For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow. Elsewhere. In fact, for all its success, most aspects of St. Ambiguous cut to black! Sealed and locked. And they figured out a way: Okay, we wont have any reunions, nothing like that. There are oodles of ways to end a TV series. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. They needed a way to end the show It was a provocative ending. 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.". The great thing about the show that even in its comedy, it was serious. The 50 greatest TV and movie detectives of all time. Elsewheres bumbling Dr. Victor Erlich, offered the final diagnosis of his medical career. So Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Mayberry R.F.D., and Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show are gone. Craig, always a prissy sort, is absolutely beside himself with the prospect that his wife Ellen is taking a job in (gasp) Ohio. Elsewhere,[1] which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.[2]. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. They made a choice and the choice is interesting. Ending of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans". THE TOMMY WESTPHALL UNIVERSE [1] As characters from St. What world is Tommy imagining inside that snow globe, he wonders aloud. St. According toMental Floss,that series once mentioned a firm called Yoyodyne, which also was a client of a fictional law firm Wolfram and Hart, which appeared in theBuffy the Vampire Slayer spin-offAngel. Then the Birdman decides he's fed up with being in the mental ward and wants to fly away from the hospital, so he jumps off the roof. Elsewhere illustrates the rich and often blurred boundaries in how we experience the world."[7]. The John Larroquette Show once mentioned Yoyodyne, a manufacturing client of law firm Wolfram and Hart; Elsewherefollowed its flawed, relatable characters over multi-episode storylines and even season-long arcs. ER and Chicago Hope wouldnt exist in the form they did without St. This year, Ken Lowe is revisiting some of the most influential TV shows that made it to an officially planned final episode. What's the cheapest way to buy out a sibling's share of our parents house if I have no cash and want to pay less than the appraised value? But the series managed to survive for six years on a powerful drug called demographics: The show attracted a relatively small but highly desirable audience of young, affluent viewers, and that in turn attracted plenty of advertising dollars to NBC. The Marvel Cinematic Universe might seem like a huge landscape of interconnected shows and TV movies, but the Tommy Westphall universe has it beat. ), Fontana did, however, recall that half of the viewer mail retrieved after the finale was positive, while the other half made loose reference to a desire to burn [the studio lot] to the ground.". Elsewhere was known for its Why did DOS-based Windows require HIMEM.SYS to boot? There are other possible interpretations of Tommy's "vision" which may suggest something other than the entire series being his dream. An exterior camera shot of the hospital cuts to Tommy West John Hemingway of The John Larroquette Show once called into Frasiers talk show; 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. 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. I think it can happen. Offers may be subject to change without notice. is not a great place to work or convalesce. Howie goes to the morgue, slides me out, says something to me and pushes me back in. would not look or feel the same without its influence and success. For indeed, St. Somehow, a literal airplane has crashed into the hospital. [11], NewsRadio episode "Daydream" (season 3 episode 7) ends with Jimmy James staring into a snow globe that appears to contain a miniature version of the WNYX office, thus seeming to indicate that Jimmy James has imagined the entire episode.[12]. ), I expect a very mixed reaction, Bruce Paltrow, one of the show's executive producers, told the Chicago Tribune in 1988. I think some people will think it's extraordinary and existential and quintessential St. The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. Elsewhere. [3][4] The following exchange occurs: Grandfather: "Good. 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. After six seasons of letting those within the hospital doing the hard work of being human and showing humanity it was our turn. Nicknamed St. 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 In another episode, St. Eligius traveled 50 years into the past. Its been observed that much of American primetime TV has been about cops and the sex lives of doctors. Television these daysor rather, television that jerks like me actually bother to write aboutbasically falls into two categories now: Heavily scripted and serialized prestige TV or reality show stuff that sounds like a made up show on 30 Rock. Elsewhere" universe with other shows, then those shows with other shows, has created an elaborate web of American television. Though they remain philosophical about the loss of St. When directing episodes for the eighth series of the revived Doctor Who in 2014, Ben Wheatley had the art department create a replica of Tommy Westphall's snowglobe, which Wheatley placed in the TARDIS set as a reference to the hypothesis. Rather than case-of-the-week stories with infallible doctors and carboard-thin supporting characters,St. You can follow him on Twitter and read more at his blog. Tommy runs to see the snow falling outside the window, and that's when everything changes. It was bold and shocking and upset some people. A clip of the original credits from the series finale, with Mimsie the Cat on life support. Gow and Crowe, who still periodically update the grid, assert that episodes with real people playing themselveslike Trebek did on Cheersare exempt, as are cartoons and feature films. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. 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. 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. In 1988, though, St. Westphall sits down next to Tommy and says, "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. Would you ever say "eat pig" instead of "eat pork"? 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. Howie Mandels Dr. Wayne Fiscus--who distinguished himself by having sex on an autopsy table during the shows first episode--experienced death through a fantasy sequence last season. