know what was fun? It was kind of an offhanded comment. We had Rob so many scenes in the street where we met right in the middle of the street. Remember that? We had so many iconic scenes in the middle of the street where it was. We walked and then we would turn, and then the camera would be on this side on this, and camera would be on the other side. But we're e. Our popcorn. You have your milk Duds. But I love how that was just kind of thrown away, you know, it was just sort of as I'm walking in. But say that line again, though, because it's really great. What was it?

[Rob Morrow]

You. You. You. Because you're you. I'm. I'm doubting that you know that this was written on you. Say you. Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, you're. You're skeptical, Rational Imperial. Know it all.

[Janine Turner]

Skeptical rational imperial. Know it all. That's right. There with file and odious. I'll have to write that one down. That's fun. The writing again, was. Was really terrific. And you know, we didn't talk about. Now talk about the whole scenes with Marilyn and Barry Corbin, Maurice with the ostriches or whatever they were. I mean, though, that was hilarious and the way they would. But I noticed, you know, when you're filming for those who aren't in the biz, you do wide shots and close up shots and cowboys, which are at the hips where the holsters used to go. You know, westerns. So they call it the cowboy shot. There are all these different shots, and in every shot you had them running back and forth, you know, doing. Doing really funny things. And that scene with Corbett seemed very improvisational. When he's feeding them the let at the end, he was having a good time with that. But what were they, by the way? Were they ostriches or.

[Ann Gordon]

Yes, they were ostriches. And when I got the script for the ostrich, I'm like, okay, this is a challenge. And what I really didn't want is to have to haul ostriches somewhere, get them all stressed out. And so we actually went to where the ostriches lived.

[Rob Morrow]

Ah, interesting. That's so smart.

[Ann Gordon]

Yeah. And filmed it there. Look. Fortunately it worked as a location. And I have a couple funny stories about those scenes. One, I don't know if you guys remember, but Barry Corbin has a phobia of birds.

[Rob Morrow]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Ann Gordon]

He came to me because he and I were friends, like you, Janine and Barry. We all bonded over our horses, Right? And Barry came to me, he says, ann, I hate birds. My grandfather's rooster attacked me as a three year old. I hate all birds words. Poor guy had to act like it was no big deal. I mean, that's true acting right there.

[Janine Turner]

How did you get the. How did you get them, the ostriches, to go back and forth like that in the scene? It was. They were hilarious.

[Ann Gordon]

They were following food. They were following food. And here's a funny lettuce.

[Rob Morrow]

Let's just explain that. So basically you're off camera, correct. With like, what? Stick?

[Ann Gordon]

Food bucket. Yeah, food.

[Rob Morrow]

What do they eat? What do ostriches eat?

[Ann Gordon]

There's all kinds of produce, soft vegetables, the lettuce, different fruits, grapes, melons, things like that. So. And the owners would be on one side, I'd be on the other, and we'd go back and forth. Now, here's another funny story. So John Corbett is. I love his spontaneity you know, you guys know that he's. He's amazing. And he was talking to the owners who were a little starstruck, and they said. He says, can I go in with them? And they're like, sure, of course Corbett said that, right? Of course he did. And I'm freaking out because one kick from an ostrich can disembowel a lion, and I am not going to be responsible for injuring any actor. And so John goes running in there, and he's waving his hands and arms like he's an ostrich circling in the. And I yelled in my loudest stop. A tiger in its tracks. John, get out of there right now. And he just froze. And the producers looked at me like, what did she just say to him? And John came out and I said, look to the producers. I'm saving his life. He should not be in there. That is too dangerous. No, Right, right.

[Janine Turner]

Can disembowel a lion.

[Ann Gordon]

Yeah.

[Rob Morrow]

Amazing.

[Ann Gordon]

I wasn't gonna put John in that. And I was like, oh, my.

[Janine Turner]

No ostriches out here at my ranch for me.

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah.

[Janine Turner]

No.

[Rob Morrow]

By the way, I think these scenes are the most. Elaine. Elaine. Marilyn has spoken in. In the shows to date. Right. I mean, she's never had scenes. This is where they. You can sense they're really starting to trust her. They gave her a storyline. I think that's the first, really, at least where she has dialogue.

