Westphall, who is autistic, played an increased role in St. 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. In fact, for all its success, most aspects of St. Elsewhere made guest appearances on another TV series, and characters from that series in turn appeared on other series. And none of MTMs shows better defined quality television than St. Death! Elsewhere, Ed Begley Jr., St. Fontana was being facetious (we think), but not everyone was as enthused with the premise. It's not every day we see Plucky Comic Relief commit suicide. This ending was not serious to me. Via Wikipedia: The most common interpretation of this scene is that the entire series of events in the series St. [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]. WebBasically the theory known as The Tommy Westphall Universe (TWU) begins when St. New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI, Improving the copy in the close modal and post notices - 2023 edition. 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. I thought it was ahead of its time, pretty ingenious and creative and not like anything else. were arguably all dreamed up by young Tommy. It was seen as a cheap shot and a quick fix, even though the mechanism and method was mimicked many times over afterwards. The thing is, autism was - and still is - 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. When I read it, I thought it was amazing: Only these people could come up with this idea And I thought it was very touching. Would you ever say "eat pig" instead of "eat pork"? This is because it's pretty easy to connectSt. Westphall, who is autistic, played an increased role in St. Elsewhere ' s final episode, "The Last One", one interpretation of which is that the entire St. Elsewhere storyline exists only within Westphall's imagination. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. Much of the humor between characters is gallows humor. It seems to imply that the events of the show were all imagined by the mind of a non-verbal young boy. The series finale of the 1980s medical dramedy St. Elsewhere characters Dr. Roxanne Turner and Dr. Victor Ehrlich appear on Homicide: Life on the Street. 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. 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). An exterior camera shot of the hospital cuts to Tommy West St Elsewhere It only takes a minute to sign up. 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 ), 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. St. ", Father: "I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. When we read it, we all had reservations about it. 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. Elsewhere. The one where EW follows up with the cast. 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. 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. Why does the husband leave the family in The Others? The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. I actually have an easy answer for that - assuming that the 'real world' has shows like Cheers and MASH on TV, it's entirely plausible that Tommy took characters from those shows after seeing them on TV and made them part of his imagination. WebIf the St. "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.". Elsewhere writer Tom Fontana was quoted as saying "Someone did the math once and something like 90 percent of all [American] television took place in Tommy Westphall's mind. We always said: Thats a tough question--well, good night! . 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 best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? Was the fact that Tommy is considered Autistic symbolic in any way? Theres a lot to unpack: is it simply making a statement on the show as a fictional world? Elsewhere's characters. 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. One prominent critic, Professor Brian Weatherson, argues that just because St. 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. You can follow him on Twitter and read more at his blog. . 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. St. Elsewhere. Elsewhere characters on other shows are not sufficient to indicate that those shows exist only in Westphall's dream. "You know, I still have the snow globe," he said. 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. Marriage! 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. I can't find any justification for ending the show this way, other than the writers wanted to end the show on a twist ending, rather than just another typical ending. 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! 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. 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. You cant please most people most of the time. 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. Helen Hunt even appeared in a few episodes. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Theyre more interested in the colossal mind-fuck that is the. The "St. St. For instance, it may be the other way around, and the snow globe scene may itself be the dream. Arrow is also included, which means all subsequent Arrowverse shows also tie back to Westphall. "Red Dwarf" is now included as well. But for others, it was a stroke of inspiration. More: Why The X-Files Season 12 Never Happened. Law & Order creator Dick Wolf is close friends with Fontana and frequently crossed Homicide characters over into his own series. (referring to Tommy) He give you any trouble? I was only supposed to be in 18 of the 22 episodes, so I got an extra episodes pay out of it. Elsewhere, the magic was in the tone, as it was with another show by the same production company, Hill Street Blues. All Rights Reserved, In the age of streaming in particular, I feel as if this is even more true than its been in the past. Most of us failed. 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. 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. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. I remember reading about it in the paper that there was controversy over it. WebSt. Both shows took a grittier and more realistic approach to their drama. 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. In the final scene of the series, the camera widens out from St. Eligius, until it becomes clear the hospital is a model inside a snow globe being shaken by Tommy as he plays on the floor of a small apartment. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. 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. But of course, none of that is what people really remember the last episode for. 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. 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. I thought it was interesting. Elsewhere very often in your life. St. As Gow and Crowe assembled their chart, comics writer Dwayne McDuffie (Static Shock) wrote a blog entry for Slush.com in 2002 that made a similar observation. Related: Crisis On Infinite Earths Solved DC Movies' Continuity Problem. Kenneth Lowe is a regular contributor to Paste TV. My character died in the second-to-last episode, but I was in the last episode in a scene in which Howies character pays a visit to Dr. Axelrods corpse in the morgue. As far as I could tell, there was always controversy around St. The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis makes the claim that not only does St. The Biggest Shared Universe Has Over 400 Shows - Screen Rant Elsewhere was a show that got by largely on the strength of its ensemble, running for six seasons from 1982-88. wouldnt exist in the form they did without. Elsewhere had been a product of Tommy Westphall's (an autistic boy) imagination, with elements of the above scene used as its own evidence. 'St. Elsewhere': About that snow-globe ending | EW.com Mimsie the Cat has seen better days. Not necessarily because the serieswhich had earned 13 Emmy Awards during its runwas ending, but because producers opted for a highly unconventional finale. A terrible ending! 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. Quantum Leap is on!). Can my creature spell be countered if I cast a split second spell after it? 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? Both shows took a grittier and more realistic approach to their drama. 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.