HOWIE MANDEL (Dr. Wayne Fiscus): I thought it was realllllllly interesting. The finale (if youre lucky enough to ever have a planned one air) might be one of the most watched episodes in the whole run of the show and the impression that lingers in the minds of most viewers long after the show ends. ", Tommy, who is shaking a snow globe,[5] is told by his father to come and wash his hands. St. Wolfram and Hart had another client, Weyland-Yutani, that made a weapons display screen for Firefly; I think itll have another life, he said, smiling enigmatically. Ambiguous cut to black! Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. Most scripted television shows end in cancellation, so theres something special about the ones that get the chance to go out on their own terms. Elsewhere was the father of the modern medical drama, establishing a format that's been followed by pretty much every serial fitting of that description to come after it. Elsewhere's final moments. Even some of the more innocuous-seeming connections can lead to some shocking places takeThe John Larroquette Show, which all but the most dedicated TV fanatics could be forgiven for not remembering. Elsewhere came to an end for creative as well as financial reasons. But [executive producers] Tom Fontana and John Masius and Bruce Paltrow didnt want just a normal ending. Suddenly, we're taken to a small apartment where Tommy sits on the floor, playing with a snow globe. The show was a proving ground for actors you have seen in a million things before or since: Denzel Washington and Howie Mandel were easily the most recognizable, but there were also ringers like Mark Harmon, David Morse, Ed Begley Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Ronny Cox, and not only Mr. Feeny himself (William Daniels), but his wife (real and fictional) Bonnie Bartlett. With the aria "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" (Doretta's Beautiful Dream) from Puccini's opera La Rondine playing, Tommy Westphall enters the office and runs to the window, where he looks at the snow falling outside St. Elsewhere, by only a few degrees, to a startling number of TV shows and movies. Elsewhere, Paltrow, Fontana and the several cast members interviewed all said they would have been willing to continue indefinitely. We never answered any of the questions we posed. This means that all of those series and other media thatthey referenced in-universe, which in the case ofThe Simpsons is ridiculously extensive technically take place in the same universe asSt. In 1988, though, St. WILLIAM DANIELS (Dr. Mark Craig): I was shocked, actually. CHAD ALLEN (Tommy Westphall): I remember the script arrived, I read it, got to the end, and I was stumped. There are oodles of ways to end a TV series. That is quite a choice. They did very unusual, bold things and did it regularly. We cant take that jump from seeing these people, Norman, Ed [Flanders] and Bill [Daniels], and this young boy for six years, and suddenly were supposed to believe that theyre these other people. Where things get complicated is that characters from St. Elsewhere airs at 10 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39. , the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company. And I dont think that set of circumstances will ever happen again. Thanks to the phenomenal success of the MCU, shared universes now dot the pop culture landscape, including the DCEU, The Conjuring universe, the Godzilla and King Kong MonsterVerse, and many more. "For 'St. would not look or feel the same without its influence and success. I thought it was an interesting choice to make I respect [the ambition]. But I wasnt surprised that there were many people who didnt find it satisfying. While that can sometimes describe. Those two impressive achievements would have likely relegated the bizarre ending of St. In 1988, though, St. [3][4] The following exchange occurs: Grandfather: "Good. So what happens when an ending goes completely off the rails? Its simultaneously a lot of what I find fun about the inside baseball or meta commentary on TV, and also most of what I hate about it. Elsewhere to another series likely has additional connections of its own and for a sterling example of this, look no further thanHomicide. Elsewhere production team are at work on Tattingers, a new NBC series from MTM slated for St. Also, consider that each connection fromSt. Elsewhere, Alfre Woodard's Dr. Roxanne Turner,appeared) andOz (in which a company that briefly owned St. Eligius, Weigert, makes a bid to buy that show's Oswald Maximum Security Prison). Over time, it began to look something like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. When we read it, we all had reservations about it. There is too much that is rich, that is still to be mined., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Get ready for the 2023 Met Gala: Heres when, and how, to tune in live, Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon blasted at White House Correspondents dinner, Tom Jones review: PBS Masterpieces latest period drama is laid-back and enjoyable, Michael J. Weatherson's fifth objection holds that the appearance of a person or event in a dream does not mean the person or event cannot exist in real life. Elsewhere has fallen victim to economic pressures. Elsewhere, an NBC drama about St. Eligius, a run-down Boston hospital headed by chief of staff Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders).His staff included Dr. Daniel Auschlander Syndication used to be the method by which we would see old scripted shows, and a shows rep needed to be good enough for you to stop flipping channels if you happened to land on an episode (. Not necessarily A Weyland-Yutani ship is seen in the BBC series Red Dwarf, which also depicted The Doctors TARDIS. Beyond the theoretical connections, it's possible that the 419 affected shows all exist within the dream of an autistic boy from the show, "St. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. 59K views 4 years ago. Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from Brooklyn Nine Nine and Law & Order to Everybody Hates Chris and Dr. Who were arguably all dreamed up by young Tommy. St. In the moments before hes expected to announce the fate of the hospital, Auschlander suffers a catastrophic stroke off-screen and is discovered dead, with the cast gathering for a mournful goodbye. Its just too big a leap. Elsewhere had been a product of Tommy Westphall's (an autistic boy) imagination, with elements of the above scene used as its own evidence. The thing is, autism was - and still is - WebSt Elsewhere Closing Credits Season 5 Lorenzo F 1.61K subscribers 47 Share 14K views 2 years ago #bumpers #tvthemes #televisionthemes WELCOME TO MY VIDEOS of little-known, forgotten TV gems. This 40-year-old show looks like that nurses job in that ER, and the characters coping mechanisms and responses to trauma may be dramatized, but they arent implausible. Movies & TV Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for movie and TV enthusiasts. Was the fact that Tommy is considered Autistic symbolic in any way? Elsewhere was a solid drama that gave a boatload of great actors some steady work for a few years, but it will always be a peculiar show for that final detail. Elsewhere episode; Cheers spawned Frasier, a character who appeared on Wings; John Munch, the detective from Homicide, had mingled with the St. Eligius crew, and he has appeared on shows ranging from The X-Files to The Wire, effectively making him the Patient Zero of what's become known as The Tommy Westphall Universe theory. Lloyd, whose Dr. Auschlander was supposed to die years ago but enjoyed a miraculous remission, is even more hopeful. Elsewhere signed off after six seasons on May 25, 1988, more than a few viewers were saddened. The shows one truly lasting and iconic Elsewhere is Westphall's dream, it does not imply that all of the characters on the show exist only in his mind. You can and should thank Keith Gow and Ash Crowe for being the keepers of this theory for over a decade, managing what has become the official website. This ending was not serious to me. WebIf the St. ERIC LANEUVILLE (Luther Hawkins): I look back on it now and say Well, it kinda worked. When I first saw it, I had some real reservations about it. The whole circus is overseen by Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders), with Dr. Daniel Auschlander (Norman Lloyd) and Dr. Mark Craig (Daniels) rounding out the experienced older set of doctors helping the residents learn the ropes. The show was a proving ground for actors you have seen in a million things before or since: Denzel Washington and Howie Mandel were easily the most recognizable, but there were also ringers like Mark Harmon, David Morse, Ed Begley Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Ronny Cox, and not only Mr. Feeny himself (William Daniels), but his wife (real and fictional) Bonnie Bartlett. The series finale of the 1980s medical dramedy St. The series was also known for one of its more playful aspects: it was prone to dropping references and callbacks to other TV series. WebThe problem that I see with the ending is that they explained away the whole show as the daydreams of an autistic child's imagination. He sits there, all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. Elsewhere, NBCs darkly comic series about a financially strapped Boston hospital and its beleaguered staff, is dead. They tried to really think outside the box the box in this case being that little television box of the 80s and they did something so different. What positional accuracy (ie, arc seconds) is necessary to view Saturn, Uranus, beyond? But the notion isn't necessarily dependent on Tommy imagining anything: The connections still exist, whether they're considered a dream within fiction or just an interconnected television universe. Tell me if you think it means what I think it means! My mom read it, and she looked at me sort of puzzled too and said, I think it means its all in your head? I said, Thats what I thought it think it means! So I knew that it was really cool, and I loved that. In the last episode's final two scenes, Donald Westphall having just returned to St. Eligius is shown in Dr. Auschlander's office pondering the recent death from stroke of his colleague and mentor. They needed a way to end the show It was a provocative ending. And