[Janine Turner]

Yeah. And then the dinner with the long table.

[Rob Morrow]

Right.

[Janine Turner]

You know, and there. There's Maurice again, cooking this delicious meal and telling everybody how he cooks. I love that aspect, that juxtaposition of. Of Mott machismo. And then he loves to cook. And then he walks down the very, very, very end of the table. And of course, Mary was like, sure. Is that she talks about the wine. She knew all about the wine. I think that's something Rob and Anne, I really love about the show, which was in the writing, of course, but the way Ed Chigliak knew all those great directors, and then he goes into the Ruthanne store, and Ruthanne knew all about them as well, and made comments, esoteric, sort of philosoph, philosophical conversations. And then Marilyn knows all about the wine. And I just love the wisdom that everybody just sort of quirkily just manages to have in their back pocket.

[Rob Morrow]

It's funny, you know, the way the show. You know, the characters are often unexpected amalgams of things you don't. You know, they play with conventions. You know, the fact that this kind of rural, you know, uneducated character in Ed would be so versed with world cinema, you know, not just, you know, Hollywood, but world cinema, you know, and Ruth Ann's, you know, references to, you know, and Ruth Ann is a cinemaphile as well. I just. Those bring, you know, they open up the world so much, which I think is one of the things people love about the show.

[Janine Turner]

I love the. That Woody Allen sent him a script, you know, a page from the script with all of his personal notes. And I have a funny seg story about that I used. I was. I was famous for sending Christmas cards. Did I ever tell you this story?

[Rob Morrow]

I'm not sure which. Go ahead.

[Janine Turner]

Okay. Okay. It was Martin Scorsese, and it's very. It parallels the letters that. That Ed Chigliak received from all the directors. I would always send letters and Christmas cards to directors and people that, you know, and I would write letters to Martin Scorsese and say, that was a great movie. Da, da, da, da. So when we were nominated for our Golden Globes and showed up at the Hilton, wherever it was, Beverly Hills Hilton, I walked in and there was Martin Scorsese. And so I didn't know if he would know me from Adam. And I walked up to Martin Scorsese. I said, martin Scorsese, Hi. Jeanine Turner. I send you Christmas cards.

[Rob Morrow]

He was like, security, security.

[Janine Turner]

He was so sweet. He was so sweet, though, because he looked at me and he said, yes, yes. And then later he wrote letters back to me. Thank you so much for your nice letter and this and that. So it was a little bit reality versus creativity.

[Rob Morrow]

You were pen pals with Martin Scorsese, is what you're telling us. I never heard that. That's so cool. You know, one thing I would just want to point out, I'm reading a book right now that Dan Adias, who directed multiple episodes of Northern Exposure, is a great director, went on to direct the. All whatever was great in tv Since Northern Exposure, he's directed on it, and he wrote a book on directing, which I'm reading now. And he talks about Northern Exposure, and he's. He says, just, you know, he says it's one of the best shows, you know, in. In modern television. And one of the things he says, Jeanine, which I thought was really interesting, that Josh said to him, was that Northern Exposure is a confrontation with the other. Right. So. So, you know, we were talking about the juxtaposition of the. You know, that you're talking about the aspects of characters that are different. It's. It's. That's what distinguishes it. It's always going against the other. What, what, what's the other? What's the, you know, the, the, the, the thing that's not expected. I just love that synop, you know, that, that, that, yeah. That distilling. Distilling of, of what it was. Confrontation.

[Janine Turner]

That can mean a lot of things. It could mean absolutely. Characters. It could mean with actual character, to character or within our own souls or.

[Rob Morrow]

That's why, that's why it becomes a theme that they can work with that. If you look at, you know, if you look at all the episodes and all the scenes, you'll see that kind of going on. You know, Joel with the dog, you know, you know, Ed with the, with making movies, you with, with, with this kind of metaphysical notion of Rick's spirit. Confrontation with other.

[Janine Turner]

Yeah, well. Or with Barry Corbin. I mean, Maurice trying to overtake the ostriches real life. And Marilyn says they don't like you.