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. Elsewhere signed off after six seasons on May 25, 1988, more than a few viewers were saddened. Not necessarily because the serieswhich had earned 13 Emmy Awards during its runwas ending, but because producers opted for a highly unconventional finale. Elsewhere have discovered it be a never-ending task, and they have posited the "Tommy Westphall Universe" asthe grand, unified universe at the center of virtually everything you've ever watched on a screen, fromI Love Lucy toMalcolm in the Middle toKnight Rider toStar Trek to well, you get the idea. 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. The hospital at its center, Boston's fictional St. Eligius, picked up its titular nickname because of its reputation as an aging, poorly-staffed dumping ground for hopeless patients, and the show's urgent, fly-on-the-wall visual style added to its air of gritty realism. What is the name of the poem Belle reads out? Most of us failed. "The discussion began on alt.tv.homicide, a newsgroup that discussed Homicide: Life on the Street," Gow tells Mental Floss. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? What were the most popular text editors for MS-DOS in the 1980s? But of course, none of that is what people really remember the last episode for. DAVID MORSE (Dr. Jack Boomer Morrison): I felt two things. The streamlining kind of took away its energy.. The Elsewhere through fictional crossovers and spin-offs, resulting in a large fictional universe taking place entirely within Tommy's mind. Where things get complicated is that characters from St. Elsewhere remains one of the most famous examples of the "all just a dream" plot. 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. The one where EW follows up with the cast. John Munch). Why did the Fairy Queen have to die for a poor deal? WebTommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. St elsewhere ending theory. Contemporary television writers have even bought in to Gow and Crowe's theory. NORMAN LLOYD: (Dr. Daniel Auschlander): Theyd been talking about Citizen Kane. 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. ", Grandfather: "He's been sitting there ever since you left this morning, just like he does every day. 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. The Show And because we were never a hit, we didnt have the firepower behind us to make the syndication business., Paltrow said he bears no grudge against the network or MTM for terminating St. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. Elsewhere, which established a defiant tradition of baiting the NBC censors, blurring the line between the real and the surreal, tantalizing the alert viewers with inside jokes and subtle references to literature, television and pop music lyrics, going precariously far out on a limb and then deliberately chopping it off. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. Elsewhere 's final moments. The ending has become an infamous example of the "it was all a dream" conclusion that's appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows over the years. Is it safe to publish research papers in cooperation with Russian academics. Much of the humor between characters is gallows humor. A few shows are outside of American television such as the British show, "Red Dwarf." Because of the number if cross overs that involved St Elsewhere characters (or their mention) and the cross overs those other shows had with other Ambiguous cut to black! It wasnt darker than reality, he said. The series finale of the 1980s medical dramedy St. Elsewhere 's characters appear in Tommy's dream doesn't mean they don't also Lloyd also enjoyed the priest who heard confession in a toilet stall (I mean, that was wild--I never thought that would get on), a nude surgery sequence based on Scandinavian medical practices and a scene in which Auschlander discussed sexual awakening with a frightened boy. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. 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 shows cast had seen ups and downs, additions and subtractions in its time, with Flanders character Westphall eventually stepping down as the hospitals head to become a doctor there. I think reality is much more the smell of the hospital, the smell of death. Elsewhere': About that snow-globe ending. Elsewhere by the residents and the surrounding community, the place has a reputation as a rathole. Other people didnt care for it at all. And listen, we set such a bar, its hard to top it to make that ending satisfy a lot of people. Over time and with the help of reader contributions, The Tommy Westphall Universe grew to include shows as diverse as ALF, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Knight Rider, Melrose Place, Seinfeld, and dozens of others, much of it helped along by the character of Munch appearing in more than 10 series, and those series making reference to other characters and brands. This is not likely the case (I'm not going to search for links to autism websites for this answer), but for writers looking for some weird ending for their show (other than "it was all a dream"), the idea of a child imagining the world of St. But now, viewers are picking shows out to binge watch, and they want to know that their time investment is going to have some payoff. There are no villains in this piece. [3][5][6] According to Lindsey Freeman, the narrative framing of Tommy's imagination as within a snow globe occurs because, as an "oneiric and mnemonic gadget", a snow globe "often finds itself as a companion piece to the dream sequences found in television and movies". Elsewhere was a figment of Tommy Westphalls elaborate imagination, then wouldnt other television characters who appeared in the shows continuity exist only within Tommy's mind, as well? Elsewhere. As the episode comes to a close, Dr. Westphall is sitting alone in the office of his friend and mentor Dr. Auschlander, who has recently died when in runs his son, Tommy (Chad Allen), a quiet, autistic boy whom viewers had met a time or two before. As far as I could tell, there was always controversy around St. Through crossovers, spinoffs, cameos, or fictional brands or products appearing in more than one show, everything from. Westphall, who is autistic, played an increased role in St. In a 2003 article published on BBC News Online, St. Michael Kennedy is an avid movie and TV fan that's been working for Screen Rant in various capacities since 2014. There are two very important reasons why the ending is not only justified but important and even critically needed for a show like St. Toe-tagged. Meme Status Submission Year 1988 Origin St. The strange thing that occurs to me when thinking about the show was how temporary it seemed, mused Begley, who spent the last six years matching wits--and losing--with William Daniels, who played St. Eligius Hospitals cranky chief of surgery, Mark Craig. It was highly unpredictable, just like every episode. Embedded hyperlinks in a thesis or research paper. He also loves both Marvel and DC movies, and wishes every superhero fan could just get along. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? 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. I thought it was an interesting choice to make I respect [the ambition]. God love him."[9]. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. 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. 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. Even if you go to Alice in Wonderland, and he has the wonderful poem Life is But a Dream in it, still it was serious. WILLIAM DANIELS (Dr. Mark Craig): I was shocked, actually. Death! Fontanas favored conclusion was a literal apocalypse, where the staff of St. Eligius would be standing by in the year 2013 while a toxic gas cloud passed over, the result of a corporate war between foreign factions. Elsewhere carries a shocking implication NBC St. As they leave the living room, Tommy's father places the snow globe upon a television set. The original decision to include fictional product crossovers actually comes from the origins of the chart itself. As Gow told HuffPost, "St. Elsewhere" writer Tom Fontana began writing connections between his shows using fictional products and companies. EW gathered a dozen members of the cast for a photo shoot and asked them to reflect on the years they spent making this provocative, eccentric, beloved show, which you can check out in our third-annual Reunions Issue. Elsewhere. As Dr. Fiscus struggles with the anxiety of leaving the hospital, his last patient at St. Eligius is the actress portraying a valkyrie in a Wagner opera who has, get this, laryngitis. Revisiting McDuffie's "Six Degrees of St. Elsewhere Original Closing Credits From the Series Finale | The St. Elsewhere characters on other shows are not sufficient to indicate that those shows exist only in Westphall's dream. Eligius. St. Elsewhere - Wikipedia Much of the humor between characters is gallows humor. The Marvel Cinematic Universe might seem like a huge landscape of interconnected shows and TV movies, but the Tommy Westphall universe has it beat. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Lloyd, whose Dr. Auschlander was supposed to die years ago but enjoyed a miraculous remission, is even more hopeful. 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. 'St. Elsewhere': About that snow-globe ending | EW.com This ending was not serious to me. was a show that got by largely on the strength of its ensemble, running for six seasons from 1982-88. St. Fontana was the executive producer and showrunner for Homicide for its entire seven years. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Movies & TV Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for movie and TV enthusiasts. Elsewhere, by only a few degrees, to a startling number of TV shows and movies. It made me smile when I heard about what they did because it was so them. Over time, it began to look something like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. Elsewhere. Yet, none of those universes compare to the sheer enormity of the Tommy Westphall world, which traces back to the series finale of popular 1980s medical drama St. Since Dr. Turner and Dr. Ehrlich are figments of Tommys imagination that means when they visit the Homicide universe, that it too is part of Tommys world. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? 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). CYNTHIA SIKES (Dr. Annie Cavanero): Part of me likes that whole thing because its sort of an Orson Welles-ian Rosebud [ending]. 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. Among Lloyds favorite sequences was one in which a stoned Dr. Auschlander, treating the side effects of chemotherapy with marijuana, stumbled into a 7-Eleven store with a case of midnight munchies. The "St. If the theory holds, then a large chunk of television is the direct result of one childs formidable imagination. Why did Sonny trust Carlo enough to introduce him to the family and then sour on him? Elsewhere, NBCs darkly comic series about a financially strapped Boston hospital and its beleaguered staff, is dead. Mandel, Morse, and Washington are among the core cast of younger doctors that stuck around for the entire show, wringing their hands over their critical patients, racing to respond to someone randomly coding in the hallway, or occasionally banging in the morgue. rev2023.4.21.43403. In a way that actually sucks most of contemporary-set American scripted TV into the inside of a snow globe? I really had very little to say about that episode because I thought it was a letdown. That is Inside the globe was a tiny mock-up of St. Eligius, the medical center that was featured in the series. Suddenly, we're taken to a small apartment where Tommy sits on the floor, playing with a snow globe. The ending has become an infamous example of the "it was all a dream" conclusion that's appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows over the years. Specific to the Westphall Hypothesis, even if we accept that St. WebYet, in the ending of St. WebIf the St. He sits there, all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. The camera slowly zooms in on the snow globe, which is revealed to contain a replica of St. Eligius hospital inside of it. 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. Christina Pickles, whose character of Nurse Helen Rosenthal ended the series triumphantly by kicking a drug dependency, is the only one who believes that St. Mandels character, though, gets the easiest metaphor of the episode. The doctors had visited the bar on Cheers in one St. The Ending Of St. Elsewhere Explained - Looper 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, Nobody is too interested in that, though. Therefore, appearances from St. You cant please most people most of the time. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis is an idea discussed among some television fans, it makes the claim that not only does St. Elsewhere was the designated comic relief for the first few episodes. I said at the time we were shooting, This is a cheat. For me, it was a cheat.