most of the connections on the grid are characters, even though something like Morley cigarettes (a fictional brand) has a lot of individual connections, they just add to the connective tissue in certain ways. Why was it necessary for St. And Howie got so mad, because I got paid for a full episode, and all I had to do was lie on a slab for five seconds. More than puzzling, some people found it to be an actual puzzle. The camera slowly zooms in on the snow globe, which is revealed to contain a replica of St. Eligius hospital inside of it. Elsewhere characters Dr. Roxanne Turner (Alfre Woodard) and Dr. Victor Ehrlich (Ed Begley Jr.) appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street. Elsewhere's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also exist in the show's actual reality, and thus the ending is being interpreted wrong, and by extension the universe theory is invalid. Beginnings and endings are important in all forms of fiction, but Id argue especially so in scripted television. The commercial titled "Off Season" features the cast of the mock sitcom "Fansville" discussing their purpose after the conclusion of the college football season. When NBC refused to finance their ambitious plan, the idea for the snow globe was hatched. They made a choice and the choice is interesting. The original decision to include fictional product crossovers actually comes from the origins of the chart itself. Elsewhere, and I venture to say stuff like House or Scrubs, or even Greys Anatomy would not look or feel the same without its influence and success. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Just some of the other series that have ended up connected as part of the Tommy Westphall universe include Community, Seinfeld, Person of Interest, Malcolm in the Middle, and Married with Children. In the last episode's final two scenes, Donald Westphall having just returned to St. Eligius is shown in Dr. Auschlander's office pondering the recent death from stroke of his colleague and mentor. The complete list of shows is at the bottom of the article. Partnering with The Huffington Post, Gow and Crowe published an extensive update of the "Tommyverse" to their television web of compromised shows, which HuffPost illustrator, Alissa Scheller, put into visual form. Craig, always a prissy sort, is absolutely beside himself with the prospect that his wife Ellen is taking a job in (gasp) Ohio. Illustration by HuffPost's Alissa Scheller. But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. We all knew that whenever you do the last episode of any series, the last chapter of any story like that, youre never going to come up with an ending that will satisfy everybody. "St. The episode marked the end of St. Death! Its just asking too much from all of us. But I loved that they took the leap, and that was in the spirit of the show. It made me laugh actually because it just is so like those guys. Elsewhere, including all its characters, are revealed to have been the dream of a minor character named Tommy Westphall, an autistic boy who possesses a snow globe containing a replica of the hospital where the series took place. Elsewhere was a hospital drama where we, the audience, are invited to feel and think along with the patients, the families and the medical staff. For indeed, St. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? [1][6] This hypothesis was originally put forward by comic book and TV writer Dwayne McDuffie in a 2002 blog post,[8] as a reductio ad absurdum argument against making strong statements about fictional continuity based upon guest appearances. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. So Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry R.F.D., and Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show are gone. I thought it was terrible. Would you ever say "eat pig" instead of "eat pork"? At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. In the closing moments of the episode, a boy named Tommy Westphall (Chad Allen), the son of medical director Dr. Donald Westphall, was seen peering into a snow globe. Gow, a resident of Melbourne, Australia, spent time in pubs and online wondering what Tommys scene meant for every show connected to St. The thing is, autism was - and still is - largely not understood what goes on in a person's brain. Please feel free to submit articles to enhance the knowledge, acceptance, understanding and research of Autism and ASD. But because we set a bar, it was just hard to really top that I wish I could say that I loved it. World of his own. Sealed and locked. I thought it was ahead of its time, pretty ingenious and creative and not like anything else. While that can sometimes describe St. Not enough dollars, however, to keep the series alive for another year. In another, Dr. Morrison, played by David Morse, lost his wife in a freak household accident, then listened with a mixture of anguish and reverence to her heart beating after being transplanted into someone elses chest. Fox doesnt think hell live to be 80: Every day its tougher. Howie goes to the morgue, slides me out, says something to me and pushes me back in. I was only supposed to be in 18 of the 22 episodes, so