[Rob Morrow]

Right. And how good is she? She's so good, man. She's just so. I just watch her and she's just so present and doesn't try. I mean, she makes all of us act. All of us actors, you know, have to not act.

[Ann Gordon]

She had this quiet wisdom that just came in. Chronic migraine is 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more.

[Janine Turner]

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[Ann Gordon]

Month.

[Janine Turner]

It prevents on average eight to nine headache days a month versus six to seven for placebo.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Janine Turner]

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[Ann Gordon]

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[Janine Turner]

Don't chew on that.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Janine Turner]

Oh, now he's into Cooper's food. Wow, he is loving it. What do you feed Cooper?

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[Rob Morrow]

I love it because it's made with.

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[Janine Turner]

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[Rob Morrow]

Let's talk about Morty the moose.

[Janine Turner]

Oh, that's a peg too. Yes, yes. We have to talk about Morty the moose.

[Rob Morrow]

So Morty the moose opens the is in the credit sequence. Everyone all around the world asks me about that moose. Let's hear about how that came about and what, how you, I know you can't train a moose. I remember that well, kind of.

[Ann Gordon]

So, yeah, so again, one of my first meetings about the show and they said, hey, we'd love to have a moose walk around for the opening credits. And so I get on the phone, I didn't know where to find a moose. So I called my Hollywood colleagues and said, where do I get a moose? And they all said, oh, we get that call once in a while. It just can't be done. Well, I'm the kind of person where if you tell me no, I'm going to say, well, how, how can I make it happen? I'll make it happen. So I called and I called and I called and I called and I found out that Washington State University had a nutritional research program for moose because moose unfortunately don't live long in captivity and nobody's figured out their dietary needs. And so they had this orphan moose out of Alaska. And by the time we called, he was one year old. So he was a yearling just starting to grow his little antlers. And we brought him over and we fenced off the entire town and then just let him loose and we pulled him, attracted him around town with maple willow branches and bananas. He loved bananas. So when you see him looking at the different, you know, the different antlers on the walls, it's me shaking the willow or a banana on one side and another, the owner on the other side. So that was fun.

[Rob Morrow]

I'd love to see the raw footage of that. It'd be fun on that, see you running into the shot and all that.

[Janine Turner]

How did you make sure the moose didn't decide to stampede the crew?

[Ann Gordon]

He was a, he was a bottle raised orphan. So he was raised by humans. So he was very, not tame but very calm around people. Very used to being around people. But we also gave a crew like, okay, guys, watch where you're moving equipment. No fast movements, you know, nothing surprising. And by the end, everybody was totally relaxed. He was totally calm.

[Rob Morrow]

It also looked like a lot of long lenses. So it didn't look like the cameras were that close.

[Ann Gordon]

Not until we did those close ups, which we did the last at the beginning. Yes, Long, longer lenses. But then he was just so calm. And they were able to get the close ups. Not far at all.

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah, well, talk about iconic.

[Janine Turner]

Right in front of the Fleischmann's, you know, opera office, too. It was right.

[Ann Gordon]

Yep.

[Janine Turner]

Right around there. He walks around the corner. It was perfect.

[Rob Morrow]

You don't remember how long that took, do you? Like, how many hours or something like that?

[Ann Gordon]

Oh, well, we had. It was. We had to be. It was tricky because we did fence off the whole town, which meant we had to fence off the highway that ran through and so.

[Rob Morrow]

Which only went to the. I mean, and the townspeople hated us already at the beginning. They really didn't like us. So that must have really pissed them off.

[Ann Gordon]

Yeah, they didn't like that. So we could only do it for certain hours. So we started, like right at daybreak, and then we went. I think we could only do it till about 9 o' clock and then we went into the close ups. So that was that. But it took, I would say, five, six hours to do the whole thing, right.

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah, well, that's right. The light's so pretty.

[Janine Turner]

Yeah, it is. That's not cheap to fence the whole town. No, because I have these. Those things out here, you know, the little portable gates or what you might be doing. That's a big effort.

[Ann Gordon]

It was a big effort for opening credits, but, man, did it pay off. Because every. Like when people find out that I did the show as well, like you, Rob, all they ask is, did you do the moose? I said, yes, his name was Morty.

