After six seasons of letting those within the hospital doing the hard work of being human and showing humanity it was our turn. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? was a show that got by largely on the strength of its ensemble, running for six seasons from 1982-88. 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. I sure heard about it. Garry Shandling crossed over with The Andy Griffith Show (no, really!). 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. Elsewhere's final moments. The common thread running through the last season (besides a consistent plot about a special new artificial heart) is that St. Eligius is probably going to close, right around the same time the hospitals residents (read: the younger main cast members) are all ending their residencies and about to head out into the depressing world of medicine. Thats All, Folksis a look back at televisions most unforgettable series finales. Elsewheres bumbling Dr. Victor Erlich, offered the final diagnosis of his medical career. 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. Brian Weatherson, professor of philosophy at Cornell University, wrote a piece, "Six Objections to the Westphall Hypothesis", which challenges the logical, factual, and philosophical basis for the existence of the "universe".[10]. The elder Westphall returns home, but he's not dressed in scrubs he's wearing a hard hat, and his conversation with Auschlander (whom he addresses as "Pop") implies that he's a construction worker. "I prefer character connections, myself," Gow says. ", But despite the elaborate system, the two still doubt their methods from time to time. Donald Westphalls autistic son, who was gazing into a snow globe containing a miniature version of the hospital. 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. Interpreting non-statistically significant results: Do we have "no evidence" or "insufficient evidence" to reject the null? 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? You cant please most people most of the time. HOWIE MANDEL (Dr. Wayne Fiscus): I thought it was realllllllly interesting. 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. DAVID MORSE (Dr. Jack Boomer Morrison): I felt two things. Elsewhere. I was pretty happy with it. St. He sits there, all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. Nicknamed St. "St. Elsewhere by the residents and the surrounding community, the place has a reputation as a rathole. "The first time I saw [the Tommy Westphall Universe theory] it just completely devastated me, because []We believed that our show was just a speck in the universe, and then it turned out that our show was the universe.". More than puzzling, some people found it to be an actual puzzle. Specific to the Westphall Hypothesis, even if we accept that St. What is the name of the poem Belle reads out? Elsewhere remains one of the most famous examples of the "all just a dream" plot. 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. Web359. Elsewhere" universe with other shows, then those shows with other shows, has created an elaborate web of American television. 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. You can follow him on Twitter and read more at his blog. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis is an idea discussed among some television fans, it makes the claim that not only does St. --Tom Fontana, former producer, St. Often, characters crossing over on the same network can ignite a connection, with shared brands or locations providing the connective tissue for others. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. Elsewhere has fallen victim to economic pressures. After the "Fansville" characters exchange meta-humorous existential comments, the camera pans out to show that the characters in fact exist in a snowglobe sitting on Larry Culpepper's desk. At least that's the most widely held interpretation of St. Crisis On Infinite Earths Solved DC Movies' Continuity Problem, Star Wars' Next Show Needs To Fill The Biggest Gap In Anakin's Life, 1 Sorcerers Stone Problem Could Make The Harry Potter Remake Harder, Why Missy's Hair Is Shorter In Young Sheldon Season 6 Episode 18. For indeed, St. In their defense, the theory's original creator, Dwayne McDuffle, actually posited it while attempting to mock crazy shared universe theories based around guest appearances by one TV show's character(s) on another show. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff is fond of defining quality television as something that starts with low ratings and ends with a cat meowing--a reference to programs produced by MTM Enterprises, which end with a kitten logo in a sly takeoff on MGMs roaring lion. , the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company. In an interview withPaley Matters in 2018, Fontana who co-wrote the finale expressed his ongoing surprise and weird sense of pride at how that final scene has, well, snowballed into the mother of all pop culture fan theories. Heres how St. The final scene of 30 Rock opens with a view of the eponymous building, which fades into a model of the same, in a snow globe, observed by NBC president Kenneth Parcell roughly a century into the future, as flying cars whiz past his window. But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. When NBCs hour-long hospital drama St. Are you and I??? I went, Wow. 