I got an extra episodes pay out of it. Elsewhere" universe with other shows, then those shows with other shows, has created an elaborate web of American television. Through it all, time skips are marked off by a digital clock readout in the corner, and its the lightest touch that makes a world of difference in how the show goes over, marking the endless grind the characters face in tangible hours and minutes. Theres a lot to unpack: is it simply making a statement on the show as a fictional world? Elsewhere visited the Cheers bar, the creators of Cheers offered no consent to have their series thought of as imaginary. Weatherson, in his sixth objection, offers the example of Michael Bloomberg playing the role of New York City Mayor both on Law & Order and in real life, which, if one accepts the logic of the hypothesis, indicates that real life is in the head of Tommy Westphall. Arrow is also included, which means all subsequent Arrowverse shows also tie back to Westphall. Nobody is too interested in that, though. And I'm beat. Elsewhere 's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also The doctors had visited the bar on Cheers in one St. Elsewhere were more demonstrative and understanding of autistic people then all 12 seasons of The Big Bang Theory put together. It is underfunded, understaffed, crowded, and running on fumes. Cheers introduced Frasier Crane, of Frasier; John Hemingway of The John Larroquette Show once called into Frasiers talk show; NORMAN LLOYD: (Dr. Daniel Auschlander): Theyd been talking about Citizen Kane. 2023 Paste Media Group. Tommy runs to see the snow falling outside the window, and that's when everything changes. Despite its high standing among TV critics, St. Elsewhere through fictional crossovers and spin-offs, resulting in a large fictional universe taking place entirely within Tommy's mind. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. ", Grandfather: "He's been sitting there ever since you left this morning, just like he does every day. Eligius. But I think now weve got the toe tag on, and were in the drawer, and its sealed and locked., St. STEPHEN FURST (Dr. Elliot Axelrod): I thought it was kind of cool, actually. Autism news, information and support. What's he thinking about?". Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from. The final scene of St. I had no ideas of their plans to do that. Often, characters crossing over on the same network can ignite a connection, with shared brands or locations providing the connective tissue for others. WebSt Elsewhere (Theme) 12,793 views Feb 18, 2015 137 Dislike Share Save Studio QKLQ 77 subscribers Theme from the 80's TV Series St. The Marriage! Via Wikipedia: The most common interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in the series St. Elsewhere, he was openly hostile toward any idea of a reunion special down the line and insisted that the series finale should be definitive. I think the reality of a hospital is much worse. Interpreting non-statistically significant results: Do we have "no evidence" or "insufficient evidence" to reject the null? This will become important very shortly. I spent a shift sitting bedside with my daughter in the emergency room during a three-day-long stay once, watching the same sainted nurse come and go as an endless tide of needy patients washed in. Elsewhere" -- the notion of which is a hated cliche, yes, but could it be the reality of almost every story arc you've ever loved on American television? More: Why The X-Files Season 12 Never Happened. The fictional brand or company thing is also Fontana's fault. Elsewhere" and "Oz," and, as Gow tells it, "It was that little connection that spawned a thousand other connections -- references to fictional airlines, companies, nods from one series to another.". Elsewhere" Dwayne McDuffie at the Los Angeles premiere of "All Star Superman" Are you and I??? Executive producer Bruce Paltrow explained that the show cost MTM more to produce than what NBC paid to broadcast it--which is common--but that because the outlook for recouping those deficits through syndicated reruns is so bleak, the company didnt consider another year of expenditures worth its while. Death! What were the most popular text editors for MS-DOS in the 1980s? Donald Westphalls autistic son, who was gazing into a snow globe containing a miniature version of the hospital. Therefore, the commercial also does homage to the Newhart finale, as Larry Culpepper's presence from a previous Dr Pepper ad campaign references Bob Newhart's psychiatrist from The Bob Newhart Show appearing in The Last Newhart. If it were just a solid hospital show, it would be a popular back catalog binge watch, but its a part of TV history for two reasons: its novel approach to the hospital drama, and. WebNo, you missed the point. Meme Status Submission Year 1988 Origin St. Syndication used to be the method by which we would see old scripted shows, and a shows rep needed to be good enough for you to stop flipping channels if you happened to land on an episode (ooh! The suggestion is that the entire series was a product of Tommy Westphall's imagination but if that's true, then what it implies is nothing short of jaw-dropping.