[Rob Morrow]

And Morty passed away some years ago, is that correct?

[Ann Gordon]

He lived about four years or so. It was just there was something missing in the diet that we had not figured out yet. What?

[Rob Morrow]

Like, let's kind of just do a broad, broad brush of all the episodes, if you remember, like which ones jump out at you as. As tricky and difficult or fun that you. That you were involved in anything with a bear. Oh, yeah. The bear is a great one.

[Ann Gordon]

Remember, we had the bear. We had a couple different bears. And I brought in the bears from the Olympic Game Farm. And they had done all the old Disney shows way back when. And the Bear trainer. I don't know if you remember or you guys were around, but we had. Remember that circus bear we had in the brick in the bar?

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah.

[Ann Gordon]

Right. And the trainer was this tiny little Brazilian guy named Mourinho that would handle this gigantic bear and lead him around with canned peaches and heavy sweet syrup and donuts and that bear. And then when we did Jesse the bear out in the woods, they would put an electric fence around so that the bear thought he was enclosed. But it really wasn't an electric fence. It was just a thread, just a string. And one of my jobs was because I wasn't handling the bear specifically. I just arranged it and coordinated it. But the trainer said, ann, if the bear comes too close, just grab the string and yell hot. And the bear will back up. And I'm with the string between the camera and the bear. And it's ironic to think this gigantic bear that could take us all out was afraid of this little string that he thought was electric.

[Rob Morrow]

It's just like Pavlo is just trained.

[Ann Gordon]

It just trained that.

[Rob Morrow]

It was amazing.

[Janine Turner]

We do that a lot at ranches. You have to go around and you don't do it very often unless you have a kind of a problem situation. But yeah, yeah, Hot. He knew what hot meant.

[Ann Gordon]

He knew what hot meant. At one point, he did come. So I grabbed it and yelled, hot. And he backed up.

[Commercial Announcer]

Wow.

[Janine Turner]

So that was with Jesse the bear. And then also there was a bear the bear comes back to dance with, falls in love with Maggie o'. Connell. So I had a bear scene. I remember.

[Ann Gordon]

Yep, I was pretty close. I remember that as well. Yeah, you were not super close because we had the. There was a shape shifting element going on there. Right. And so, yeah, so like, the man would walk out and then you would look out of the cave and there would go the bear walking away.

[Janine Turner]

Right.

[Rob Morrow]

I remember we just would. I just remember I have these images of walking on the soundstage and the light was dark. You know, on the soundstage, the light, the only light is where the set is. Everything else falls off. So it gets kind of dark. And I remember there'd be a cage right off the set where the bear would be. And we were told, you know, and it was like on every day before, we'd get the call sheet that say, you know, when the bear's there, everyone has to be quiet. No one on the set that doesn't need to be there. And it was just this sense of, you know, of fear permeated.

[Janine Turner]

Because then.

[Rob Morrow]

They'D Walk it onto the set and we'd all be there.

[Janine Turner]

I don't remember the bear. Holland's bar. I don't remember.

[Ann Gordon]

Yep, he was in the bar. That was. That was a little scary. But that bear was. I don't remember the episode, which name it was or when, but it was. It was when the circus came to town. And he did have a muzzle season.

[Janine Turner]

I think that's. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's coming. That's coming up this season. Well, any other. Any other animals? Because we did so many. You had horses, you had dogs, you had birds. What. What else?

[Ann Gordon]

There was porcupines. There was goats. Remember, we had goats in your cabin there, Rob, one time. And we had. Remember? And Sophie Sanderson's dogs all end up in your cabin. And the horses. Remember the horses in the snow.

[Rob Morrow]

That was so beautiful, that episode.

[Ann Gordon]

That was. That was a tough one. You know, keeping the horses warm and. And working in that thick snow.

[Rob Morrow]

But horses don't like snow.

[Ann Gordon]

Well, they do, but you have to make sure they're warm and, you know, keeping. You know, you can't just, like, throw them out there and expect them to be okay. But any horses? With Barry, I never worried because he was so good with horses. But there's a funny story. John Corbett will probably hate this one. When we did the Sicily and we went back in time, right, when the whole town was sure it was the.