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. Six years . Like St. Eligius itself, St. I think a lot of the cast didnt care for it at all. Elsewhere an autistic boy is shown to have imagined and created a vast and deeply human universe. I felt one thing when I read it and one thing when I saw it. (On that series, Bobby Ewing was brought back to life after his "death" turned out to be just a bad dream. STEPHEN FURST (Dr. Elliot Axelrod): I thought it was kind of cool, actually. And then I saw it and I thought, Its too much. That series introduced the character of Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer), who went on to become a main character onLaw and Order:Special Victims Unit (and has made guest appearances in virtually everyLaw and Order series), and who has also popped up on shows likeThe Beat, The Wire, The X-Files, Arrested Development,and30 Rock. He went on to create the acclaimed seriesHomicide:Life on the Street (in which a character fromSt. Can you still use Commanders Strike if the only attack available to forego is an attack against an ally? When youre finished, watch the cast reunion on Good Morning America and voice your own opinion on the finale in our poll. Elsewhere, Paltrow, Fontana and the several cast members interviewed all said they would have been willing to continue indefinitely. What's he thinking about?". Elsewhere, you see, fielded one of the most confoundingly weird finales in television history, a variation on the age-old "it was all a dream" trope that left viewers scratching their heads. Elsewhere airs at 10 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39. John Munch). Movies & TV Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for movie and TV enthusiasts. When not writing, Michael enjoys going to concerts, taking in live professional wrestling, and debating pop culture. How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. He sits there, all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. 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. It made me smile when I heard about what they did because it was so them. I thought it was an interesting choice to make I respect [the ambition]. The implication was that Tommya character on the autism spectrumhad imagined the entire show, a fiction-within-the-fiction conceit that had angered viewers during the infamous dream season arc on Dallas five years earlier. ). 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. That fictional firm appears inDoctor Who, Red Dwarf, and of course, theAlien feature film franchise. You can make up your own line what it means. Eligius. Mandels character, though, gets the easiest metaphor of the episode. Elsewhere to a trivial mention in Fontanas biography, if not for the curiosity of a playwright named Keith Gow. The thing is, autism was - and still is - largely not understood what goes on in a person's brain. Erasing the fiction of an entire medium is not what Tom Fontana had planned. 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. And Ed Flanders, who portrayed Dr. Donald Westphall, made his last appearance before leaving the regular cast early this season (he returns in the final episode) by mooning the camera. And people say, Norman, youre either mad or senile or both--but you dont get a show like St. For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow. It's not even that much of a leap to make a connection to the Mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe (you can get there a number of ways, according to Polygon). The thing is, autism was - and still is - These strings go on across multiple decades of television, with I Love Lucy being the earliest example. But [executive producers] Tom Fontana and John Masius and Bruce Paltrow didnt want just a normal ending. Elsewhere ' s series finale features momentous changes for several main characters, including the departures of Drs. Observers of the theory take issue with the idea out of what they deem is a misunderstanding of an authors intent. Like their small but loyal band of viewers--who have already written at least 300 letters to MTM and the network protesting its cancellation--the St. 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. Flashforward! Elsewhere cast reunion: It was a show that changed television, 'St. The one where EW follows up with the cast. Elsewhere,[1] which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988.[2]. I tell you, the last episode, I never bought it. , like basically every television series that is set in the present day, had crossover episodes or cameos with other popular shows. 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. 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. Paltrow noted that the shows bleak vision was deliberate. Tommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. . Crowe told HuffPost that if they were to start over today, they'd exclude fictional products as being the basis for counting a crossover, explaining, "since we started this, there's apparently been a real consolidation in fake-prop companies.". Elsewhere to Homicide: Life on the Street, which shared a writer/producer in Tom Fontana. And listen, we set such a bar, its hard to top it to make that ending satisfy a lot of people. Elsewhere was known for its Ambiguous cut to black! 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. Elsewhere; by extension this hypothesis can be extended to include the science fiction program The X-Files and the Law & Order franchise (due to various crossovers with characters from Homicide, in particular Det.

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