[Rob Morrow]

Origin story of the town, and we.

[Ann Gordon]

Had a lot of horses, and John was on my horse, who was this? Remember Barney? Jeanine? I do remember. Sweet, sweet quarter horse, babysitter horse. Anybody could ride this horse. And anytime I get an actor that I have to put on a horse, I always say I always want to see them on the horse before we shoot. Because actors always say they can ride a horse, but they can't always, right? And John was like, no, no, no. I know how to ride a horse. And he gets up there and they would rehearse the scene and everything would go well. And then before the camera would start rolling, they go to shoot it, and Barney would start moving forward. And John, of course, blamed the horse. This stupid horse. He keeps moving before action. And so I had to be very diplomatic, and I went to John and I said, you know, I'm not an actor, but if I was just before the camera rolls, I might tense up a little bit. And if your legs tense up, the horse is going to feel that and it's going to start.

[Rob Morrow]

Wow, that's so interesting. Wow.

[Ann Gordon]

I knew that's what was happening. But of course, John wouldn't admit to it, but. Right. And it's not even a nervous. I mean, it's just, okay, I'm on. Right.

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah, of course.

[Ann Gordon]

It's just normal. But. But we got through it.

[Rob Morrow]

Right.

[Janine Turner]

They feel everything. You know, they're such sensitive creatures, and they're very. They're very emotional creatures, and they're intuitive and they feel everything.

[Ann Gordon]

Exactly.

[Janine Turner]

That's like my Labrador. I. She. She. This Labrador that I have is sort of trained from a breed of emotional support. And I've never had a dog. I've had so many dogs that I've loved that have lived forever and everything, but she will look me right in the eye and hold the look. And I'll look at her, and she'll hold the look, and she'll hold the look forever, and I'll hold the look, and she waits for me. And if I, like, lift an eyebrow, she'll be like, does that mean I can come over? It's amazing how intuitive they can be.

[Ann Gordon]

And they're really good. Yeah.

[Janine Turner]

How What? You know, you were really put to the test, Anne. There were a lot of animals. We really kept you busy.

[Ann Gordon]

You did? I worked on almost every episode. It was.

[Rob Morrow]

It was that true. Every episode? I didn't really. Almost.

[Ann Gordon]

Almost. There were a couple. I remember in, like, season two or three, I got a script, and there was no animal. And I was like, what am I gonna do? Wait, I'm disappointed. And one of the crew says, ann, you should go on vacation. You've been working hard. Take it as a break. And I did.

[Janine Turner]

You did. Then you had to leave. You had to find someone to take care of all your animals when you got on.

[Ann Gordon]

Well, that was the hard part. Yeah, always. Because I had that, you know, you've been to my place where I had all the animals in the backyard.

[Rob Morrow]

How many animals do you have these days?

[Ann Gordon]

Oh, I have none.

[Rob Morrow]

Wow.

[Ann Gordon]

Well, that.

[Janine Turner]

That's the reason you can travel around to the various resorts.

[Ann Gordon]

Exactly. I travel so much. I'm home for. I was home for a week before I came here. I'll be home for two weeks, and then I'm gone for three weeks. So now I just can't have an animal around. But I miss having a dog or a cat around.

[Janine Turner]

I've got four in my bedroom right now.

[Ann Gordon]

Aww.

[Rob Morrow]

What do you have in there?

[Janine Turner]

I have Tinker and Belle. They're sisters. They're half poodles, half chihuahuas. They look like thing one and thing two. They're about 14 years old. And I groom them now so they really look like thing one and thing two. And then I have my Labrador, and then I have my rescue kitty, so.

[Rob Morrow]

Yeah, that's right. So, Anne, anything else we haven't touched on that you can think of?

[Ann Gordon]

I love the writing of the show. I'm just gonna go off animals for a minute, but I love the writing. I love the spiritual aspect and the deepness to every single episode was just something to be proud of. Because as an animal trainer, I've worked on shows everywhere where I'm just like, the background. I'm there on a whole movie for one day, or I'm training the lead character, everything in between. And a lot of times we're just like, animal trainer. Yeah, just go away. But this one was something I really felt proud of. And I cannot say that about a lot of the shows I worked on.

[Janine Turner]

And, you know, to your credit, I watched some show. Random show one time, and it was so obvious that the dog that they were kind of have the treat in their hand. And then I heard the. I heard the gal in character say, settle. And I'm like, okay. Like the fourth wall. I'm like, I know that's a training thing. And you just didn't sense that. Whether we were working with the animals ourselves, like, all the. All the dog scenes that I. That I did when Rick came back or whatever it may be, I never sensed that they were trained animals. They. They just felt so organic. You. You never felt any. Any of the. You didn't really see any of the signaling that sometimes is obvious. So you did. You did a wonderful job. You were a big.

[Ann Gordon]

You.

[Janine Turner]

And all the animals are just a big part of the richness in the character of the show. Would you say, Rob?

[Rob Morrow]

Absolutely. You know, but you know what I was just thinking? None of the characters on the show had animals.

[Janine Turner]

No.

[Ann Gordon]

Other than that ostrich thing. Like, no.

[Rob Morrow]

Like, we never had. Like, you never had a dog in your house or mine or. It's funny. Yeah. I mean, there were so many random ones around the town, but none of us, I guess it just. It became complicated.

[Ann Gordon]

Yeah, it can. But I. You know, back to what you said, Janine, and thank you both for the kind words and that. Is that my job as an animal trainer. I know that sometimes animal trainers. Trainers can have a bad rep because a lot of people get into working with animals because they're not good people. People.

[Rob Morrow]

Right.

[Ann Gordon]

And so for me, I love. I love being with people, and animals taught me how to be good with people. And my goal as an animal trainer was to make it easy for you to work with the animals. I didn't want to take over you guys. I didn't want to compete with you guys. I wanted to compliment and make your job easier. And we would train the dogs to look at the actors, not look just off camera at me. I wanted them to make eye contact.

[Janine Turner]

With you, and that's hard to do because they know you're right there. I had a Labrador before this one. Her name was Chubbs, believe it or not. I didn't name her that. And I was directing my short film, and I had the character that was running through the woods, and I would put. I'd put my chubs with her, and Chubs would just run with her and stay with her. She wasn't trained or anything. And then we went out to the pasture, way out in the. You know, and there was a pond. And I thought it would be great if, you know, she. Literally, without any training, I would say, action. She would go be with her. The actress followed her around the pond, got into the water, got out, ran after her. I'm like, wow, that's just.

[Ann Gordon]

That's awesome.

[Janine Turner]

That's crazy, because I didn't train her or anything. So it's. Animals are. They just have beautiful spirits. Animals are us.

[Rob Morrow]

Animals are us. I think that's a good place to wind it down. And you were just such a great presence on the show, and you did such a great work and made us all look good, and I'm glad you're doing something interesting. I'm fascinated with what you're doing now. Your retreats, they just sound great.

[Ann Gordon]

Super fun. Thank you so much for having me. Us having me. It's been so fun.

[Rob Morrow]

Our pleasure.

[Janine Turner]

Isn't it fun, Rob? It's so cool when. When. When the guests come on and we just. We haven't seen so many of you in about 30 years. It's sort of like Monty hall. Who. You know, what's behind curtain one. We're like, wait to see you.

[Rob Morrow]

It's truly, just. Truly one of the gifts of doing the podcast is just getting together. You know, there was such love between so many. So many of us on the show. And, you know, the way showbiz is, you go your separate ways, but it's nice to be able to catch up with people, and you in particular. So thanks for coming.

[Janine Turner]

Yes, thank you, Ann. And maybe someday I'll come swim with the dolphins with you.

[Ann Gordon]

Oh, I would love that. That would be super fun. You're always welcome.

[Janine Turner]

Oh, that's so fun. I love dolphins. All right, well, that's it for the show today. We will see you again next week. And we're signing off from o' Connell and Fleischman.

[Rob Morrow]

Actually, I think it should be Fleischman o'. Connell.

[Janine Turner]

In your dreams, Fleischman.

[Ann Gordon]

Northern Disclosure is a production with Evergreen podcasts and executive produced by Paul Anderson and Scott McCarthy for Workhouse Media.

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